Silver Dollar

It seems like there are lots of plants called “Silver Dollar” and this is our version here in Barbados. I love the grey-green leaves that can show off a contrastingly coloured shrub beautifully, as is shown in one of the images below - Silver Dollar with purple allamanda at the back.

Silver Dollar tolerates dry salty conditions well, so people who live near the sea tend to use it generously in their gardens. Funnily enough, I had one for a few years growing in a very large pot that looked great until it got infected with two kinds of blight. Try as hard as I might, I just couldn’t get that shrub to come back, and eventually got rid of it.

The leaves are almost velvety to the touch, and the plant puts out minuscule little flowers and ball bearing sized seeds, that are green at first (almost the same colour as the leaves), but then dry out to become brown balls that drop off onto the surrounding area.

I don’t know anything about propagating these plants, as I have only got mine as established seedlings. Silver Dollar shrubs can be trimmed to form a hedge, and they can be allowed to grow into small trees with hard woody bark.

I like Silver Dollar and I think it’s a wonderful contrasting colour against the usual darker greens found in the garden. It can be incorporated into most styles of landscaping.