At last! Stripes are in – and that’s everywhere you look, from the catwalk to wallpaper, to the garden centre. Which is brilliant news, because stripes are fun. Stripes are easy to work with and get right. And stripes look terrific. So let’s cut to the chase and talk about how to go about designing your garden with striped foliage.

Technically, plants with foliage that’s striped are known as variegated plants. It’s useful to know this because it makes it easier to chase things down online. And if you ever see a plain-leafed plant you like at your nursery, you can ask the staff if it comes in a variegated form. (For example, there are nice every-day green leafed cannas and then there’s the astonishing in-your-face-rainbow-bright-striped Canna Tropicanna®). There are even special interest groups for variegated plants if you want to delve deeper into the world of striped multi-toned foliage.

When you do start looking at fancy foliage plants (and you will), it won’t be long before you come across a warning: something along the lines of, “a little goes a long way”. This is a conservative take on things, a belief that foliage that contains more than one colour should be used as a freakish highlight amongst a more traditional landscape planting. If you agree, then follow this advice. Or you could be bold and gather together as many variegated plants as you like and plant them all together – in the garden or in a mega-sized container.

Honestly, having just one heroic stripy plant is also an ok move, just make sure that its supporting plants don’t steal the limelight. To make everything look terrific, the trick is to pick out the toning colours or shades and find plants in these shades to surround your hero.

And now, two practical housekeeping tips:

1. Often stripes and other variegation is brightest when the light levels are ideal for the plant. So do your homework, find out what light levels your plant really enjoys, then grow that plant in its happy spot.
2. Also, variegation is not often passed on from parent plant to child via seed, so if you’re keen to propagate more of your lovely stripy plants for yourself or friends, take cuttings.