Foliage Day, March 2015

Posted on March 22, 2015 by Tina

The Wearing of the Green

An apt phrase for March in Texas if there ever was one, with apologies to revolutionaries everywhere. No doubt this ditty was sung in the past week somewhere in Austin, Texas, but my focus is on verdant foliage in my spring (officially!) garden. With thanks to Christina of Creating my own garden of the Hesperides for hosting Garden Bloggers’ Foliage Day, spring has most definitely sprung in my home town. Let’s take a quick stroll through this Texas spring garden, shall we?

The columbines are flowering, but their leaves are lush during fall, through winter and into spring bloom time. This little one is paired with a passalong daylily leaf, emerged from winter dormancy, which won’t bloom until early summer.

And this group of columbines leads in a nice foliage vignette which includes a potted American Century Plant, Agave americana and Cast Iron Plant, Aspidistra elatior.

I grow only the native Texas columbines, the Aquilegia chrysantha and the Aquilegia canadensis because others will fry to a crisp in the Texas summer heat.

Engelmann Daisy or Cutleaf Daisy, Engelmannia peristenia, sports deeply lobed fuzzy, gray-green foliage.

The bright yellow blooms will accompany the foliage later in the season.

Lyreleaf Sage, Salvia lyrata, is attractive year round,

…and the foliage makes an excellent ground cover. I planted Lyreleaf as a groundcover in the area where my honeybee hives are located. The plants withstand moderate foot traffic and we can place our beekeeping equipment on the rosettes with little negative impact, as long as the Lyreleaf are not blooming or setting seed.

And once the blooms open, the bees don’t need to travel far for gathering nectar and pollen.

Glorious in burgundy rimmed foliage are the leaves of the Martha Gonzales Rose.

There are currently only a couple of roses open, but I love the color of the tender, new leaves.

Golden Groundsel, Packera obovata, is in full blooming mode, but its foliage demonstrates a bit of a split-personality. Most of the year, the plant acts as a low ground cover with ovate, serrated leaves hugging the ground. As the bloom stalks shoot upward to their flowering ends, the leaves along the stalk form lance-shaped and fern-like.

It’s a foliage twofer.

One of my favorite plants for shade/part-shade is the White Yarrow, Achillea millefolium. It’s always lush, elegant and beautifully spring-green.

I know many people suffer oak allergies and I am sympathetic to their sniffling and stuffed-headed misery, but the pollen tassels on the Shumard Oak, Quercus shumardii, are golden and gorgeous.

I look forward to seeing them every year.

This Shumard branch shows off its new chartreuse leaves,

…accessorized with a tassel skirt, amidst a background full of the stunning native small tree, Mountain Laurel, Sophora secundiflora. The dark green leaves of the Laurel are punctuated by clusters of the signature fragrant, deep purple blooms. Nothing speaks early spring in Austin like that pairing!

What foliage do you sing about this bonny March? Have a look at foliage from gardens everywhere by visiting Garden Bloggers’ Foliage Day and happy spring to Northern Hemisphere gardeners and a good autumn to gardeners in the Southern Hemisphere .

Foliage Day, January 2015

Posted on January 22, 2015 by Tina

It went from this:

…to this,

…and finally, this.

The Shumard Oak leaves responded to the shorter and cooler days, but are no longer much in play on this Garden Bloggers’ Foliage Day. It’s winter, such that it is, here in Austin, Texas. Our winters are generally mild and quite pleasant, though occasionally blasted by cold snaps that send our temperatures from mild 50s-70s into the low 30s, or 20s, and even into the teens (Fahrenheit!)–sometimes within hours.

A stout and flexible gardening heart is a requirement for Central Texas gardeners.

The first part of January saw cold and cloudy days, one after another, with no peek-a-boo play from the sun. I just returned from a short trip to Oregon and enjoyed more sunshine there than I’d seen in Austin in those first weeks of January. Additionally, it wasn’t as cold as it’s been in Austin. How weird is that? To travel to the Pacific Northwest, in January, to experience more sun and warmer temperatures?

Austin revelled in sunshine while I was away and everyone was happier for it. I’m back in Austin and so is the gloom and drizzle and chill. No whining allowed though, I’m enjoying and appreciating the foliage of winter-worthy shrubs and perennials and thanking Christina of Creating my own garden of the Hesperides for hosting this monthly look at foliage in the garden.

