Let’s whet your appetite, so to speak, by considering a few that do well in our equatorial climate:

Quite a few Agaves -- spiky, drought-tolerant succulents from Mexico -- are silver, particularly the small A. parryi and the large A. americana, with the variety A. americana albo-picta being particularly attractive with the pale yellow central leaf stripe.

While on succulents, don’t forget the genera Echeveria and Graptopetalum, several of which have silver or silver/blue leaves and which make excellent ground cover plants or can be used for the front of borders. Similarly there are several silver/blue Senecios, which can be used the same way. Also still in the succulent line, there are several silver-leaved Kalanchoes, both indigenous and exotic that are well worth using.

Other ground cover silver plants are Tradescantia sillamontana and Stachys byzantina “Lamb’ Ears”, both of which have attractive downy leaves. The latter will appreciate some dappled shade at our sunniest times of the year. Also in the ground cover category are the silver-leaved Gazanias, which can have orange, yellow or pink flowers. For mass ground cover of large hot sunny areas there are few plants to beat the drought-tolerant South African Arctotis. They spread very quickly forming a mass some 50-cm high with yellow, white or orange flowers.

An unusual plant that has recently become popular in Europe is Leucophyta browii, sometimes called Calocephalus brownii. It is an Australian plant with compact wiry silver stems and is best used singly as a pot plant or grouped together in a border to give impact to the silver colour. Another Australian plant that grows well here in Kenya is Plectrantus argentatus. Like most Plactranthus, it can quickly spread but is easy to keep in check with some light pruning from time to time. Other silver plants of a similar size include the popular Santolina chamaecyparissus and the many different Lavenders.

In the genus Artemisias, there are several with silver foliage and the one that is more commonly available in this country makes a very attractive 2-metre high drought-tolerant shrub. In the shrub range there are quite a few stunning Buddlejas, including B. madagascarensis, with bright orange flowers, B. salviifolia and B. saligna from South Africa with honey-scented flowers. But please remember to give these Buddlejas plenty of room as they get quite big. Another silver-leaf South African shrub is Salvia African-lutea with unusual brown flowers.

To end, let us not forget the Artichoke that not only provides a tasty starter at mealtimes but is a very ornamental perennial plant with large arching silver scalloped leaves. These are normally grown in the vegetable garden but they can make very attractive focal points for the border.

Most of the plants mentioned in this article, plus many others, are available at the PG Garden Centre so do visit us as you will always find plenty of plants of interest.

Plants Galore Garden Centre
Directions: Use the Limuru Road from Muthaiga and continue past the Village Market and the turning into Runda.  200 m beyond the Runda turning take the murram track on the right-hand side, where there is a Plants Galore signboard. After the bridge over the river, fork right; the Centre is 100 m on the right. You can’t miss it! Telephone: 0773 612589. Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.