high-impact obsessions: using gold and variegated foliage, with ken druse

EVERY GARDENER has their obsessions—or maybe a nicer way to say that might be to call it their “signature plants,” the ones that help define their garden. I confess to a serious issue with gold-leaved things. And last time I checked my friend Ken Druse had more than a few plants with variegated leaves of all kinds of daring patterns and hues that catch your eye in his New Jersey garden.

Today’s topic is how those colorful leaves actually do very important jobs in our landscapes beyond just looking pretty.

Regular listeners all know Ken Druse as an old friend of mine, and the author of 20 garden books, including “The Scentual Garden” and “The New Shade Garden,” and an earlier book called “The Collector’s Garden” that figures into our subject today. Ken is also my co-creator of the Virtual Garden Club online series of classes that’s marking its two-year anniversary this fall.

Read along as you listen to the Sept. 4, 2023 edition of my public-radio show and podcast using the player below. You can subscribe to all future editions on Apple Podcasts (iTunes) or Spotify or Stitcher (and browse my archive of podcasts here).

Above, Hakonechloa macra ‘All Gold’ in fall, turned from bright chartreuse gold to butterscotch; below, Cornus sericea ‘Silver and Gold’ variegated twig dogwood.

using gold and variegated plants, with ken druse

Margaret Roach: Hi Ken, are you ready to talk about a few of our obsessions?

Ken Druse: A few. Well, I knew we were going to talk about them. So I went around the garden just making a simple list…of 30 plants.

Margaret: Oops!

Ken: Thirty gold and variegated plants.

Margaret: Yeah.

Ken: O.K., I thought I wasn’t going to shop anymore. It’s over. But if I see anything weird, different, funny shapes,