Here’s something you might not know about strappy plants – they’re a brilliant fix when you find yourself faced with a gardening disaster. Take these 3 reasons to use strappy plants. We’ve all been here: this is how strappy foliage can dig us out of the hole (pun intended)…

1. Inserting some style: at some point the most rigid landscape design loses its edge. Plants grow. Or they self seed from somewhere else. Or we find ourselves with new plants – gifts or brought home from the garden centre on a whim – and we tuck them in amongst the rest. Some gardeners are happy with this d-evolution but for too many of us, we wander out one day and it suddenly hits us that our landscape has shifted. It’s become blurry. It may be charming but it has lost its punchiness and style. The fix is simple. Find a strappy plant that you like the look of, something you know will perform without fuss like a Festival^™ cordyline (known as Fountain™ cordyline in the southern hemisphere). Position a few where you think they’re needed (they’ll add texture and focus), then plant them into the garden. Problem solved.

2. The tragic granny-look mixed planter: if you are a container gardener – a keen collector of pots filled with lovely plants – it’s tricky maintaining a stylish or even funky vibe. There are a few tricks you can use, like growing whatever you like but in matching containers… all classic terracotta, or glazed blue, or modernist concrete. (The flipside version of this looks awesome too, but it is a bit boring for hands-on gardeners: an eclectic collection of pots but with the same plant growing in all of them.) The most common problem is the big container filled with a mix of plants which is starting to look like you’re minding it for your Great Aunt Bernice while she’s in hospital. The fix is easy. Pop in a strappy foliaged plant and your mixed container’s edginess will be restored. Problem solved.

3. The ugly view: surely every gardener faces this problem at some point? We are charged with blocking the view of the neighbor’s ugly garage, or too-public hot-pool. And to make things more difficult, we often don’t have much room to work with – literally. So the next time you’re faced with a very narrow planting footprint and you need something to leap out of the ground and provide cover fast, embrace something like the strappy tower Burgundy Spire^™ Cordyline. Not only will your functional problem be solved, but you’ll have done it with a flourish of design flair.