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~