Adding plants with colorful foliage is a great way to bring eye-catching drama and unique textures to your garden. In small gardens, color can play a vital role in adding depth and interest. Garden plants with pink foliage in particular can really add a ‘wow’ factor to gardens!
Green foliage can add a lushness, but there’s just something about uniquely colored foliage. Plants with pink foliage are rarer and bring an other-worldly glow to your garden.
What makes garden plant leaves pink?
Chlorophyll is the green pigment that turns leaves green. But why are some leaves pink? It’s all because of a pigment called anthocyanin.
In pink-colored leaves, there’s more anthocyanin than chlorophyll. This makes plants appear red, pink, or purple. Scientists are still trying to discover the value that anthocyanin gives to plants.
The extra anthocyanin in some wild pink and purple plants is thought to possibly provide protection from sun damage. It could also be because of the anti-oxidative properties of anthocyanins which could prevent infections!
Outdoor garden plants with pink leaves and foliage
These outdoor, garden shrubs and trees all have striking pink foliage that can add warmth and joy to any small garden space.
1. Hebe
An often under-appreciated garden shrub, hebes have an amazing variety of foliage and flower colors. They produce conical clusters of tiny flowers in summer which provide even more vibrant colors. Depending on the variety the flowers might be blue, pink, purple, or white.
Usually, the foliage is at its most pink in winter, when new shoots are emerging. This makes hebes amazing plants for bringing color to a winter garden.
Some of the most striking pink hebes with pink foliage:
- Hebe ‘Heart Breaker’
- Hebe ‘Frozen Flame’
- Hebe ‘Red Sunset’
2. Heavenly Bamboo
For softer foliage that dances in the breeze, heavenly bamboo shrubs (Nandina domestica) are a lovely option. New foliage is tinted in shades of pink while older growth underneath is bright green. They’re a compact size, usually growing no bigger than 2ft, so they’re ideal for bringing color into a small garden.
There are a few different varieties with varying shades of pink. From the pale pink ‘Twilight’ to the bright pinks of ‘Fire Power’ and ‘Blush Pink’.
3. Photinia
With a similar coloring to heavenly bamboo, photinia brings beautiful pink shades to a garden in Spring. Two popular varieties are ‘Pink Marble’ and ‘Pink Crispy’. On both, new foliage is flushed a beautiful light pink. In summer, leaves will begin to darken, eventually turning burgundy, until new growth appears next year.
Photinias are also great plants to bring color into a garden in winter. Their foliage is evergreen and will stay vibrant throughout the winter.
4. Kolomikta vine (Actinidia kolomikta)
A beautiful vining plant that produces bright green leaves with some mottled with a light pink color. The green and pink leaves contrast beautifully and it makes a really unique wall of foliage when grown up a trellis.
In Spring, new leaves will have silvery, white edges and patches. As the leaves mature these white patches will develop into a bright, light pink color.
5. Heuchera
There are some gorgeous shades of pink among heucheras. Loved for their brightly colored foliage and pretty clusters of flowers on tall stems, heucheras are always a vibrant addition to the garden.
There are some heucheras with amazing silver foliage and purple foliage too if you’d really like to add some drama to your borders.
Some of the pinkest heuchera varieties:
- Heuchera ‘Berry Smoothie’
- Heuchera ‘Wild Rose’
- Heuchera ‘Coral Berry’
6. Coleus
Coleus plants have possibly the most striking pink pigmentation in their leaves. Some varieties like ‘Watermelon’ have an almost neon pink coloring.
Like heuchera and begonia, they’re tender plants, so they’re ideal plants for shady areas.
Some of the pinkest coleus varieties are:
- Coleus ‘Pink Chaos’
- Coleus ‘China Rose’
- Coleus ‘Crimson Ruffles’
- Coleus ‘Watermelon’
7. Acers
Acers are loved for their delicate, brightly colored foliage. You can find them in shades of purple, green, deep purple, and yellow, but there are also some striking pink cultivars too.
The pinkest Acer is the ‘Pink Passion’ cultivar. It has beautifully vibrant pink leaves, that deepen to a blazing red through summer and into winter.
On other varieties, new leaves will emerge as vibrant pink, then slowly change to green or a variegated pink and green. Acer ‘Taylor’ has delicate pale pink leaves in spring that will eventually turn green and white in summer. Because of their small size, acers are great trees to grow on balconies.
8. New Zealand Flax (Phormium)
For a more dramatic and architectural look, the colorful foliage of New Zealand Flax can be really eye-catching. There are some beautiful varieties with striking, pink stripes that can inject some cheerful color into a small garden. It has thick blades of upright, grass-like foliage that can become a real focal point.
Some of the most pink Phormium varieties are:
- ‘Pink Stripe’
- ‘Sundowner’
- ‘Maori Queen’
- ‘Pink Panther’
Another very similar plant is the Cabbage Palm (Cordyline australis). There are some cultivars of these plants that also have distinctive, bright pink variegation markings on their leaves. Varieties like Cordyline ‘Pink Passion’!
9. Begonia
Begonias are often loved because of their showy flowers, but their foliage can add amazing color and texture to a garden too! There are some beautiful varieties with bright pink variegation and swirls. Begonia ‘Wild Fury’ has an incredibly unique, pink swirl pattern on each leaf.
Some of the most pink begonia varieties are:
- Begonia ‘Candy Queen’
- Begonia ‘Merry Maker’
- Begonia ‘Maori Haze’
- Begonia ‘Pink Champagne’
They’re tender plants so don’t place them in blazing sunshine. This makes them ideal plants for shady gardens!
10. Herbst’s Bloodleaf
Beef plant, chicken gizzard plant, Herbst’s bloodleaf. The common names for Iresine herbstii may not be the most flattering, but the otherworldy pink foliage really makes up for it!
It has distinctive dark veining, which does create a marbled meat look, obviously inspiring the name ‘beef plant’.
It’s a tender plant, so it won’t survive a frost. It will survive outside in USDA zones 10-11. However, in cooler climates, you can grow them as annuals, or as a houseplant that you bring outside in summer!
Whether you love the color pink or are simply looking to add more variety and drama to your garden. I hope you enjoy adding these pink plants to your mini garden space!
Other foliage colors that work well with pink leaves are black, purple, and silver. They can bring instant, eye-catching impact to any garden space.
Warm foliage tones…
- Plants with orange leaves
- Plants with red leaves
Cool foliage tones…
- Plants with silver leaves
- Plants with purple leaves
- Plants with black leaves
- Plants with blue leaves
