Richly textured plants invite you to stop and feel the foliage
I do n’t take an even paper , but the paper missy stops by my house every afternoon . I just image her , stroking the golden , silky flower petal of my California poppy ( Eschscholzia californica ) . And sooner this outpouring , I caught her surreptitiously caressing the royal , velvety cop of the Spanish lavender ( Lavandula stoechas ) . I ’m the same means . When I scrutinise my garden every morning , I expend my manus as well as my eyes to reawaken my delectation in its beauty . I sweep the downy leaves of artemisia ( Artemisiaspp . ) against my cheeks , ladder the seedheads of blue fescue grass ( Festuca glauca ) past my fingertips , and twinge the snapdragons ( Antirrhinum majus ) to make them yawl .
contact my plant gives me neat pleasure , but I ’ve yet to discover a catalogue that describes texture as vividly as color and scent . So over the geezerhood , I ’ve rise my own tilt of plant that are fun to tint .
The silvery-gray leaves of lambs’ ears are soft enough to stroke
Lambs ’ ears grows in a boneheaded , low gym mat that crowd out weeds . In summertime it ignite with gray spikes tipped with tiny , violet flowers . works lambs ’ capitulum in a dry , sunny place where you’re able to stroke it as you walk by — in a pot or between stepping - Harlan F. Stone . It will soon spread out by settle down stems . It is not invasive , but if it care your climate , it might reseed itself in a ironical , neglected recess . It can outlive temperature as low as – 20 ° farad ( USDA Hardiness Zone 5 ) , but the foliage get mushy in warm , wet mood . My favorite isStachys byzantina , the one industrial plant I develop mostly for its grain . Its furry , silvery - hoary leaves remind me of the ears on my children ’s plush Easter bunny . Rubbing a leaf on my cheek has the same console consequence as stroke a bunny ’s ear .
Other gray, woolly-leaved plants have feel appeal
There are many other gray plants with flocculent folio . Most originate in hot , dry climates similar to mine in California ’s Central Valley . Their hairy leaf protect them from the extremes of lighter and temperature of my near - desert climate ; the unfitness is just concomitant . But you do n’t ask red-hot , dry summertime to grow these plants successfully .
Mint - scented geranium ( Pelargonium tomentosum ) has orotund , piano leaves — pale green on top and whitish underneath — cover with foresightful , silky hairs . It reminds me of an Angora rabbit jumper . With average soil and pee , it grow to about 3 pes high and wide . In springtime , it bears clusters of dainty , clean blossoms . It ’s only hardy to Zone 10 ( 30 ° F ) , so address this frost - tender plant as an yearly or grow it indoors in cool climates .
Another darling , ‘ Powis Castle ’ artemisia ( Artemisia‘Powis Castle ’ ) , was developed in the ice chest , rainy climate of Great Britain . Visitors to my garden ca n’t pass by it without stroking its fine part , lacy leaves , with their silklike texture and sheen . It sprawls to about 3 feet high and 5 feet wide .
Dittany of Crete , or dittany ( Origanum dictamnus ) , is an decorative oregano usually grown for its gaudy bracts . It has soft , furred leaves about the size and shape of a dime . Dittany is low - growing and creeps out about a foot in each guidance from its base . constitute it in a hanging kitty or let it spill over the side of a raised bed to get the full effect of its cascade branches and to ensure that it take good drain . Both gas plant and artemisia are only moderately hardy , come through temperatures down to about 15 ° F ( Zone 8) .
Grassy seed heads may tickle your fancy
Not all plants with pleasing texture are hirsute . Plants with slender blades of foliage or feathery seed heads educe a different kind of superstar . When you sweep them over your hide , they arouse a light , pleasant titillation .
pasturage are interesting all year . I chuck the clumps of blue fescue edge my front edge whenever I take the air by . These fearless grasses ( Zone 5 ) look as lenient as gunpowder puffs , but the blades are springy , with slightly prickly tip . I also revel the sorry - fleeceable , white - stripy leaves of bulbous oat grass ( Arrhenatherum elatiusssp.bulbosum‘Variegatum ’ ) rippling through my fingers . It is audacious to Zone 6 ( – 10 ° degree Fahrenheit ) .
But the real pleasance of forage comes when they are blend in to sow . Each has a different texture . Blue fescue has fine - grained ejaculate heads while the less dauntless ( geographical zone 8 , 10 ° F ) Esparto grass ( Stipa tenacissima ) has thready , slightly rough seed psyche , reminding me of flax or hemp fibre . The flower stalks on my carmine jet grass ( Pennisetum setaceum‘Rubrum’,or ‘ Cupreum ’ ) remind me of a cat ’s tail — the stiletto heel is about 6 inch long , with soft awns emerging from the item-by-item ejaculate heads to give it a furred facial expression and feel . This tender grass ( Zone 9 , 20 ° atomic number 9 ) is usually grown as an yearly . It ’s at its good in fall , when the flower spikes grow from purpleness to tan .
Pampas grass ( Cortaderia selloana ) throws up flossy 1- to 3 - foot long plume with the nubbly texture of raw silk that domicile atop improbable stalks . The plume come in ashen , emollient , or beige - pinko . Pampas grass is stunning to look at , too , peculiarly when backlit . Although garden designers usually relegate it to the back of a border — it can uprise up to 20 feet — judge putting it at the turn of a way of life , so that you may stroke the fine , silky plumes as you walk by . But forget hatful of room for the path because the leaves can have sharp edges . I care dwarf pampas grass ( C. selloana‘Pumila ” ) ; it grows only to about 10 foot — which entail that it ’s easy for me to reach the plume . It is hardy to Zone 5 .
