Green table in winter guise
The 'green table', centrepiece of the Orticolario 2013 garden, has been given a winter coat of white and replanted with shade-tolerant perennials for its new indoor location
As promised, the table created for Orticolario will continue its life as a planted, green table. Its new guise has been celebrated by a few parties already, for which it was born. A pretty visitor adds to the charm of the green table
Actually, the 'green table' is now white, to complement the new palette of plants and bring light to an indoor location. A few changes have been made to the structure, including removing the legs to rest the table on a large central plinth, which also houses the tank for the water rill, providing more seating space and a more streamlined look. This is me, Anna, and where I'd like to sit and draw and dream
Trailing variegated Ivy offsets the feathery strokes of green Liriope muscari
Textural and colour contrasts are crisp and refreshing
I was initially skeptical of variegated plants, which can be brash and splotchy, covering nearly the whole leaf (think of the dreadful spotty Aucuba). I am now completely won over by some for their capacities to inject light and colour in shade-loving evergreen ground cover. It's important to see that the variegations of different species are a consistent hue, as plants can have white, cream or yellow variegations - the extremes of white and yellow are garish together - and to consider carefully the shape of the leaf and the overall plant itself. Among my favourites selected here are the Vinca minor argenteovariegata, whose small leaf is barely outlined by cream white, the small leaved Hedera helix variegata, more graceful than other cultivars which are best alone on large walls, and the scene-stealer, Ophiopogun japonicus "White Mist".
Shade-tolerant planting is enlivened by variegated plants
Plants used
Ceratostigma plumbaginoides
Hedera helix
Hedera helix variegata
Liriope muscari "Moneymaker"
Ophiopogon japonicus "White mist"
Pachisandra terminalis
Vinca minor argenteovariegata