Lime Coloured Plants – here are my favourites

After a hard day’s gardening, I often relax with a gin and tonic on the patio. Of course it must have an ‘ice and a slice’. And my preferred slice is lime. I also love a slice of lime in the garden. I think lime coloured plants can really lift a gloomy corner and they provide a fantastic contrast to all sorts of other zingy colours. In fact if you went around a garden centre with a lime coloured plant, I think you’d struggle to find other plants which didn’t go with it.

So I thought I’d share a few of my favourite lime coloured plants.

Top Lime Coloured Plants

Alchemilla mollis ‘Lady’s Mantle’

This is such a classic, some might say, old fashioned perennial that it’s easy to overlook. But I’ve seen so many gardens where it’s frothily lightening things up. So I’m sticking it top of today’s list. Alchemilla is great for walkways, under trees in woodland type areas, in beds or as an edge to a border. Alchemilla grows about 1 ft tall and creates a lovely mound of velvety green leaves. These look particularly attractive after a shower, as the leaves seem to hold raindrops perfectly. So it’s a top plant in a rainy UK garden!

Alchemilla’s chartreuse coloured flowers are not showstoppers. But they come in largish sprays from June to September and really give the plant its zing. Happy in sun or partial shade and pretty well pest free, what’s not to like!

Silene Fimbriata

If you like a nice tidy border this plant isn’t going to be for you! Silene Fimbriata produces a glorious tangle of stems topped with the sweetest, lime coloured flowers. These are shaped like a bonnet and have a little white fringe. They romp away from May through to August and even when the flowers are over, the foliage keeps the lime effect going.

I have a large drift of Silene Fimbriata in my semi-shaded woodland bed. Here it contrasts beautifully with the Allium Purple Sensation, providing a wild backdrop to the Allium’s more ‘structured’ look. The Silene Fimbriata also works very nicely with the hots pink of the rose For Your Eyes Only (I wonder how many other plants have been given a James Bond related name?!)

Euphorbia characias subsp. wulfenii.

Next up on my list of lovely lime coloured plants is a Euphorbia with a big name – Euphorbia characias subsp. wulfenii. And quite rightly so, as its impact in my garden is very very big. This Euphorbia is architectural and adds heaps of drama to one of my borders. Its foliage is bluish-green and looks tip top all year round. But nothing quite matches the period in early Summer when the large, towering, dome-shaped, lime-yellow flowers do their thing. They look like something from a sci-fi movie.

This Euphorbia grows about 1 metre tall and likes moist, well-drained soil in full sun. I’ve seen it thriving in sunny borders, and in gravel gardens. In fact I have some lining the edge of my gravel drive. Here it gives the illusion that this part of my garden is designed, when in fact it’s completely neglected by me! So if you have a spot where you want to create some effortless impact, and you want lime coloured plants, this one’s for you! 

Acorus Ogon

Grasses add real movement to a container or border, and there are some tremendous ones with a lime coloured hue. First up is Acorus Ogon. This grass-like perennial grows up to 1 ft tall and is easy-peasy and versatile. It can cope with a bit of sun and looks lovely edging a path or border. I’ve seen it planted en masse to create ground cover. You could also put it next to a pond to soften the effect and lighten things, or you could put it in a container, as I do. I had mine in with contrasting violas and now the violas have gone (they were unwatered for a week and died) I’ve got the grass on its own. And I’m tempted to leave it that way, as, with wonderful arching leaves, I think it’s a class solo act.

If you keep it in a pot, don’t forget to water it as it likes moist soil. I like my lime coloured grasses in blue containers as I think the colour contrast really works. If you’re thinking about the way to match lime coloured plants with other colours, you may find my blog on how to use colour combinations in the garden helpful.

Hakonechloa macra  ‘Aureola’ – Japanese Forest Grass

Hakonechloa is another family of beautiful, ornamental grasses. It’s fantastic next to more structured plants such as box, or lining the edge of paths and borders. However, once again I have mine in a pot (yes blue coloured). And the variety I’ve gone for is Aureola as it’s got vivid green and yellow striped foliage which creates a lime effect. However, this one does go reddish (I believe) if you have it in full sun, so mine is in partial shade. From late Summer, it produces pale green, slender, flower spikes but it’s the leaves which I love.

Heuchera Lime Marmalade

With apple-fresh lime leaves, I have Heuchera Lime Marmalade in semi-shade, edging part of a border. When I wander around the garden at dusk, G&T in hand (still weeding and deadheading), this heuchera pulses out of the gloom. It’s quite extraordininary. I almost feel its leaves are phosphorescent!

