Red & Green Leaf Identification

Japanese Maple

• Some plants are cultivated to have red and green foliage. These include the Japanese maple (Acer palmatum), a deciduous tree or shrub that grows from 5 to 25 feet tall. Cultivars of this tree come with a variety of foliage colors, including combinations of red and green. The Monzukusni cultivar has green leaves with a red overtone. It grows to 10-feet tall and has seven-lobed leaves that turn bright orange in fall. The Seiyu cultivar has deeply dissected, lacy green leaves with red tips. It grows to 15-feet tall and turns orange, red and crimson in fall. The Tsukubane cultivar has deeply dissected foliage with seven lobes. This 14-foot tree's foliage has a green base with light red tips and matures to deep red with green veins.

Loropetalum

• The redleaf loropetalum (Loropetalum chinensis var. rubrum) grows in a variety of red-and-green-leaved cultivars. This evergreen shrub reaches heights to 10 feet with a similar spread and produces aromatic, clusters of narrow flowers in spring. Cultivars with red and green foliage include the Blush, a 4- to 8-foot tall variety with thick, rough leaves that emerge coppery-red and age to olive green. The Burgundy cultivar has red-purple new growth that turns purple-green in summer; then orange-red in fall. It grows to 10-feet tall and has upright branches. Sizzlin Pink grows to 6-feet tall. It has horizontal branches covered with red-purple new growth that ages to green-purple.

Caladiums

• Several varieties of caladiums (Caldium bicolor) have green and red leaves. These annuals thrive in containers or, in warm climates, as landscape ornamentals. Caladiums grow in a variety of sizes and have two leaf types, fancy and strap. Fancy caladriums have heart-shaped foliage on stems and grow from 12- to 30-inches tall. Strap caladiums grow to 12-inches tall and have narrow, thick, long leaves on short stems. Fancy red and green varieties include Carolyn Whorton, which has red veined leaves with green margins; Fannie Muson, which has red and green veins; Frieda Hemple, Postman Joyner and Rosebud, which have red leaves with green edges; and Marie More, which has pale green leaves with red spots. Strap caladiums include Gingerland, which has white-and-red variegated leaves with green margins and Rosalie, with red leaves edged with green.

Other

• A few other plants have red and green foliage, including Japanese blood grass (Imperata cylindrica var. koenigii). This ornamental grass grows from 1- to 2-feet tall in clumps of upright foliage. It has thin fronds that emerge bright green and turn deep red on the tips. Japanese blood grass grows slowly and has a narrow spread. The Variegata redvein enkianthus (Enkianthus campanulatus "Variegata"), a slow-growing evergreen shrub, reaches heights of 6 to 12 feet and spreads of 4 to 6 feet. It has lustrous, 1- to 3-inch-long green leaves with toothed, white margins and bright red stems.