Most of the foliage plants sold as black are really a deep bronze, and there are enough of these to create a dark but colorful garden.
Perennials and Tender Perennials
There are any number of perennials with bronze foliage that work well in the garden.
- Lately there have been a few cimicifugas (acteas) that are supposedly black. Pay attention to the names – “Brunette’ isn’t called that for nothing – and if you don’t get the lighting just right it’s actually pretty green with just a flush of deep color. In fact, Dan Hinkley of Heronswood calls it “chocolate colored.’
- Many dahlias have bronze foliage and multiple flowers that relieve a dark garden from any semblance of gloom. ‘Bishop Of Llandaff’ has dark bronze foliage which looks fabulous with the flaming red of the flowers. Other good bronzes include D. ‘Ellen Houston’, ‘Fascination’ and ‘Sayonara” Plus, the Bishop has children (Called, aptly enough, ‘Bishops Children’) with ornate, red and yellow blooms.
- Crocosmia ‘Solfaterre’ has bronze sword-like foliage and apricot blooms – a truly lovely combination.
- Brighten any tendency to gloominess with Heuchera ‘Amber Waves’ – a bright bronze or amber gold-leafed plant with rose colored flowers. Similarly, H. Marmalade’ has colorful foliage that ranges from umber to deep sienna with a hot pink underside – definitely anything but gloomy. H. ‘Chinook’ has ruffled bronze foliage and salmon colored flowers – another winning combination. H. Chocolate Ruffles’ is another bronze colored leaf backed with burgundy and purple flowers.
- A close relative, Heucherella, also has some colorful family members. Try H. ‘Chocolate Lace’, which looks as though it had been dipped in milk chocolate, or H. ‘Burnished Bronze’, which has, as the name implies, a glossy, burnished finish to the leaves.
- Persicaria ‘Chocolate Dragon’ starts out purple-brown but matures to a chocolate brown with silver chevrons.
- Carex buchananii, the leatherleaf sedge is a light brown in color – so light that garden visitors sometimes mistake it for a dead plant. Deer avoid it for this reason.
- A few Cannas have bronze foliage, including Red King Humbert with bright red flowers and C. Rosever, with leaves that are chocolate tipped in bronze. C. ‘Wyoming’ is bronze with orange flowers that compliment the leaves beautifully.
- Many Astilbes, notably “Fanal’ , ‘Bronze Elegance’ and ‘Bronze Lamb’, and ‘Queen of Holland’. Astilbe like some shade and lots of moisture to thrive but the lacy foliage is worth it.
- Perennial geraniums often run to purple, but G. 'Elizabeth Ann' is a true deep bronze.
Annuals
A few annuals are rich in foliage color.
- There are many fibrous rooted begonias with bronze foliage. Included here are these series of begonias: the Alfa Mix, Bingo series and Cocktail, Espresso and Vision series. Flower colors are mainly pink, red and white.
- For an airy look, plant bronze fennel right in the flower garden. It’s one of those see through plants that can even be placed in the front of the bed or mid-border.
Shrubs
A few trees and shrubs in particular have true bronze leaves.
- ‘Diablo’, a member of the Physocarpus family, emerges greenish in spring but soon turns a deep bronze-y brown. It grows vigorously but can be kept trimmed down to a manageable height through late winter pruning.
- Hibiscus ‘Kopper King’ is a hardy hibiscus with pink flowers centered in deep red, and bronze-toned leaves that give it its name.
- In trees, don’t overlook Japanese maples – Acer palmatum. The atropurpureum strain have leaves that turn bronze in summer and brilliant red in autumn. These are generally upright growers; if you want the weeping Japanese style of maple look at A. palmatum dissectum, especially ‘Ornamatum’ or ‘Nigrum’.
Using Bronze Foliage Well
Brownish or bronze foliage looks especially striking contrasted with gold, or with blue leafed plants, but add drama and striking contrast in any garden if not overused. The flowers that accompany most of these plants are so colorful that as long as you are careful to stagger bloom times your garden will look glamorous rather than gloomy.
The copyright of the article Plants and Shrubs with Bronze Leaves in Landscaping is owned by Carol Wallace. Permission to republish Plants and Shrubs with Bronze Leaves in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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