The flowers are really pretty too, small and slightly frothy. That’s why, as lime coloured plants go, this heuchera takes some beating. Heuchera Lime Marmalade grows about 50cm tall, is hardy but likes damp-ish conditions. I think it looks brilliant in mixed borders, especially with white flowers. Unlike many other pale leaved heucheras, this one can deal with a bit of sun. And as the heuchera fan club will tell you, its also easy to propagate. Indeed, this year alone I’ve doubled my stock of Lime Marmalades! You can see how I did it in my blog on dealing with leggy heucheras

Kniphofia Limelight

Confession time. I don’t have a gorgeous picture of this plant to share with you in my garden as, despite planting it twice now, it just hasn’t thrived. So why do I keep trying to grow the blooming thing? Well, I love it because it’s a bit different. It’s a smaller (grows about 60cm tall) but no less statuesque red hot poker, without the red!

Instead Kniphofia Limelight produces short spikes of acid lime-green flowers. They’re so eye-catching. Then for good measure, and even more drama, it also has slightly curled leaves. I think they’d look stunning with hot, jewel coloured plants.

The problem with my Kniphofia is I keep doggedly putting them in a spot which doesn’t get enough sun! They like full sun. So if you want to avoid my disappointment don’t kid yourself they’ll thrive in semi shade. Mine don’t. They’re still alive but I can sense them grumbling about me from afar!

Annabelle Hydrangeas

Strictly speaking Annabelle Hydrangeas are white, but if you have them in a slighly shaded spot, I’d argue that they actually have a lime hue. As such they make it onto my list.

One of the biggest features in my garden is my arc of 10 Annabelle Hydrangeas which grow under 5 Catalpa bignonioides ‘Nana’ trees. The combination is designed to screen a garden eyesore. And it works. But what I really love is the cool, lime toned effect which the Annabelles create. For instance today is an absolute scorcher, but the Annabelles look cool, calm and collected. I think it’s the lime tone which creates that coolness.

Nandina Magical Lemon and Lime

This is a new plant for me, but I thought I’d include it as the hardy shrub is indeed quite magical. Its new foliage emerges in Spring a yellowy green, but proceeds to turn a richer lime green. Now, to sustain this effect you need to grow it a sunny spot. Then the leaf colour will remain quite bright. However, if you make my rookie error of letting it get plunged into shade because it’s surrounded by other plants, then the leaves will become a darker green. Gah…that’s why the picture above doesn’t do it justice. So I thought I’d share the label so you can see how it should look!

In Autumn the leaves will become orange-red. So this is a lime coloured plant with a real bonus!

It grows about 60cm tall and mine is in a pot (yes, yes, blue). But you could equally grow it in a border that’s not too wet and drains well.

Giant Scabious – Cephalaria gigantea

I don’t know why I’ve put its proper name up there as we all know it as Scabious. I have lots of other types of smaller Scabious in my garden (pink, white and mauve) but don’t have this gorgeous giant limey Scabious. But I wish I did, as I absolutely love it. It grows up to 2.5 metres tall. In a large mixed border it can look incredible. For instance, the above picture is a garden in my village which belongs to Diane and Michael Schultz. It’s a glorious garden. Indeed it’s one I wrote about last year when blogging about Langford’s open gardens. The Giant Scabious in their mixed border looks lovely alongside verbena, roses and further along it more subtly mingles with foxgloves and delphiniums. A masterclass in cottage garden planting.

Lime Coloured Plants – Hosta Guacamole

To be honest, I could have filled the list with wonderful limey coloured hostas. Lime Shag, Twist of Lime, Limey Lisa…yes these are all hosta names – honest! And, as their unlikely names suggest, they’re lime-coloured.

I’ve blogged about my top ten hostas. So if, like me, you’re a hosta-hollic you can revel in them there. But if I had to choose one for its lime credentials I think I’d go for Guacamole. It’s a larger hosta (grows about 55cm tall) and produces bell-shaped almost white, fragrant flowers in August which the bees love. Although hostas are mostly considered shade lovers, this one will grow in full sun – it grows even faster if you keep it in those conditions apparently – but mine is in a shaded spot. Where it’s handsomely ruling the roost along side a load of other lime coloured plants. In a world of plants, this hosta knows it’s boss!

So that’s it. Lots of limes to refresh your garden! Now, is it too early for a G&T?