The tightly packed, tiny, crisp green foliage makes this thirty centimetre high Hebe stand out in the garden. It has a natural ball shape, giving a closely clipped appearance without the need for clipping. It’s superb for contrast with ground covers, for use as group plantings beside paths and driveways or as a contrast to a closely clipped, low hedge. It also fits in well with gravel and stone, and looks superb beside a seat or positioned beside the letter box.
Hebe ‘Emerald Gem’ is extremely cold hardy and easy to grow in well drained soils and open, sunny situations. It can also be grown in containers.
There are some handsome NZ native plants to grow with ‘Emerald Gem’. It’s fun with the low, mounding Scleranthus uniflorus which looks like hummocks of moss and has a wonderful lush green colour. Or try it with ground covering, grey foliaged Pimelea prostrata, or the mat forming, purple leafed Acaena ‘Purpurea’. Other natives to use with it include Parahebe ‘Snowcap’, with dark green foliage to set off the small white flowers which continue for months on end, and the little blue grass Festuca coxii.
Or go with colourful flowering cover plants, such as deep blue Lithodora ‘Grace Ward’, or Bacopa ‘Blizzard’ which has very small, pale green foliage and masses of white flowers from spring to autumn.
Hebe ‘Emerald Gem’ is also an attractive plant to grow with bronze foliage plants, such as heucheras, and to surround with large leafed ground covering plants such as bergenias - the big, horizontal leaves of bergenias emphasise the very fine, needle-like leaves of the hebe.
Another idea for a contrast of form and foliage colour is to grow handsome succulents such Echeveria ‘Blue Curls’ and Echeveria ‘Chocolate’ in between a group of Hebe ‘Emerald Gem’.
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Schemes & Themes
using Liddle Wonder Plants