Foliage Follow-Up - May 2013

Last week, we celebrated flowers, and today we take a look at foliage in the garden, after all, a great garden should balance both, right? Head on over to Pam's site Digging for more FFU posts as well as Christina's Creating my own garden of the Hesperides for Garden Blogger's Foliage Day!


I have to admit, the shady area around the north side of our house is a bit of a foliage hodge-podge. I probably fell into the trap of "one of everying-itis". Oh well...that's the downfall of the plant-obsessed, right?

While our early heat a few weeks ago caused most of the Rodgersias to prematurely go green, the new leaves still show the nice bronze coloring. Several varieties of Rodgersia dominate this space, and they seem to finally be settling in, and are really clumping up.


Agastache 'Golden Jubilee' is one of those great plants with gorgeous foliage and flowers...love it!


One of my absolute favorite plants, Selinum wallichianum, has leaves so finely-divided they make ferns jealous!


For dramatic foliage patterning, you can't beat Persicaria 'Lance Corporal'. It manages to be dramatic without being ostentatious!

Persicarias are great foliage plants, tough and adaptable. On the left, again, is 'Lance Corporal', and on the right, 'Red Dragon'...probably the most-grown Persicaria in Portland gardens.


I do love the ghostly blue foliage of Sedum sieboldii...and as a bonus, it turns vibrant shades of yellow and red in autumn.


My favorite tall Sedum, 'Matrona'. I love the pewtery leaves and contrasting red stems.


A recent purchase, Sanguisorbia mensiezii...love these blue-gray, serrated leaves...almost like a miniature melianthus.


The newest in my collection of Persicarias, 'Purple Fantasy'. The dramatic color definitely gets more muted as the season progresses, but that's fine by me, as the contrasting chevron is still very apparent.

Lupines are prized for their blooms (and rightly so) but their foliage is so beautiful (while it lasts). On the right is my favorite Hosta, 'Big Daddy'...and this year it's really starting to live up to it's name...a good 2.5' tall and probably 5-6' wide...LOVE those blue leaves!


Another shot of 'Big Daddy', I'm really pleased by how the Oxalis have colonized around the other plants, blanketing the area.


Panicum 'Northwind' may be one of the finest grasses I've ever grown. It doesn't have the wonderful red coloring of many of the Panicums, but it is remarkably upright and has this wonderfully steely-blue coloring.


Another foliage-centric combo in one of my parking strips, with Origanum 'Aureus', Sedum 'Matrona' and Anemethale lessoniana.

Eutrochium 'Gateway' is probably one of my top 5 garden plants...I can't imagine having a garden without it. Great, imposing structure, reddish-purple stems, wonderful mauve flowers (that bees go crazy for) and lush, serrated foliage that appears in whorls along the length of the stems. On the right is the related, Eutrochium rugosum...grown primarily for it's chocolatey-colored foliage.


Another graceful plant that produces leaves in whorls (who doesn't like saying that), Veronicastrum 'Fascination'.


I honestly don't know if I'm supposed to call this Cimicifuga or Actaea anymore...but who cares, the foliage is still gorgeous, although it's usually much darker than this.


While talking about grasses last week, Heather mentioned that her Panicum 'Shenandoah' was already showing some red coloring in it's leaves. Of course, I ran home in tears, totally defeated. As luck would have it, I was able to dry my eyes the next day, as my Shenandoah was also showing some red coloring. Above is another Panicum, 'Huron Solstice'.


While most of them aren't necessarily grown for their foliage, many Agastache do have nice coloring, especially on their newer foliage, as you can see here in Agastache 'Purple Haze'.

The Agastache on the left (Agastache rupestris) could hardly look more different from 'Purple Haze' in the previous photo. While the peachy-orange blooms of this Agastache are ok, I actually like the soft, gray foliage even more. On the right, another Anementhale lessoniana, this one located in the backyard.


After seeing Ricki's large colony of Acaena inermis 'Purpurea' this spring, I can't help but be a little perturbed that my own plants aren't nearly as vigorous...oh well...they are still pretty...and I can be patient...right?


While it's hard to ignore the multitude of blooms right now, the real reason to grow Amsonia hubrichtii is for the wonderful, thread-like foliage. It forms a substantial, shrub-like mass in the garden after flowering, and turns a wonderful golden color in autumn.


In the backyard, I have to admit, one of the things I'm most pleased about this year is the fact that the Parthenocissus is finally starting to really cover the fence. For some reason, it makes the garden feel more established.


Ahhh...spring...don't you just love all that fresh, new foliage!


Again, Happy Foliage Follow-Up and Garden Bloggers Foliage Day!!!