'Cooking' with containers: Container-friendly plant combination recipes

When spring has sprung and the chill of winter has gone, cooking up plant container combination recipes can invite life back into the garden. These three recipes will enliven even the shabbiest of winter-hardened locales this spring and summer:

"Twist of Lime." Ingredients: Hakonechloa "All Gold," Xanthosoma "Lime Zinger," Heuchera "Mahogany" and Heuchera "Lime Rickey." The stunning chartreuse elephant's ear leaves of Xanthosoma "Lime Zinger" stand out, adding height and a tropical flare to containers; its leaves reach 3 to 4 feet across. The gorgeous form of golden Japanese forest grass that is Hakonechloa "All Gold" has arching, graceful, upright, and spiky foliage, adding texture and bright color. "The glossy, mahogany-red,

Gardening

ruffled foliage of Heuchera 'Mahogany' produces dense, shiny tones year-round," says Heims. Heuchera "Lime Ricky" has chartreuse spring leaves, which turn to lime-green, showy, ruffled leaves for the remainder of the year.

"Dawn to Dusk." Ingredients: Heuchera "Marmalade," Begonia "River Nile," Heuchera "Midnight Rose" and Athyrium " Dre's Dagger." Stunning, rich, shiny, undulating foliage adorns Terra Nova Nurseries' Heuchera "Marmalade" in ranges of color from umber to deep sienna with hot pink undersides. Begonia "River Nile" produces distinguishing chartreuse leaves heavily edged with black or red-brown. The compact plant of Heuchera "Midnight Rose" has burnished black leaves, which are thickly spotted hot pink in spring. Its summer leaves lighten with creamy-pink dots that adorn the foliage. The narrow, deep-green fronds of Athyrium "Dre's Dagger" are crossed, coming to a narrow point with a terminal crest.

"Fun in the Shade." Ingredients: Heucherella "Stoplight," Heuchera "Cinnabar Silver," Polemonium "Stairway to Heaven," Eucomis "Oakhurst" and Corydalis "Berry Exciting." Bright yellow leaves and a large, stoplight-like red blotch embellish Heucherella "Stoplight" in spring. The purple-metallic leaves of Heuchera "Cinnabar Silver" transform to silver, giving a cinnabar-red to flowers. "Stairway to Heaven" has broad, bold, cream, variegated foliage with 12-inch stems bearing light-blue flowers. The thick, fleshy, broadly linear leaves of Eucomis "Oakhurst" form in a spear-like rosette with a pineapple-like array of purple flowers in late summer. "Oakhurst" is a strong, red-purple form that creates an impact in containers. A vigorous, spreading Corydalis with succulent stems and gold, ferny leaves on a wide-spreading plant, "Berry Exciting" produces fragrant, purple flowers.

To learn about more plant container recipes, visit the Web site www. terranovanurseries. com.

Courtesy of ARAcontent