A splash of color, even chartreuse, can unite a garden

It has come to my attention that there are gardeners who do not share my affinity for chartreuse in the garden. Despite the brightness it can bring to shady spots and the fact there isn’t another color that it doesn’t play well with, some people apparently are just not into chartreuse.

Shocking though this may be, as a person with mixed feelings about variegated plants, I can understand that bossy plants — those that can demand attention whether it’s deserved or not — are not always welcome in every garden.

One of the handier roles that chartreuse and variegated plants play is that of uniter, knitting together various parts of a garden to bring cohesion through distinction from the plants around it. In the sea of green that makes up the palette for most landscapes, repeated shocks of the same distinct color help carry your eye throughout the space. And although chartreuse and white excel in this role, strong oranges and reds do the job as well and may be more appealing to some gardeners.

At the top of the list for orange plants that do this job well is ‘Orange Rocket’ Barberry (Berberis thunbergii). Starting out as bright coral in spring, it ages to orangey red as the season goes on, standing proud at about 4 feet tall but just 18 inches wide. It grows in sun to part shade, and can be pruned for shape if a neater look is desired. And crucially, it’s sterile, so it will not become a nuisance invader like older varieties of barberry and is generally not favored by deer.

A bigger shrub that packs another orange punch is Amber Jubilee ninebark (Physocarpus opulifolius). Coming in at 5 to 7 feet tall and 4 to 6 feet wide, Amber Jubilee’s foliage emerges orange and gold, turns to green and then to an orange-red and purple for fall. It’s best for full sun and was one of the top ninebark’s rated by Chicago Botanic Garden plant evaluator Richard Hawke.

In terms of red-foliage plants that work as uniters, there are even more shrubs that fit the bill.

Although there’s a different color in the name, Stay Classy purple-leaf sand cherry (Prunus x cistena) boasts bright red tips on its 4-foot stems. It’s also fast-growing and can grow in full sun to part shade.

If the anti-chartreuse crowd can offer some quarter, Double Play Big Bang spirea offers red-tinged foliage throughout the season followed by excellent red-orange fall color. Its modest size — 3 feet tall and wide — means it will fit in even small garden spaces, and it of course brings the no-fuss nature of spirea with it.

The design tool of adding in occasional plants that stand out from the rest can work in any landscape, just pick your color and stick with it.