Best Silver-Leaf Plants for Your Garden

Plants that have silvery foliage are some of the most valuable in the landscape because they look good with anything. Silver helps tone down bold, hot reds, yellows, and oranges, yet harmonizes with soft blues, pinks, and whites. Here are some of our favorite silver plants.

'Jack Frost' Brunnera

Silver is particularly effective in the shade where it helps brighten dim corners. One of the finest silvery perennials for shade is Brunnera 'Jack Frost', a stunner with sky-blue flowers in spring and glorious heart-shape foliage that keeps its cool look all summer long.

Name: Brunnera macrophylla 'Jack Frost'

Growing Conditions: Shade and moist, well-drained soil rich in organic matter

Plant Size: To 18 inches tall and 24 inches wide

Zones: 3-8

Japanese Painted Fern
Japanese painted fern is a perfect planting partner for 'Jack Frost' brunnera --- both have lovely leaves, but the fern adds a fine texture to the mix.

It also offers a new color; the silvery-green fonds are flushed with burgundy-purple, adding depth and dimension. Happily, Japanese painted fern is slow-growing, so it won't take over the garden in the way some old-fashioned ferns can.

Name: Athyrium niponicum pictum

Growing Conditions: Shade and moist, well-drained soil rich in organic matter

Plant Size: To 1 foot tall and wide

Zones: 5-8

'Silver Shimmers' Lungwort

If you're looking for an easy-to-grow plant for shade that deer and rabbits won't eat, try lungwort. This lovely little perennial blooms in early spring, producing blue, pink, or white flowers over long dark green leaves marked in silver.

Older varieties feature silver spots, but newer selections such as 'Silver Shimmers' (shown here), 'Majeste', and 'Silver Bouquet' feature brighter foliage.

Name: Pulmonaria 'Silver Shimmers'

Growing Conditions: Shade and moist, well-drained soil

Plant Size: To 1 foot tall and 2 feet wide

Zones: 4-8

'Purple Dragon' lamium

A topnotch groundcover, 'Purple Dragon' lamium offers wonderful heart-shape leaves overlaid in silver and clusters of red-purple flowers throughout the summer.

Like most groundcovers, lamium wants to grow and grow, so give it plenty of room to spread. Some gardeners have found it spreads faster than they like, but lamium is rarely considered invasive.

Other varieties that feature silvery foliage include 'White Nancy', 'Pink Pewter', 'Red Nancy', and 'Orchid Frost'.

Name: Lamium 'Purple Dragon'

Growing Conditions: Shade and moist, well-drained soil

Plant Size: To 8 inches tall and 3 feet wide

Zones: 4-8

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