Most golden leaved plants, including shrubs and perennials as well as grasses, can scorch in strong sunshine and so are for the most part best grown in situations with some shade – where they excel at brightening up often dull and hard to fill spots. Some such as hakonechloa excel in dry soils, and dislike wet soils. Others, such as luzula and carex for example, will be quite happy in a range of soils from average through to moist and even sometimes wet soils.
Hakonechloa All Gold while not liking wet or damp soils, has the most wonderful elegantly elongated golden yellow foliage that is quite superb in average to dry soils in shady spots and also makes a really fabulous container plant. We grow it in both pots and in the garden and it does beautifully in both situations. Hakonechloa Aureola is not entirely golden as it has a green and yellow variegated leaf but it is equally elegant and possibly a little quicker to establish than All Gold. It is perfectly happy in sun where the leaves become a more bright golden yellow but is equally at home in shade where the foliage colour is a softer yellow green.
Slow growing and long lived, Luzula sylvatica Aurea is a lovely form of a UK native that is as resilient as any other luzula and has bright golden yellow foliage that is especially bright in the spring and early summer. It is fine in relatively dry soils but is really good in damp to even wet soils.
The sedges, Carex, are also pretty tough customers when it comes to difficult conditions in the garden including both dry shade and damp shade. Carex elata Aurea is a very popular selection of a UK native sedge that looks at its absolute best in spring and early summer when its flowers can be as attractive as its bright golden yellow foliage.
Happy in a range of soil types it will also grow well in wet and watery marginal pond conditions such as in our Water Garden.
A more recent selection that is proving to be a first class plant is Carex Everillo whose evergreen golden yellow foliage can take on a more burnished hue during the colder winter months. Best in shady spots though it will take some sunshine, it is good in most kinds of soil including damp.
Acorus Ogon is possibly not used as often as it should be for its quite wonderful delicate looking but tough golden yellow and slightly green variegated evergreen leaves that slowly create highly attractive slightly pendulous mounds of foliage. It tolerates dry but is perhaps happiest and most effective in damp and even wet conditions, such as on the edge of our Damp Garden, where it makes wonderful cover.
Acorus Golden Edge is fairly similar in appearance to Acorus Ogon and is equally happy and effective in similar cultural conditions. It has been used as part of our Rain Garden palette for a number of years very successfully. Both acorus also make great pot and container subjects for shady areas.
While Milium Yaffle is not actually golden so much as soft green with central yellow striping, the overall effect is very light and airy and is especially great at dry and shady places, and would not be too happy in damp soils. It can also offer dainty light coloured spikes of flower spring to early summer.