The Columbines, Aquilegia hinckleyana and Aquilegia canadensis,

… are lush and generous evergreens during winter. Equally delicate-looking, Bronze Fennel, Foeniculum vulgare,

…and Green Fennel, too,

…add daintiness and feathery beauty, but remain green-n-growing during winter’s chill. I like them as winter interest plants, but I grow fennel for the spring, summer, and autumn butterflies, or more accurately, their larvae.

Of sturdier structure is the Leatherleaf Mahonia, Mahonia bealei, which fades into the background during most of the growing season, but lends both floral and foliage interest throughout the winter months.

Soft-leaf Yucca, Yucca recurvifolia, makes a statement with its bold straps,

…as does the American Century Plant, Agave americana.

Variegated Flax Lily or Dianella, Dianella tasmanica, ‘Variegata’, is snazzy year-round. I grow several groups and they are the only plants I routinely cover during the coldest freezes.

When covered, Dianella retain their stripy charm and they march through our hot summers with aplomb. All of my Dianella are several years old.

Red Yucca, Hesperaloe parviflora, is an evergreen, native Texas member of the Agavaceae family. The Red Yucca foliage is attractive in the winter garden,

…though it would be more so if I would prune its dormant bloom stalks,

…and clean out the fallen and trapped tree leaves from its basal leaves.

More leaf removal is on the gardening agenda for this week I have a long list of garden chores after that, so I’d better get off the computer and get to gardening!

Pop on over and check out Creating my own garden of the Hesperides to view beautiful January foliage from many places around the world.

Foliage Follow-up, September 2014

Posted on September 16, 2014 by Tina

As with our blooms, the Central Texas foliage perks up with September rains, shorter days, and the suggestion of cooler temperature ahead. I join with Pam at Digging to celebrate the end of summer, new beginnings for autumn, and all things leafy.

The pond garden is a riot of fascinating foliage. Just take a look!

Lots of foliage action in this shot! Clockwise from the bottom, the actual water plants include the lily pads of the two lilies I grow (Colorado and Claude Ikins), the Ruby Red Runner, and the showy leaves of the Pickerel Rush, Pontederia cordata. All three pond plants contribute to the biological filtration of my pond, though I also have a mechanical filter.

Continuing with the tour d’ foliage, the plants adjacent to the pond include tropical Yellow Bells, Tecoma stans, Soft-leaf Yucca, Yucca recurvifolia, Firecracker Plant, Russelia equisetiformis, Martha Gonzales Roses, Iris, Autumn Sage, Salvia greggii, and Mexican Feathergrass, Nassella tenuissima. All of these perennials sport differing widths, textures, and colors of leaves.

Ruby Red Runner dies back in the winter, but by late summer into fall it’s full-on lovely and spreading.

It’s seeded out in several places around the pond. This plant, usually used as a waterfall biological filter and prized for its attractive foliage, produces teensy puff-ball flowers,

…which go to seed, thus, the spread.

Another view of the plants near the pond…

Not much blooming in those photos, but a variety of leaf beauty.

I particularly like these water shots with the creeping roots of the Ruby Red Runner, spreading its spidery fingers toward the lily pads,

…as if the roots are creeping outward to grab the pads. Or maybe they’re just reaching out for a watery hug!

The soft, elegant foliage of Lindheimer’s Senna, Senna lindheimeriana,

lends structure to, but also softens the back of my garden. Combined with the bright green leaves of the Yellow Bells and spiky, but matching-in-color American Century Plant, Agave americana,

…the Senna fits well in this spot.

The morning after a recent rain, the foliage of the Purple Heart, Setcreasea pallida, retained droplets along its edges.

With “traditional” autumn coloring, (which doesn’t happen for Central Texas on a large-scale until late November/December), the plumes of the Maiden Grass, Miscanthus sinensis ‘Adagio’, beautifully complement the flowers of Turk’s Cap , Malvaviscus arboreus, and the orange blossoms of Flame Acanthus, Anisacanthus quadrifidus var. wrightii.

Here’s a closer look at the inflorescence of the Maiden Grass.

Along with the orange-y and autumn-y color theme, this new ceramic container is planted with the ‘Color Guard’ Yucca, Yucca filamentosa ‘Color Guard’, accompanied by Woolly Stemodia, Stemodia lanata.

The container sits amidst a nest of blooming and berrying Pigeonberry, Rivina humilis.

What interesting foliage is gracing your garden space now? Celebrate foliage in your gardens and learn about other foliage by visiting Digging for September Foliage Follow-up.

My Gardener Says…

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Tag Archives: American Century Plant

Foliage Day, March 2015

Foliage Day, January 2015

Foliage Follow-up, September 2014