Plant a striking combo. Meet your new favorite autumn ensemble!

Anchor a charming ‘Jennifer Susan’ in a prime spot with morning sun and afternoon shade, dot a few royal ‘Magic Mona’ around it, and allow groups of ‘Everillo’ to illuminate the scene with its golden glow. This will create an elegant plant combination in your garden – a creation which will go beyond autumn! 

Plectranthus ‘Magic Mona’ 

‘Magic Mona’ produces its large and vivid violet purple flower spikes so abundantly that one tends to overlook the fabulous hues of the pretty foliage, which holds the fort when the plant takes a short break from flowering. The growth habit is upright, and the leaves are glossy and very dark green on top with a deep, royal purple flipside. The mature size is about 50 x 40 cm. The locally bred hybrid ‘Magic Mona’ will grow in semi-shade to shade but will flower with greater gusto, basking in a few hours of sun each day. 

Camellia sasanqua ‘Jennifer Susan’

Sasanqua camellias differ from their cousins, the winter-flowering japonicas, by producing their blooms early in autumn and being tolerant to more sun. You can expect generous amounts of semidouble, soft pink blooms with waxy and wavy petals and a subtle fragrance every year without fail on this large, long-living shrub up to 3-4 m high. Combined with dark green glossy foliage on many flowing branches, this large shrub to small tree would also be the perfect candidate for planting in roomy containers in a sunny courtyard. They can also be used as a screen, as a floral hedge, or if pruning is your passion, as espalier subjects due to long and lax side branches which can be trained onto wires. Shaping this plant into any desired form or size is no problem as it will respond well to pruning which will encourage a dense look. It is reasonably fast-growing, very cold- and frost hardy, and is seldom plagued by pests or diseases. 

Carex oshimensis ‘Everillo’

Of all the carex we can plant as textured ornamental grasses, the delightful ‘Everillo’, with its lime-green arching leaves turning golden yellow in summer, is probably the most outstanding variety to choose if a strong contrast is needed to complement other plants with dark foliage. It is evergreen, cold-hardy, and can reach a noticeable size of about 50 x 50 cm. 

Get good growth

• Soil requirement is very fertile humus-rich soil which drains well and is on the acid side. 
• Young plants and those in pots need regular water, but established specimens can hold out for periods of dryness. 
• The best position is the morning sun with dappled shade in the afternoon. 
• Roots should have a cool run, which means mulching regularly with an acid mulch like pine needles or milled pine bark.