9 Ways to Use Bronze Foliage in Your Garden
Bring richness to garden beds and containers with this unusual foliage hue
Bronze-leaved plants, unexpected and sophisticated, help break up green foliage monotony and add depth to garden beds. Leaf color varies among bronze plants. Those on the lighter side tend toward copper and gold, while darker-leaved varieties have more dark purple and maroon overtones. In most cases, plants with bronze foliage deepen in color with more sun exposure and can fade more toward green in shade. From accent plants to container fillers, here are nine ways to use bronze foliage plants in your garden.
1. Coordinate with hardscape. Bronze, copper and orange-browns are common colors for building materials, such as stone, stained wood or metal trim. Add plants with foliage tones that relate to those building materials for an integrated design. Here, bright orange-bronze New Zealand wind grass (Anemanthele lessoniana, USDA zones 8 to 10; find your zone) echoes the color of the low wall and brilliance of the flames in the fire pit.
2. Contrast with blue-green. Directly opposite each other on the color wheel, blue-green and the more copper tones of bronze are perfect complements. Here, New Zealand iris (Libertia peregrinans, zones 8 to 11) is combined with blue fescue (Festuca glauca, zones 4 to 8) and Spanish lavender (Lavandula stoechas, zones 5 to 9) for a beautiful and drought-tolerant front yard planting.
3. Plant a focal point. Less flashy than plants with bright gold or red foliage, bronze-leaved trees and shrubs can be used as understated focal points in garden beds. Bronze Japanese maples (Acer palmatum cvs., zones 5 to 8) are best planted in full sun to partial shade in hot climates.
4. Add variety to all-green borders. Break up expanses of green foliage with bursts of bronze to give more interest to garden borders. In this Southern California garden, the designer planted trios of dark-leaved spurge (Euphorbia ‘Blackbird’, zones 6 to 10) to add contrast to a border planting of green and silver shrubs. In spring and summer, the spurge looks more bronze than purple due to showy copper-colored structures (called fused bracts) around each inconspicuous bloom.
5. Pair deep purple-bronze with pastel blooms. In this garden in northwest France, the designer used a trio of deep purple-bronze ‘Tom Thumb’ kōhūhū shrubs (Pittosporum tenuifolium ‘Tom Thumb’, zones 9 to 10) to bring depth to planting beds billowing with pale flowers and ornamental grasses. Adding the contrast of the deeper foliage makes the pastel purple geraniums and light pink oleander blossoms appear to almost float in the landscape.
6. Define a modern entryway. Bronze foliage works well with modern designs since it is usually subtle enough to fit in with more contemporary color palettes of gray, silver, black and charcoal. Adding a bronze-leaved plant, such as this potted New Zealand flax (Phormium sp., zones 8 to 11), to an entryway with lots of cool-toned materials lends a welcome warmth to the space.
7. Use light bronze as a highlight. Plants with pale bronze, copper and gold leaves can contribute brightness to garden beds. Here, the delicate pointed leaves of northern bush honeysuckle (Diervilla lonicera, zones 3 to 8) change from green to light bronze-gold in fall. Plant close to deep purple or evergreen conifers to really show off the luminous quality of the leaves.
8. Double up on bronze. Given the range of bronze leaf tones, there are plenty of choices for pairing two bronze hues together in a single bed. For a subtle, nuanced look such as the one here, choose a medium bronze like the strappy ‘Bronze Baby’ New Zealand flax (Phormium ‘Bronze Baby’, zones 8 to 11 ) and pair it with a deeper bronze plant with a very different texture like the more broad-leaved ‘Royal Purple’ smoke tree (Cotinus coggygria ‘Royal Purple’, zones 4 to 8). For more drama, plant a bright orange bronze next to a plant with deep purple-bronze foliage.
9. Add richness to containers. The addition of the pale bronze leaves of coral bells (Heuchera spp., zones 4 to 9) transitions a container vignette from summer to fall. Coral bells cultivars and hybrids come in a wide variety of leaf colors, with many in the bronze-to-purple range to choose from. H. villosa ‘Bronze Wave’ has two-tone leaves, with greenish bronze above and dark chocolate below. ‘Cajun Fire’ has a rich all-over cinnamon color, and ‘Southern Comfort’ has a pale bronze-peach color.
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