Some plants seem to say “pet me” as clearly as a nuzzling beagle. Their silvery leaves are covered with delicate hairs that give them the texture of softest fur or sometimes felt.
Fuzzy plants often are part of children’s gardens and sensory gardens, since they attract touch. But there are other reasons to include them in your garden. Not only do they provide a visual contrast to other plants’ smooth, green foliage, they tend to be drought-tolerant, which makes them a good choice for places you’d like to be able to neglect a little.
These plants are native to sunny, dry places. The hairs on their leaves evolved to protect them from the hot sun and conserve water. “They are trapping moisture close to the surface of the leaf,” says Karen Bussolini, co-author, with Jo Ann Gardner, of “Elegant Silvers: Striking Plants for Every Garden” (Timber Press, 311 pages, $34.95). “And the light-colored hairs are reflecting light too. It’s like a little cocoon.”
Fuzzy plants aren’t cacti — they do need some water, though some of them can be troubled by high humidity. But rainfall will usually take care of it except in serious dry spells. Apart from full sun, their chief needs, Bussolini says, are “good drainage, lousy soil and very little feeding.”
That means Chicago-area clay soils will need to be heavily amended with sand to provide enough drainage. Amending with compost won’t do the job, because fuzzy plants, native to lean soils, don’t appreciate too many nutrients.
Or plant them in pots, where you can control the soil mix. Then place the pots in full sun where you can appreciate the silvery gleam or where the plants will be handy for petting.
Fuzzy plants tend to be silvery because of the way the transparent hairs reflect light, Bussolini says. Sometimes, as on dusty miller (Senecio cineraria), the hairs are short and tightly packed so the plant looks almost white. Rainfall or watering can saturate longer hairs and shift the light to reveal the underlying green.
Bussolini likes to play the soft texture of fuzzy plants against smooth, shiny surfaces such as succulents, which also like dry conditions. Or, she says, try a downy Salvia argentea (silver sage) with spiky, stiff blue oat grass (Helictotrichon sempervirens).
You also can try fuzzy, silvery plants with drought-tolerant prairie natives such as baptisia.
And when you think of soft texture that begs to be stroked, don’t forget other possibilities: the soft autumn seed heads of grasses like pennisetum or miscanthus or the fluffs of Clematis tangutica, for example, or the velvety leaf texture of Pelargonium tomentosum, the peppermint-scented geranium (“My absolute favorite touchable plant,” says Bussolini).
Here are some widely available fuzzy plants to consider for your garden. For more, check out Bussolini’s book “Elegant Silvers.”
Salvia argentea (silver sage): The thick, sculptural leaves are covered with woolly, slightly sticky hairs. The plant may overwinter here in a sheltered site. In late summer, it has tall spikes of pinkish-white flowers. Native to the Mediterranean.
Artemisia (wormwood): Shrubby plant has deeply cut silvery leaves. Many people cut off the yellowish late-summer flower heads to focus on the foliage. Artemisia ‘Powis Castle’ (above) is a cultivar of a Mediterranean plant and must be grown as an annual here. A. schmidtiana (silvermound), from Japan, is more winter-hardy.
Helichrysum petiolare (licorice plant): An annual here, it has small rounded fuzzy leaves on long woody stems and often is used with compatible plants in containers or hanging baskets. The species has silvery leaves, but ‘Aurea’ is a chartreuse cultivar and ‘Varigatum’ has creamy leaf margins. Native to South Africa.
Dichondra argentea ‘Silver Falls’: Small, fan-shaped silvery-green leaves run along vigorous trailing stems that can reach 6 feet in a season. An annual in our climate, it can be grown as a 2-inch-tall ground cover or will cascade extravagantly from a hanging basket. Best in sun but can tolerate some light shade. Cultivar of a plant native to the Southwest desert.
Stachys byzantina (lamb’s ears or woolly betony): This familiar petable plant, beloved of children, is a mat-forming perennial that makes a good ground cover or edging. It can be aggressive. Though it has 2-foot-tall stalks of purple flowers in summer, the foliage is the main attraction. Remove older, yellowing leaves to keep it tidy. Native to Turkey.
Senecio cineraria (dusty miller): With felty leaves are almost startlingly white, it can be grown as an annual here for color contrast. Native to the Mediterranean. Confusion warning: The common name “dusty miller” also is used for several other silver-leaved plants, notably A. stelleriana, Centaurea cineraria and Lychnis coronaria.
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Tips for growing these softies
Here are a few suggestions for success with fuzzy plants:
* Keep them dry: Amend heavy, clay soil with sand to provide enough drainage.
* Practice restraint: Don’t overdo water or fertilizer.
* Show them off: Play the soft texture of fuzzy plants against smooth, shiny surfaces such as succulents.
* Keep them close by: Grow in pots, in full sun where you can appreciate the silvery gleam and where they will be handy for petting.
— Beth Botts
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ebotts@tribune.com
