Five Gold Rings (Golden Plants) to Sparkle in your Garden

Taking my cue from the familiar song ‘The Twelve Days of Christmas’, last year I wrote a Christmassy gardening blog on “A partridge in a pear tree” and days one to four. That blog was about fruit trees and birds in your garden.

On the fifth day of Christmas the singer’s true love gives the gift of ‘five gold rings’. There is some dispute as to whether ‘rings’ refer to the first five books of the old testament in the Bible, or whether the song is still about birds – ring necked pheasants. As days four and six offer birds as gifts it would be consistent for day five to be five ring necked pheasants.

However, I’ve taken a different twist on “five gold rings” so that I can suggest five golden plants – flowers and foliage – that will brighten up your garden in the dull days of winter – and in summer, given the unreliable British climate!

You may also like to consider some of these golden plants if you know a couple who are about to celebrate their Fiftieth or Golden Wedding Anniversary.

Some of the following, suggested golden plants have ‘gold’ in their name. those of you who know a smattering of Latin will recognise that the word ‘aureum’ or ‘aureus’ appearing in the plants botanical name gives a clue that it might be one of our chosen golden plants.

Berberis darwinii – Darwin’s barberry

An evergreen shrub with rich golden orange flowers in spring, and blue black berries in the autumn. It makes a good hedge for boundaries and a glossy backdrop for summer flowering bulbs such as Alliums. Berberis darwinii is tolerant of most soils and most locations, including coastal gardens.

Golden hop Humulus lupulus aureus

Hops are the ‘magic ingredient’ in beer and Kent has many hop farms where you can see this deciduous climber twining its way up to the top of tall frames. In the garden, I’ve found that the golden form is slightly less rampant; planting it against a wall where the soil is drier also helps to curb hops tendency to vigorous climbing.

That said, it is an attractive climber, and as it dies back in the autumn is a good choice to shade a pergola over the summer, whilst still giving light into the house during the winter months.
The female plant has greenish yellow, cone shaped, aromatic flower clusters.

Golden Roses

Okay, a bit of a cheat here, as I’m now naming three roses – but hey, they all smell good and they all have golden in their name. I love them all!

Rosa ‘golden wedding’ – a hybrid tea style flowers with a light fragrance on an upright shrub.

Rosa ‘golden showers’ – a strong climber, with open, almost double flowers, that pale from gold to yellow as they age.

Rosa ‘golden celebration’ – another shrub rose, but with double flowers and dark foliage.

Hedera helix – golden ivy

Less of a cheat this time, as I’m only naming two golden leaved or gold variegated ivies. As they are both evergreen, you would have golden foliage at Christmas.

Hedera helix ‘goldheart’ – also known as Hedera helix ‘Oro di Bogliasco’, this ivy has a splash of gold in the centre of its glossy evergreen leaf. The stems are an attractive red.

Hedera helix ‘jester’s gold’ – with deeply lobed leaves, I think this is a particularly attractive ivy to climb up a shady wall or fence. It will even twine around a topiary frame to give a pyramid shape, a useful trick to lighten a dark corner and give height as well.

Tradescantia ‘blue ‘n’ gold’

Also known as spiderwort and trinity flower, this herbaceous perennial is named after John Tradescant. John Tradescant and his son, also named John, were seventeenth century plant explorers.

Tradescantia have three petalled flowers, hence the common name trinity flower. The rich blue flowers contrast sharply with the golden foliage and bloom throughout the summer and into autumn.

The tomb of both Tradescants, father and son, is at St Mary-at-Lambeth in London; now the Garden Museum (Museum of Garden History)

There you have it, five gold rings, five golden plants to enjoy in your own garden or to give as a gift that will last longer than the Twelve days of Christmas.

And for those of you who like Christmas – why not download our eBook “Christmas and Yule in Your Garden“? Priced to be a virtual stocking filler it’s a fun and informative read.

Or if you’re looking for a Christmas gift with a difference, why not ask about our bespoke Gardening Lessons, where your classroom is actually your own garden? We can help with both gardening basics and more ‘expert tasks’, carry out worm and other experiments and for example, also show you how to plan a wildlife friendly ornamental border.

For further gardening advice and inspiration, check out Plews Potting Shed blogs, including the selection below and our monthly Tipsheet – You could come and find us on Instagram Pinterest and Facebook too.