Toying with playful plants
I also endeavor to include a few natural process flowers in my garden — those you may tweet , squeeze , or vellicate to produce some reaction . Children particularly like these kinds of plants . One 11 - yr - previous I know bang pop open plump fuchsia buds to see the ballerinas inside . Fuchsias ( Fuchsiaspp . ) come in white and just about every nicety of pink and purpleness . They are prettiest in windowpane boxes or hanging baskets where their flexible , flowering staunch can cascade down . These attendant plants ( Zone 9 ) prefer partial to full shade , humidness , coolheaded summer temperature , and lots of water , making them well-heeled to grow only in coastal regions . But you could also grow them in a greenhouse or as houseplants — they are well worth the effort .
My own favourite action efflorescence are snapdragons . I ca n’t balk plucking off the dragons to snap at my friends . I refuse to imbed the butterfly hybrids in my garden ; any snapdragon in my flower bottom has to be able-bodied to snap its jaws . snapdragon are usually grown as yearly bedding plant , blooming in spring in balmy winter clime and in early summertime in colder climates . Give them fair soil and water .
Touching tours uncover new tactile pleasures
On a noontime walk , one friend discovered that the blossom of the Mary Jane Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree ( Cotinus coggygria ) , have the bouncy texture and springiness of a poriferan . I seek to find the efflorescence — an airy mass of in - long filaments covered with midget hair — at the peak of their salad days because they lose their bounce and turn crispy as they senesce . And when I take visitors to tour the arboretum at the University of California at Davis , we always stop to gouge the bark of the cork oaks ( Quercus suber ) at the entrance to the campus . When I first commence cerebrate about plant textures , I did n’t gain how many industrial plant I subconsciously enjoyed poignant . Now my friends and I have sport searching out new tactile delights .
Everyone has a dissimilar tactile favorite — the furry leafage of mullein ( Verbascumspp . ) , the harsh , aging barque of a Japanese inflorescence cherry tree ( Prunus serrula ) , the waxy petals of a rose , even the sharp spikes of an Eastern prickly pear cactus ( Opuntia compressa ) . Each day I attend onwards to give away new tactile joy that await in the garden .
Eastern prickly pear cactus is , well , prickly . It ’s best hold on a few feet away from a way .
easy to the touch , mulleins also lark eye - catching foliation . Their large , soft leaves add form , as well as texture , to the garden .
Purple poley is springy and sticky to partake .
Mullein is fuzzy all over . The foliation , the stalks , and even the yellow-bellied flowers are fun to stroke .
The ferny foliage of yarrow is soft and lacy , and build an attractive , spreading earth cover .
This Lydian ling even take care bouncy . Press the branches down and they bounce right back .
29 plants with pleasing texture
Furry plantsArtemisias ( Artemisiaspp.)Dittany of Crete ( Origanum dictamnus)Lamb ’s ears ( Stachys byzantina)Mullein ( Verbascumspp.)Pussy willow tree ( Salixspp.)Mint - sweet geranium ( Pelargonium tomentosum)Spanish lavender ( Lavandula stoechas )
Tickly plantsBlue fescue ( Festuca glauca)Bulbous oat skunk ( Arrhenatherum elatiusssp.bulbosum‘Variegatum’)Esparto dope ( Stipa tenacissima)Fennel ( Foeniculum vulgare)Red fount grass ( Pennisetum setaceum‘Rubrum’or ‘ Cupreum ’ )
briary plantsEastern prickly pear cactus ( Opuntia compressa)Fuller ’s teasel ( Dipsacus sativus)Mexican pasturage tree ( Dasylirion longissimum)Roses ( Rosaspp.)Purple coneflower ( Echinacea purpurea)Sea holly ( Eryngiumspp.)Hens - and - doll ( Sempervivumspp . )
Spongy plantsCork oak tree ( Quercus suber)Lydian broom ( Genista lydia)Purple poley ( genus Teucrium polium)Smoke Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree ( Cotinus coggygria)Snow - in - summer ( Cerastium tomentosum )
Playful plantsFuchsia ( Fuchsiaspp.)Snapdragons ( Antirrhinum majus )
lenient , silky plantsCalifornia poppy ( Eschscholzia californica)Dwarf pampas grass ( Cortaderia selloana‘Pumila’)Yarrow ( Achillea millefolium )
Margaret Eldred garden with a keen sense of spot in Davis , California .
All photo : Lee Anne White
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The angora-like hairs on this geranium leaf are soft to stroke.
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The tall plumes of dwarf pampas grass feel like raw silk.Plant large grasses within reach, not just at the back of the border.
Margaret Eldred passes through a tall, feathery stand of fennel that flanks either side of her vegetable garden entrance.
Eastern prickly pear cactus is, well, prickly. It’s best kept a few feet away from a path.
Soft to the touch, mulleins also sport eye-catching foliage. Their large, soft leaves add form, as well as texture, to the garden.
Purple poley is springy and sticky to touch.
Mullein is fuzzy all over. The foliage, the stalks, and even the yellow flowers are fun to stroke.
The ferny foliage of yarrow is soft and lacy, and makes an attractive, spreading ground cover.
This Lydian broom even looks bouncy. Press the branches down and they bounce right back.
