Foliage Follow-up, May 2012

Three days after my first Bloom Day, I can only succumb to the fact that I’m hooked! Taking photos of your garden and posting them online is really, really fun! But, for as great as they are – blooms are blooms – and generally as temporally significant as a one-hit-wonder. In the grand scheme of a year in the garden, they are not what carry the show. It’s the foliage that provide color, texture, contrast and structure – any designer can tell you that! So, I am grateful to Pam Penick and her blog Digging down in Austin TX for hosting a continued celebration to the monthly Bloom Day – the Foliage Follow-Up. This means I have another reason to go outside and pretend I’m a photographer. Today, it is raining here in Portland, OR, so forgive me if I include a few photos from less wet days in there. They were all taken this past week.

I planted for year round color and contrast here. Mostly grayish greens and reds with bright variegation in summer. In winter when everything else turns to mud, the red twig dogwood looks great against the evergreen cypress, and cheers me up as I sip my morning coffee. I admit being pretty happy with this corner. It holds up well.

Schizophragma hydrangeoides ‘Moonlight’ looking good against what little brick we have in our plastic house. Whoever it was who sold the vinyl siding to the previous owner was a phenomenal sales person. I think the brick is the only part that isn’t covered up. Grrr…. If you think my front yard looks like a jungle – there is a reason for that. Anything to detract from that siding…

A variegated grass winding its way through a lace-leaf Japanese maple.

The fabulous thorns of a magnificent rose that is probably as old as the house. Lately, I’ve been trying to figure out exactly what it is. I think it might be an Etoile de Hollande…

A wonderful low-growing and shade-loving bamboo – Sasa Veitchii – that comes out of winter with a white lining on its leaves. One of my favorites!

This is one of those photos I should have snapped before the rain weighed down the leaves of the Siberian iris. This little vignette didn’t look half bad – perhaps you can still get a sense for it.

New coppery growth of a fern against a Nandina.

Oddly colored leaves of a deciduous rhodie. I attribute it to abuse on my part. I let it sit unplanted for over a year. Good thing there isn’t a Humane Society for plants…

The leaves of a Bamboo iris pressing forth through yet another Japanese maple.

Hostas never look as good as in spring – shiny and new. Some people don’t like them much, but I love them in all shapes, sizes and colorations.

A Hydrangea protecting a Maidenhair fern.

Love the new foliage of Cotinus coggygria ‘Golden Spirit’. It keeps the sun shining even on a rainy day!

A Santolina ‘Lemon Fizz’. This is fairly new to me. Not sure if it’s reverting to its old self, but I know I really like the dark and light greens together.

Hostas and ferns – always a favorite combo, if not very unique!

A Rubus lineatus contrasted against a Hebe. Those leaves make me swoon – so pretty!

Okay, I know these are flowers, but I thought it was so cool how this Clematis is snaking its way through the Dogwood. Let this prove that Clematis doesn’t always have to be put on the rack.

Rain caught in my Melianthus. Who needs diamonds when you can have this?

The black of the ‘Black Lace’ Elderberry against a Corokia. The leaves in the background is a Bamboo iris.

A variegated Japanese Fatsia snuggling with Lonicera ‘Baggesen’s Gold’ in the shade under my gigantic, evergreen Magnolia tree. On a hot day, hiding behind these two, is one of the best reading spots in the garden.

There is still a lot of work to do, but so far I like how the dark and the chartreuse provide counterpoints for the Fan palm’s textural interest, and other more medium green shrubs.