Forum home› Plants
This Forum will close on Wednesday 27 March, 2024. Please refer to the announcement on the Discussions page for further detail.

Evergreens in four colours

jamie77jamie77 Posts: 34
in Plants

Hello everyone,

I have four medium-sized pots in my front garden and I’m looking for recommendations for an evergreen plant or small tree that comes in four different colours and doesn’t change colour throughout the year.

I previously had four Japanese maples in red, yellow, green and purple but their leaves changed colour throughout the year and they looked dead in winter.

I don’t mind if they need a lot of maintenance, as long as they maintain the same colour all year round and keep their leaves.

Thanks in advance.

Jamie

«13456789

Posts

  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    Living plants don’t stay the same … they change through the seasons … even the plainer green ones like holly and bay produce flowers and fresh new leaves that change the appearance of the tree  … it’s what they do … they’re alive. 

    I hope you don’t think I’m being rude … I certainly don’t intend to be …. I’m an artist and I understand how important it can be to achieve a desired effect … but I would re-examine what it is you’re trying to achieve and consider whether plants are actually the best way forward in this case.  

    Good luck 😊 

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • Butterfly66Butterfly66 Posts: 970
     Pittosporum has various cultivars which have green (several shades), variegated and Tom Thumb which has green new growth which mature to deep purple/brown 

    Hebe cultivars come with greens, purple, silver-grey foliage, bronze foliage. Some of the grey have different hints or edge colours and there are also variegated green& white cultivars

    Euonymus fortunes and japonicus also have different colour ways single colour and variegated


    Hollies also come in various shades of green and variegated. If you don’t want the colour effect of berries you could focus on male varieties
     If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.”—Marcus Tullius Cicero
    East facing, top of a hill clay-loam, cultivated for centuries (7 years by me). Birmingham
  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    Acers aren't evergreen so it wouldn't matter how many colours you have, they won't keep their foliage, and the point of them is to have those changing colours through spring to autumn.  :)
    What do you mean by four different colours? Do you mean a species that has four varieties in different colourways? You can get the same plants with different coloured flowers, but even then, it's not likely with most evergreens, especially as they're usually shrubs/trees, and they aren't generally grown for their flowers. Hebes fit that category, although the colour of the flowers is a more limited range, but again, you'd have different sizes and habits within that, so they would all look very different, and they're not all totally hardy depending on your conditions, especially in pots.
    I think that'll be almost impossible. You could have 4 of the same type of evergreen, and with variegated foliage. Many have flowers in spring and berries later, like Ilex [holly] but they don't come in different colours as such - they're mainly green/gold, or green/cream foliage. 
    How big are the pots? In cm/inches. That's also a factor in what will thrive, as well as your rough location and climate, and the aspect of the site, and whether it's sheltered or exposed.  :)
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • bédébédé Posts: 3,095
    edited May 2023
    Philosophers' stone?

    Or is plastic the answer?
     location: Surrey Hills, England, ex-woodland acidic sand.
    "Have nothing in your garden that you don't know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    Living plants don’t stay the same … they change through the seasons … even the plainer green ones like holly and bay produce flowers and fresh new leaves that change the appearance of the tree  … it’s what they do … they’re alive. 

    I hope you don’t think I’m being rude … I certainly don’t intend to be …. I’m an artist and I understand how important it can be to achieve a desired effect … but I would re-examine what it is you’re trying to achieve and consider whether plants are actually the best way forward in this case.  


    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • Butterfly66Butterfly66 Posts: 970
    @Dovefromabove is right but for some plants the contrast isn’t as great as others. It’s quite dramatic on Pittosporum Tom Thumb but I also have Golfball and Silver Queen and the colour difference between old and new foliage is quite subtle. Their flowers are also quite insignificant.

    Most Hebes do flower so there will be a colour change then.

    If you are able to see the plants in a GC or Nursery you could hopefully get a sense of the range of shades a plant may display over time and/or whether you would find any flowering too much of a colour change.


     If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.”—Marcus Tullius Cicero
    East facing, top of a hill clay-loam, cultivated for centuries (7 years by me). Birmingham
  • B3B3 Posts: 27,505
    edited May 2023
    Isn't there some invasive groundcover  plant whose leaves have a variety of colours. Can't remember the name.
    Edit. Hottuynia
    In London. Keen but lazy.
  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    Houttuynia 
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • bédébédé Posts: 3,095
    Specifically, Hottuynia codata "chamaeleon".  But that changes colour not just through the year, but leaf to leaf.  So it won't suit the poster.
     location: Surrey Hills, England, ex-woodland acidic sand.
    "Have nothing in your garden that you don't know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."
  • B3B3 Posts: 27,505
    Horrible plant anyway😐
    In London. Keen but lazy.
Sign In or Register to comment.