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Gallery: Shrub Borders

Gray and Pastel Shades
Blue Potato Bush
Artichoke
Lamb's Ears Silver Carpet
Jerusalem Sage
Shrub Rose
Cecile Brunner Rose (polyantha)
Blue Potato Bush

Common name:Blue Potato Bush
Botanical name:Lycianthes rantonnetii

This plant will grow 6 x 8' wide and produces beautiful purple flowers tha bloom all year. It does best in full sun and is very drought tolerant.

Artichoke

Common name:Artichoke
Botanical name:Cynara scolymus

This perennial will grow 4' tall and 6'-8' wide. It has silvery green leaves with bluish purple flowers that bloom in spring. Artichoke is a favorite fruit/vegetable of California kitchens but it is a great ornamental plant often overlooked for color contrast. It is very tolerant of little water when planted for ornamental purposes.

Lamb's Ears Silver Carpet

Common name:Lamb's Ears Silver Carpet
Botanical name:Stachys byzantina 'Silver Carpet'

This variety of Lamb's Ears does not produce flowers worthy of having. It is grown for the beautiful, soft, silver gray foliage.

Jerusalem Sage

Common name:Jerusalem Sage
Botanical name:Phlomis fruticosa

This hardy perennial is a useful, old-time garden plant with coarse, woolly gray green, wrinkled leaves and yellow, 1" flowers in ball-shaped whorls. It handles drought and poor soils but needs full sun.

Shrub Rose

Common name:Shrub Rose
Botanical name:Rosa Shrub varieties

The dark green, heavily veined leaves of this bushy shrub are strong support for the pure white or pink, nearly double flowers it produces. This is a very tolerant, heavily scented plant with an impressive fall color. Also, large hips appear intermittently with this plant.

Cecile Brunner Rose (polyantha)

Common name:Cecile Brunner Rose (polyantha)
Botanical name:Rosa 'Cecile Brunner'

This climbing rose can grow as tall as 25' with support. It has become one of the most popular roses in cultivation because of its strong display in spring of lightly fragrant flowers that look like tiny, high centered, hybrid tea roses. It is long-lived, disease resistant and tolerates everything from poor soil to partial shade.

Designer: Alison Jordan

Gray and Pastel Shades
Image: 22 of 30

Photographer: GardenSoft

Soils and Compost:

Incorporate compost 6" into your soil to retain water, reduce compaction, feed earthworms, and provide valuable nutrients to your plants.

Integrated Pest Management:

Develop healthy soil for plants that are vigorous and naturally pest-resistant.