Texture... you think about it with fabric… but have you thought about it with plants? Plant leaves come in a million different sizes and shapes. Grasses, asparagus fern and cacti among others have spiky leaves. There are smooth and shiny leaves on a croton, ruffled leaves of a cabbage or kale and furry leaves on dusty miller. Broad leaves on a sweet potato vine plant and small leaves on moneywort. Truly, the options are endless. In order to have balance with the plants in the container, we always try to have a mixture of at least three different leaf textures. Plant texture is just one of those things most people don’t pay attention to, but when you get it right, wow!

Check out the textures in the picture above. In the pot on the left, the dracaena spike leaves are long and thin and the moneywort has small round leaves. The middle planter has sedum as a spiller, which is short and spiky. The planter on the right contains hibiscus with large leaves and vinca major with medium oval leaves. The different textures add so much interest to these planters!