Jumping on the Foliage Follow Up Bandwagon

Lately I've been woefully late for Bloom Day and since I actually design my garden around foliage and usually capture lots of foliage combos in my Bloom Day pictures, I'm going to take a stab at an official Foliage Follow Up post this month.  At the very least I'll be on time for something.  Some of these pictures will include flowers but I promise to keep them to a minimum.

 

Head over to Pam Penick's Digging to follow all the other foliage fanatics this month. 

 

'Mojito' is not one of my favorite Colocasia cultivars but I always grab one every season.  Sometimes it has a tendency to fade into the background so this year I sited on the patio in from of my Prunus persica 'Bonfire', another great foliage plant.

Melianthus major, Plectranthus 'Troy's Gold, and Strobilanthes among other things.

That fabulous Acalpha came without a tag. Does anyone know what it might be?  Last year I lost my specimen Euphorbia cotinifolia.  At the end of the season I managed to fish a little sprig out of the base of the plant, potted it up and brought it inside for the winter.

Summer on the patio seems to have been what the doctor ordered as it's bold and beautiful once again.   For some reason local nurseries don't seem to carry this plant in their premium annual areas anymore so I'd hate to lose it.

 

Containers definitely carry the garden this time of year.  Here we have Coleus 'King Crab', Oxalis 'Copper Glow' and Alternanthera 'Red Threads'.  King Crab is part of the Hort Couture Under the Sea Coleus collection.  The varieties I managed to snag this spring were fabulous performers and are among my new favorites.

Abutilon 'Salmon Variegated', Coleus 'Fishnet Stockings' and 'Sedona' and more Alternanthera 'Red Threads'

Caladium 'Tapestry' and Coleus 'Oompah'.  Fortunately I tuck the plant tags in the pots when I plant all this stuff in the spring.  My fingers are already black from fishing around in potting soil to get as much cultivar info that I can for this post. 

 

Coleus 'Bonefish' (another from the Hort Couture Under the Sea collection), a no tag Alternanthera and a variegated pink New Guineau impatiens.



One of my Symphytum 'Axminster Gold' plants is showing some unusual variegation on a few of the leaves.  Maybe I have some new cultivar on my hands.

Can you tell I'm a sucker for Caladium?  Too bad they are almost impossible to over winter here.  Miss Muffet makes a nice companion for Coleus 'Grape Expectations'.  In the background is another favorite Coleus 'Smallwood Driveway'.

Sanchezia speciosa, Alocasia wentii and an unknown Coleus that may be Gold Lace.

Caladium 'White Christmas', Coleus 'Spumoni' and 'Margarita' sweet potato vine.

A long view of the tangled jungle that is my side entry.  Strobilanthes, Colocasia 'Illustris', Abutilon 'Souvenir de Bonn' various Coleus...

A few blades of Pennisetum 'Vertigo' cascade into another unknown Coleus and a Phygelius 'Sunshine' that overwintered in a pot in my unheated shed but has yet to bloom.  With foliage like that do we really care?

Two of my favorite hardy foliage plants-Albizia 'Summer Chocolate' and Diervilla sessilifolia 'Cool Splash'.  Since it's tough for me to get a picture that doesn't feature a Colocasia, I snuck in that 'Thai Giant' leaf for good measure.

A little bit of a happy mess here...Liriope muscari 'Variegata', Persicaria 'Red Dragon' (unfortunately an annual for me but I keep trying), and another garden workhorse, variegated New Guineau impatiens. 

Sorry to say but I am drawing a complete blank on this vine.  I bought it as an annual a few years ago and it is anything but.  In fact it's quite vigorous and climbs high into a Viburnum.My friend Monique knows what it is but she's currently celebrating her 25th anniversary in Bernuda so I can't ask.  Anybody?
 

From my worn out front curb garden a variegated Yucca with Microbiota decussata.  Look closely and you can see a Lychnis coronaria seedling in the middle of the Microbiota.

My garden does not get enough sun to support large grasses as evidenced by this poor flopping Miscanthus 'Sarabande'.  However I can't resist growing them so I have a few.  That poor little Castor Bean picked up on sale during the July heat wave didn't get enough water.  Due to the toxicity, I tend to plant things like Castor Bean in outlying areas of the garden that are not accessible to the Nickster.  Then I forget about them.

 

 

Here is one Castor Bean I did not forget about.  Occasionally all the planets align and they get quite large here.  I've even had them reseed.

Happy Foliage Follow Up Day from the Nickster!  I still intend to post my Bloom Day pictures at some point this week.  Just not tonight.

Sue~

August Bloom Day and Foliage Follow Up-Better Late Than Never

I missed August Bloom Day.  Trust me I tried but between work and personal commitments this week I just couldn't pull it off.  When the camera battery died as I was dashing around the garden early yesterday morning trying to pull something together for Foliage Follow Up, I almost gave up.  But so much is going on in the garden right now I just had persevere.  I'm glad I did. 

Today I leave for my annual week at the beach.  Every year I look forward to a week of just watching the sun rise and set and the tide going in and out but this year I am more than ready to get away.  Since I'm pressed for time this morning, my comments will be brief.  Let the pictures tell the story.

