Do You Have This Green In Your Garden Yet?
Chartreuse brightens shady corners and energizes planting beds. Here’s how to use it in your landscape
Chartreuse, which falls halfway between true green and yellow on the color wheel, can be an eye-catching foliage color in the landscape. Break up the monotony of dark planting beds with swaths of lighter, lime-y foliage, or use a single chartreuse specimen as a focal point. Let’s take a look at 10 design ideas for working chartreuse foliage into your garden.
1. Plant against a dark backdrop. A single chartreuse Japanese maple (Acer palmatum cv., USDA zones 5 to 8; find your zone) planted against a charcoal wall stands out as a focal point in a contemporary garden. Underplanted with a river of bright ground cover, it’s sure to glow when viewed from inside the home through the large windows.
2. Add light to shade gardens. Brightening deep shade is perhaps the single most useful application of chartreuse foliage. For maximum impact, group bright foliage plants in groups of three or five for bold splashes of color. Here, mounds of golden Japanese forest grass (Hakonechloa macra ‘Aureola’, zones 4 to 9) look like pools of sunlight on the floor of this shady woodland garden.
3. Use as a vivid underplanting. Sprightly clumps of chartreuse-leaved coral bells create a bright underplanting in this contemporary composition. Coral bells, such as Heuchera ‘Lime Rickey’ (zones 4 to 8), thrive in the dappled shade beneath tree canopies and require little water to look lush.
In wet climates, chartreuse hostas, such as Hosta x ‘Sum and Substance’ (zones 4 to 9), are an excellent choice for a bright, shade-loving plant under trees.
In wet climates, chartreuse hostas, such as Hosta x ‘Sum and Substance’ (zones 4 to 9), are an excellent choice for a bright, shade-loving plant under trees.
4. Uplight for evening drama. When chartreuse foliage is illuminated in the landscape, a tree can look as if it practically glows from within. Good candidates for chartreuse-leaved patio trees that would really shine are Japanese maples, as pictured here, and ‘Sutherland Gold’ elderberry (Sambucus racemosa ‘Sutherland Gold’, zones 3 to 8).
5. Brighten garden beds. Chartreuse energizes a color palette of softer blues and gray-green. Here, the vibrant chartreuse color comes from the clusters of fused bracts around the blooms of Mediterranean spurge (Euphorbia characias ssp. wulfenii, zones 6 to 8). Like other Mediterranean natives, spurge grows best in well-draining soil and tolerates low to moderate water.
6. Illuminate an interior courtyard. Atriums, alcoves and interior gardens often get less natural light than a sunny backyard due to the shadows cast by the surrounding walls. Chartreuse foliage, such as the leaves of bamboo, and a splash of bright paint can act like a ray of sunshine in a shadowy interior garden.
7. Freshen up containers. Planted to spill over the sides of a dark brown basket-weave container, lime-leaved golden creeping Jenny (Lysimachia nummularia ‘Aurea’, zones 3 to 9) offers a bright hit of color beneath fragrant flowering jasmine tobacco (Nicotiana alata, zones 10 to 11) and a brush cherry (Syzygium paniculatum, zones 9 to 11) topiary.
8. Soften decks and hardscape. Chartreuse foliage has a light, airy quality that can be useful for visually softening hard edges and corners in a landscape. In this San Francisco backyard, clumps of spurge (Euphorbia sp.) look almost like chartreuse clouds billowing over the deck and cascading down the steps.
9. Pair with purple blooms. Green, purple, white and pale yellow is a classic color combination for perennial beds. Add a few hits of electric chartreuse — or an entire border — and the bed really comes alive. In this San Francisco sidewalk planting, soft purple nemesia (Nemesia caerulea, zones 9 to 10) contrasts with luminous ‘Lime Marmalade’ coral bells (Heuchera ‘Lime Marmalade’, zones 4 to 8).
10. Contrast with dark foliage. Combined with deep purple, dark green and burgundy foliage, chartreuse leaves add real drama to planting beds. In close proximity, bright leaves and deep, moody hues play off each other in this Seattle courtyard, highlighting the stunning differences in lightness and dark. Punctuating a border with splashes of purple and chartreuse foliage provides interest without relying on blooms.
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Discover 10 ways to use deep purple foliage in the garden
Learn how to avoid foliage monotony
See more ways to design with beautiful foliage