Desert Bushes With Silver Leaves

Large Shrubs

• Despite harsh conditions, many desert shrubs grow quite large. These shrubs are perfect for hiding unsightly landscape features. Texas silverleaf is native to Texas, New Mexico and Mexico. It grows to 8 feet tall and has dense, velvety silver foliage and purplish pink flowers. Leather leaf acacia is a large shrub with round, gray-green foliage and fuzzy, elongated yellow flowers. Flinders range wattle is a large, weeping shrub with thin, gray-green leaves and yellow, puff ball flowers.

Evergreen Shrubs

• Visual interest in the garden year-round is a goal of many gardeners. Many desert shrubs are evergreen, offering attractive foliage in every season. Texas sage grows to between 4 and 8 feet tall and blooms with purple to pink flowers on silver foliage. Indian mallow is native to the southwestern U.S. and is a small shrub with soft, silvery foliage and yellow flowers. The coulter bush is native to South Africa and has feathery, sliver foliage and dense flowers heads of small yellow flowers.

Showy Flowers

• Water-wise doesn't have to mean drab. Plenty of desert shrubs have spectacular blossoms. Desert lavender produces tight clusters of delicate lavender-colored flowers on fuzzy silver foliage. Silver cottonwood is an Australian shrub with small silvery leaves and showy clusters of tiny white flowers. Fernbush has feathery, gray-green and aromatic leaves and flower spikes dense with white, daisy-like flowers.

Fragrant Shrubs

• For planter beds near doors or under windows, fragrant desert shrubs can bring the outdoors in. Silver leaf cassia is a dense shrub with thin, curved leaves and fragrant five-petaled yellow flowers. It is a favorite of butterflies. Autumn sage has tiny, fragrant, silvery leaves and tall flower spikes in white. Hummingbirds are often attracted to autumn sage. Another hummingbird favorite is the blue ranger shrub. It has small cup-like, sliver leaves and deep purple, sweet-smelling flowers.