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Background Plants:
Then, of course, there's the not inconsiderable matter of your own personal preferences. Everyone has their own favorite plants. Think about what it is that attracts you most about them. Do you like them to be exotic, dramatic, pretty, colorful, graceful or unusual? Do you want them to provide a peaceful relaxing background or do you want attention grabbers?
These are all considerations that will greatly influence your choice of plants. The pages that follow look at all the different types of plant that are available to you, including trees, hedges, shrubs, climbers, perennials, annuals and biennials, bedding plants, bulbs and rock-garden plants.FOLIAGE PLANTS are an important part of any planting, but particularly so container plantings, which tend to have short periods of interest created by seasonal plants. Foliage, however, provides a permanent background structure against which flowers can come and go. Gray-leaved plants such as Helichrysum petiolare and Senecio bicolor, syn. cineraria bicolor, play a useful part in different color schemes. When reds and blues are combined with white, gray will "cool" the impact of the strong hues. Its neutral tones make the visual leap to pure white less dazzling. A subdued background of gray foliage will bring out the best in pastel pinks, mauves and misty blues, and will delicately harmonize container color schemes.
In this design, the hard, clear lines of paving have been softened by an area of light gravel, which also works as an effective foil for the carefully chosen background plants. The color and texture of the gravel also contrast well with the purple-leaved shrub which dominates the terrace. The height of the plants is.
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