If you want to make a bold statement in the garden, it’s hard to beat leaves the size of dinner plates. Elephant’s Ear—also known as Taro or Amadumbe—is a robust, tuberous evergreen perennial grown for its spectacular, oversized foliage. Enormous heart- or arrow-shaped leaves, typically 20–50cm long, are held aloft on thick, succulent stems that rise directly from underground tubers. Depending on the cultivar, the leaves come in lush green, deep purple-black, or variegated combinations, creating a bold, tropical, almost prehistoric effect. In summer, inconspicuous arum-like flowers may appear, but let’s be honest—you’re growing this for those magnificent leaves.

Watch it cling to a bare wall, and you’ll see how this climber transforms hard surfaces into living tapestries. Tickey-Creeper, also known as Creeping Fig or Climbing Fig, is a vigorous evergreen climber with tiny, round to heart-shaped, dark green leaves that overlap like shingles, adhering to walls and fences by means of adhesive aerial rootlets. As the plant matures, the foliage transforms, producing larger, thicker, oval leaves on woody stems, and may eventually bear small, fig-like fruits on old wood.

Step onto a path planted with Silver Carpet, and you’re walking on a living mat that’s uniquely South African. Also known as Carpet Daisy or Vlei Daisy, this hardy, evergreen mat-forming perennial forms a dense, flat, spreading mat of small, narrow, blue-grey to grey-green leaves. The leaf margins curl slightly inward, especially when dry, revealing striking silvery-white undersides and creating a beautiful, variegated, almost ghostly effect. From spring through early summer, small, solitary, stalkless, daisy-like yellow flowers add a cheerful accent.

Even without its cheerful blue blooms, this shrub’s creamy-white variegated foliage would still steal the show. The Variegated Blue Felicia Bush, also known as Variegated Blue Marguerite or Variegated Blue Daisy, is a compact, evergreen sub-shrub that forms a neat, rounded mound of small, oval leaves—rich green with beautiful splashes and margins of creamy-white. From spring through summer and well into autumn, it produces an abundance of solitary, daisy-like flower heads in striking sky-blue to deep violet-blue, each with a cheerful, bright golden-yellow centre, held on slender stems above the foliage.

Close your eyes and crush a handful of its foliage—that bright, lemony scent is one of this tree’s most delightful surprises. The Monterey Cypress, also known as Macrocarpa, is a fast-growing evergreen that has become a familiar sight across lowland areas of the Western Cape. Its dense masses of small, scale-like leaves form a uniform, lustrous dark green, packed into upright, bushy branchlets. Young trees grow in a neat pyramidal shape, while mature specimens develop a broad, spreading crown. Small, brown seed cones persist on the branches for years, adding subtle texture.

If you garden near the coast, this tough indigenous shrub is about to become your new best friend. Dune Crow-Berry, or Duinekraaibessie, is a dense, multi-branched evergreen shrub with a naturally rounded, bushy form. Its small, glossy, trifoliate leaves (each divided into three leaflets) are a handsome dark green above and lighter below. Look closely at the top third of each leathery leaflet margin—it’s distinctively scalloped, which gives the plant its scientific name. In autumn (March to April), clusters of small, creamy-white flowers appear at the branchlet tips, followed by small, round berries that ripen to a beautiful wine-red to pale black. Birds absolutely love them.

For a plant that feels as soft as velvet and glows in the afternoon light, Liquorice Plant is a true delight. Also known as Kooigoed or Imphepho, this hardy, fast-growing evergreen shrub forms a dense, sprawling mound of vigorous, loosely branched stems clothed in rounded, heart-shaped leaves of the most beautiful silvery-grey, each covered in soft, woolly hairs. When brushed, the leaves release a subtle, sweet fragrance faintly reminiscent of liquorice or honey. In summer (December to January), small, honey-scented, creamy-white to yellow flower heads appear, attracting pollinators.

Watch a Fuchsia bloom sway in the breeze, and you’ll understand its enduring appeal. Fuchsia magellanica, also known as Hardy Fuchsia or Magellan Fuchsia, is a slender, upright, deciduous shrub with an elegant, arching form. It has small, ovate to lance-shaped leaves in soft mid- to dark green, sometimes with a subtle bronze tint. From summer through autumn (December to May), it produces an abundance of exquisite, pendulous flowers. Each delicate, dancer-like bloom consists of a slender, tubular pink or red tube flaring into pointed sepals, opening to reveal a shorter, frilly inner skirt of rich, vibrant purple petals. In mild, frost-free areas, small, oval, purplish-black berries may follow.