Find Your Mellow Yellow Plants
On the hunt for garden gold? There’s a bright yellow plant that will work for you, no matter your garden conditions. Read on for the details about our most popular golden shrubs.
Eureka Gold Yaupon is a staff favorite for its ability to thrive in a wide range of conditions. This native shrub can grow in full sun, bright shade, moist soil, dry soil, sand, and even clay!
Everything about Eureka Gold Yaupon is lush & lively, like the bright lemon-lime color & the dense layer of soft foliage. The leaves create a well-defined, yet natural, undulating surface to the shrub. The relaxed habit & chartreuse shades of Eureka Good Yaupon blend seamlessly into informal plantings and wildlife friendly landscapes. Let these shrubs grow unpruned to showcase their attractive natural habit. If they become too large with age, they can be cut back near the ground in late winter. They will resprout vigorously in spring for a fresh start.
Yellow-green foliage is more lemon in sun m, and more lime in shade. These evergreen shrubs grow 4-5’ tall & 5-6’ wide. Yaupon Hollies do best in open areas, avoid planting them against walls or other areas with reduced airflow.
Sunshine Ligustrum is the sprinter of the group, growing rapidly to 6’ tall or more if unpruned. Sunshine Ligustrum is a survivor, thriving in challenging conditions where other plants would fail. Despite that vigor, it can be kept much smaller with regular pruning. The fine-textured foliage responds beautifully to a trim, producing its brightest color on each flush of new growth. The dense, bushy habit allows these shrubs to be sheared into hedges or free-standing plants with tight edges, that lend a clean, formal look to your garden. Ignore claims of a “Dwarf” Sunshine Ligustrum online, despite claims to the contrary, there is only one version of this plant. While it can be maintained 2-3’ tall with pruning, its mature size is much larger. This shrub needs full sun to retain its yellow color, reverting to green in shade. Plant it in areas with
well-drained soil because consistently moist or wet ground may lead to problems. Some, or all of the foliage may drop in the coldest winters, but fresh golden foliage will quickly cover the branches in early spring.
Touch of Gold Holly is an extremely popular option, thanks to its year-round, rich golden color and extremely compact size. It’s drought tolerant, trouble free, and we love it…but there’s a downside.
That extremely compact size is the result of glacially slow growth. The plants take so long for growers to produce, that supplies are extremely limited.
If you can find it, Touch if Gold Holly a great choice for containers or very small spaces. If you can’t, consider one of the many other fantastic options. Plant in full sun for best color, slowly grows 2’ tall & 4’ wide, average to well-drained soil.
Florida Sunshine Anise is a dwarf version of native Ocala Anise, with bold foliage that will be golden yellow in sun and chartreuse in shade. Florida Sunshine Anise has large, oblong, leathery leaves that inspire a tropical atmosphere. The leaves emit a sweet licorice scent when rustled by the breeze or a gardener’s hand. This slow-growing evergreen needs consistent moisture to look its best. Anise is one of the few shrubs that thrives in shady wet gardens, making it exceptionally useful if you have such a trouble spot. We have seen Florida Sunshine Anise used to great effect as a foundation planting along the side of a home, as well as a container plant that brings easy-care color to a shady patio. The generally upright growth habit of 4-6’ tall & 3-4’ wide can be kept much smaller by trimming just once a year.
Gold Mop False Cypress adds unique texture and habit to its golden yellow leaves. Gold Mop False Cypress, a conifer, produces clusters of thread-like leaves that arch gently toward the ground, creating a dense mound of weeping foliage. While it may be grown in the ground, Gold Mop False Cypress is showcased particularly well in a large container, where the soft foliage will eventually spill over the edges of the pot. The slow-growing, drought-tolerant evergreen provides a low-maintenance & long-term option for your container plantings. Plant only in well-drained soil, never wet or consistently moist ground. Hills, slopes, sandy soil, and/or containers offer the greatest guarantee of good drainage.
Gold Mop False Cypress needs a full 6 hours of sun to maintain its rich golden color, but we are at the southern extreme of its growing range, and the intense summer sun can bleach the foliage. Shade or filtered light in the late afternoon is advisable. This slow-growing evergreen may eventually reach 4-6’ tall & wide, but it can easily be kept much smaller with once yearly pruning in late winter.
