Southern Living Plants Logo
  • About Us
    • History Of The Collection
    • Events
    • Brochure
    • Testimonials
    • Botanical Gardens
    • Why Choose Plants from Southern Living® Plant Collection?
  • The Plants
    • Shrubs
    • Trees
    • Berry Plants & Fruit Trees
    • Annuals and Perennials
    • Groundcovers/Grasses
    • Tropicals
    • Vines
    • New Introductions
  • Where to Buy
    • Find a Retailer
    • Online Retailers
    • Local Landscapers
  • In the Garden
    • Plan Your Garden
    • Inspiration & Projects
    • Planting & Care
  • Connect With Us
    • Like Us
    • Pinterest
    • #SLPlants
    • Youtube
    • Request Newsletter
Menu
  • About Us
    • History Of The Collection
    • Events
    • Brochure
    • Testimonials
    • Botanical Gardens
    • Why Choose Plants from Southern Living® Plant Collection?
  • The Plants
    • Shrubs
    • Trees
    • Berry Plants & Fruit Trees
    • Annuals and Perennials
    • Groundcovers/Grasses
    • Tropicals
    • Vines
    • New Introductions
  • Where to Buy
    • Find a Retailer
    • Online Retailers
    • Local Landscapers
  • In the Garden
    • Plan Your Garden
    • Inspiration & Projects
    • Planting & Care
  • Connect With Us
    • Like Us
    • Pinterest
    • #SLPlants
    • Youtube
    • Request Newsletter
Search
Close
A beautifully landscaped front yard surrounding a front sitting area using Southern Living plants

How to Use Purple Daydream Dwarf Loropetalum in the Landscape

  1. Home
  2. How to Use Purple Daydream Dwarf Loropetalum in the Landscape
  • By Kim Toscano
  • August 6, 2019
Selecting Plant Companions for Purple Plants

With lively purple foliage and a compact, mounding habit, Purple Daydream® Dwarf Loropetalum provides ample opportunity for dynamic plant pairing.

Effective plant companions complement or contrast one another in color, texture or form. Let’s look at a few ideal companions and why they work.

Ground Layer Companion Plants

Depending on the scale of your planting, Purple Daydream itself can serve as a groundcover, but most gardens will include lower-growing companions.

When selecting plants for the ground layer, look for plants that reach a maximum height of 18 inches or less to provide a significant difference in height between plant layers. Try one of these groundcovers:

Endurascape™ White Blush Verbena – The lavender-pink blooms provide a soft echo of color to the purple foliage in sunnier plantings.

‘Buttered Rum’ Heucherella – Purple and orange make a surprisingly warm color scheme combination. Textural differences in the leaves provide gentle contrast.

Evercolor® ‘Everillo’ Carex – Complementary colors on the color wheel, like purple and yellow, always work well together. This combo is perfect for brightening up shadier areas of the garden and provides loads of textural contrast.

Backdrop Companion Plants

Showcase the vibrant foliage of Purple Daydream® against a deep green backdrop; Purple Daydream will create a lovely line of purple in front of privacy plants.

Make sure plant sizes vary enough to establish a multi-layered planting. Consider selecting plants for year-long interest such as spring blooms or winter berries.

Sugar Cookie™ Viburnum – A compact, dense shrub provides evergreen foliage that shifts color with the seasons and produces fragrant spring blooms. A sturdy backdrop that is also dynamic.

White Wedding™ Hydrangea – Though deciduous, the long-lasting white blooms, sturdy branches and large leaves provide plenty of textural contrast throughout the year.

October Magic® Orchid™ Camellia – The lavender fall flowers from this Southern Living October Magic Camellia complement Purple Daydream’s foliage. For variety, try a pink flowering camellia instead.

Spring Sonata™ Indian Hawthorne – Dense, glossy green foliage on this white-flowered shrub provides a constant backdrop while the masses of white spring flowers and purple winter berries provide seasonal highlights.

Add Pizzazz with Accent Plants

A garden composed of rows of similar sized plants would be rather monotonous. We know to place taller plants toward the back of a planting and shorter plants in front, but it is also important to vary plant height along the length of a planting.

This is accomplished by adding accents and specimens as well as so called “filler” plants to the garden. Don’t be afraid to pull taller accents forward in a planting and push low-growing fillers behind a specimen. These variations in height help emphasize focal points.