Things have gotten somewhat out of control along the side walkway.  I let the too many of the reseeded Amaranthus and Cleomes survive and now I have a grove.  Heleniums are just ecstatic this year with all the rain we've had.  And next spring it will be time to coppice the Cotinus 'Golden Spirit'.

Not sure which Helenium cultivar grows here.  It's either 'Mardi Gras' or 'Coppelia'.  The foliage is Baptisia minor, a nice tidy choice for small gardens.

Yes, we have Crepe Myrtles in Connecticut.  With the exception of the winter voles ran amok in this garden, 'Dynamite' has been a reliable performer for me.

Foliage of Amsonia hubrichtii and Cotinus 'Golden Spirit mingles with fading flowers of Hydrangea paniculata 'Dharuma'.

Nothing beats an Ensete maurelii for tropical foliage drama.  De Big BA-NA-NA!

Another container combo that has really taken off this year.

Can somebody yell me why they call these Four O'clocks?  They bloom whenever they feel like it.  This picture was taken in the early morning.

Another view from the side walkway garden.  Pennisetum 'Rubrum', Coleus 'Sedona' and Heliotrope planted in the ground behind some Allium senenscens 'Glaucum', a great Allium that I have begun dividing and moving around the garden.

Hibiscus 'Kopper King' and Phlox 'Norah Leigh'.  Hibiscus sawfly has been brutal this year.  Despite fairly regular spraying, all my perennial Hibiscus leaves look like crap.

Here is a wider view of one of the patio gardens.  Oddly enough, Musa basjoo has not grown as well as usual although it is still 5-6 feet tall.

Some patio containers.  Variegated Sunpatiens are the bomb.  Too bad they are so difficult to find around here.

Colocasia 'Thai Giant' in a pot with some miscellaneous potted Coleus and more reseeded Amaranthus.

More patio containers.  Fortunately I have a very good friend who takes care of the garden and house for me when I'm away.

More great foliage-Symphytum 'Axminster Gold' and Rex Begonia 'Escargot'

Canna 'Intrigue' and Callicarpa 'Duet' seem to be playing well together.

As the shadows lengthen with the passing season (boo hoo!),  I have to shuffle many of the patio containers around.  The Twerpster is on an inspection tour.

Colocasia 'Illustis' in the ground with Hydrangea quercifolia 'Little Honey'.  In the back ground is Hibiscis syriacus 'Sugar Tip' and Dahlia 'Mystic Illusion'.

Down by the shed, Panicum 'Northwind' glows in the early evening sun.

And Helenim 'Red Jewel' is a perfect companion plant.

Usually I plant Pennisetum 'Vertigo' in the ground but this year I'm also growing one in a pot.  So far, so good.

In case you haven't already figured it out, I love big, bold foliage.  Colocasia 'Diamond Head' certainly fits the bill.

Here is a sneak peak at the Tetrapanax I planted in early spring.  Come fall I will be protecting this in hopes of getting it to survive the winter.  Stay tuned for that experiment.

Phlox 'Blue Paradise' was a new addition this year.  So far it's lived up to it's billing.  I planted it with Sedum 'Autumn Charm' (the best variegated Sedum I've come across BTW).

Albizia 'Summer Chocolate' how do I love you, let me count the ways.  You look great with everything.  Here we also have Eupatorium 'Baby Joe' and Hibiscus syriacus 'Little Kim'.

And here we have Colocasia 'Thai Giant'.  Be still my heart!

Another fabulous variegated Phlox 'Shockwave'.

Another exuberant container backed by a solitary Calamagrostis 'Karl Forester'.

Meanwhile in the east garden...the fine foliage of Indigofera amblyantha contrasts nicely with a large Castor Bean and a variety of other foliage plants.  In the lower right is Sedum 'Xenox'.  Finally a deep purple sedum that actually thrives.

This pass along white Brugmansia has been a trooper in the garden for many years.  In the winter it goes dormant in a closet in my basement.

Sometimes it all comes together like this combo of Ligularia 'Britt Marie Crawford', Aralia 'Sun King' and variegated Lysimachia clethroides.

I was going to move this Eleutherococcus 'Variegata' but Eupatorium not so 'Little Joe' looks too good growing up through.

Hydrangea paniculata 'Quickfire' is still throwing huge new flowers.

Looking back down the path through the screen porch garden.

Just a few miscellaneous shots then I have to wrap this up so I can move on to other things like packing.

Some containers around the hot tub.

One of the last containers I planted with some miscellaneous sale plants.  Love the way Dichondra cascades and covers the ground.

Such a beautiful flower on this double purple Datura.  It looks like porcelain.

Angelica gigas.

One of my favorite foliage plants-Plectranthus 'Troy's Gold'.

Even though there is so much more, that's it for now.  I'm not linking my post this month to either but as most of you know, you can enjoy Bloom Day from around the world at Carol's May Dreams Gardens and Foliage Follow Up at Pam's Digging.

Enjoy!

Sue~