companion plants

Pretty soon, the deluge of holiday greeting cards will be replaced with a landslide of mailorder gardening catalogs.

Fine with me. It’s the perfect post-holiday wind-down activity.

So here, at least, is the first of four posts I’ll be contributing on new Tesselaar plants and the perfect plant pairings. And by no means are these recommendations just for Tesselaar introductions. They can, of course, be applied to any plant with a similar color, shape and habit. 

Might as well start with Phormium Black Adder^TM. I’m a sucker for anything dark with an elegant, architectural form. So this glossy, burgundy-black take on the popular New Zealand flax has pretty much everything I need…Its swordlike leaves shoot upward from the base and curve slightly at the tips. It’s also notable for its very dark color, with the added bonus that, unlike its parent, ‘Platt’s Black,’ it’s a strong healthy grower suited to exposed conditions and coastal planting. Extremely wind and drought tolerant, it’s hardy to Zone 8, grows to 3 feet high and can even be overwintered indoors.

Now…what to plant with Tall, Dark and Handsome?

Well, for starters, renowned plant developer Monrovia suggests planting ‘Platt’s Black’ with Canna Tropicanna^® Gold (far left image in the above grouping) with the mirror plant ‘Rainbow Surprise’ (center image in above grouping) I think subbing in Black Adder (far right) would look equally — if not more — stunning. For another yellow-purple combination, Monrovia suggests pairing it with the variegated Australian brush cherry Lemon Swirl® and Cordyline Caruba^® Black. Or, create a dramatic black-and-blue combo with Proven Winners’ English Butterfly^TM Peacock^TM butterfly bush and Monrovia’s Purple Queen^® bougainvillea.

Excellent as a focal point or specimen, Black Adder also makes a striking stand-in for grasses and softens the look of landscape boulders. Underplant with dainty, light-colored, low-growing foliage like perennial geranium, Japanese Forest Grass, Artemisia ‘Silver Mound’ or coreopsis. In containers, it’s great by itself  or as spiky centerpiece among one of the suggested companion plantings.

Did you create any show-stopping plant groupings in your garden this past season? If so, please tell us all about it - and send a picture! I just moved to a new house - and garden - so I’ve got a blank slate and welcome your ideas!