‘Orange Rocket’ Barberry – The upright habit of the barberry contrasts with the mounded Purple Daydream, providing a strong visual accent. Fast-growing red-orange foliage provides a soothing complement of color.

‘Marvel’ Mahonia – This shade-loving winter bloomer is a focal point full of excitement. Bold texture and yellow winter blooms brighten shade to partial shade gardens and provide contrast to the tidy foliage of Purple Daydream.

‘Lemon Lime’ Nandina – Perfect for intermingling among loropetalums, this vibrant evergreen shrub provides ample contrast in color, texture and form.

Indigo Frost™ Agapanthus – Large globes of white and indigo flowers add a punch of energy to any planting. Flowers echo Purple Daydream’s foliage while long, strappy foliage provides textural contrast.

With all pairings, it is important to consider the cultural needs of each plant. Purple Daydream grows in full sun to part shade and so must its companions. Evaluate the light conditions to determine which full sun plants or part shade plants would perform well in the selected location.

Other considerations include water and soil needs. Keep cultural requirements in mind throughout the plant selection process.

Pin this Dwarf Loropetalum Companion Plant Article!

Kim Toscano

Kimberly Toscano is a freelance writer, gardening expert and traveler with an eye on design. Kimberly blends her formal training in horticulture and entomology with her passion for design to educate and inspire gardeners.
View More Articles

Related Articles

Loading...

Video: Southern Living Loropetalums

Find the perfect Southern Living Loropetalum for your landscape.

5 Ways to Use Purple Pixie® Dwarf Weeping Loropetalum in the Garden

Purple Pixie® Loropetalum just might be the perfect container plant.

Pruning 101: How and When to Prune Loropetalums

There are times when pruning loropetalums may be needed. Follow these tips.

Plants Featured In The article

Loading...
Viburnum

Sugar Cookie® Sweet Viburnum

Viburnum odoratissimum ‘COMPACT01’ PP29937
Camellia
Soft pink informal Camellia bloom with yellow center and pink margins on the petals; Inspiration October Magic Camellia

October Magic® Orchid™ Camellia

Camellia sasanqua ‘Green 94-035’ PP20465
Mahonia

‘Marvel’ Mahonia

Mahonia x media ‘Marvel’ PP27425
Barberry
Graduated foliage of Orange Rocket Barberry is red on top and becomes green at the bottom

‘Orange Rocket’ Barberry

Berberis thunbergii ‘Orange Rocket’ PP18411
Agapanthus

Indigo Frost™ Agapanthus

Agapanthus hybrid ‘AMBIC001’ PP25519
Carex - EverColor® Series

Carex EverColor® ‘Everoro’

Carex oshimensis PP23406
Loropetalum

Purple Daydream® Dwarf Loropetalum

Loropetalum chinense ‘PIILC-III’ PP25471
Hydrangea
Heaps of white bloom heads on White Wedding Hydrangea

White Wedding® Hydrangea

Hydrangea paniculata ‘LeeP1’ PP28973
1 2 Next »

Join the Conversation!

Where To Buy
Southern Living Plants

{find a garden center near you}

Southern Living Plants Logo
Instagram
Facebook-f
Pinterest
Youtube

Plants

  • Annuals and Perennials
  • Berry Plants & Fruit Trees
  • Groundcovers/Grasses
  • Shrubs
  • Trees
  • Tropicals
  • Vines
Menu
  • Annuals and Perennials
  • Berry Plants & Fruit Trees
  • Groundcovers/Grasses
  • Shrubs
  • Trees
  • Tropicals
  • Vines

About Us

  • About Us
  • History Of The Collection
  • Events
  • Botanical Gardens
  • Testimonials
  • Contact Us
Menu
  • About Us
  • History Of The Collection
  • Events
  • Botanical Gardens
  • Testimonials
  • Contact Us

PRO Resources

  • Brand Resources
  • Marketing Support
  • Fact Sheets
  • Image Gallery
  • Re-Wholesaler Locator
Menu
  • Brand Resources
  • Marketing Support
  • Fact Sheets
  • Image Gallery
  • Re-Wholesaler Locator
©2021 Southern Living Plant Collection