Bronze Plants Bring Winning Color to the Garden

Bronze may signal third place at the Olympics, but it’s a top-rate performer in the garden. Bronze-colored plants set a garden apart, and they’re easy to use because of their neutral color.

Rodgersia 'Bronze Peacock' (right) shares a pot with a salmon-pink heuchera. A shade lover, 'Bronze Peacock' is easy to combine thanks to its neutral color.

Here are some tips for incorporating bronze plants into your garden:

Use bronze plants as a bridge between garden areas that emphasize different colors, particularly if they clash with one another. Because bronze is a neutral, it goes with any color and will serve as a buffer.
Use bronze plants in combination with foliage or flowers of any other color to create subtle and elegant compositions.
Bronze-leaved shrubs or large grasses can act as a dark backdrop in the garden, setting off bright or pastel flowers placed in front.
Site bronze plants where the setting or rising sun will shine through them. Illuminating bronze plants at dawn or sunset brings out their hidden orange and red tones.

Image courtesy of Terra Nova Nurseries.

flowering plants foliage plants garden design tip of the week

Meghan ShinnAuthor