The foliage that has been making me smile this February belongs to fairly common plants that are looking pretty lovely right now.
Bergenia 'Bressingham Ruby' is already changing from deep ruby to green signaling the return of spring. Bergenia is widely grown for good reason. Who could resist these big glossy evergreen leaves?
One of the evergreen Euonymus in my parking strip. These greet me all winter as I come and go. they are beginning to really shine so that from a distance, the bush appears to be covered with blooms. Neat trick.
Rubus lineatus emerging from its winter semi dormancy.
This phormium was planted last spring and because of our mild winter, it's made it through. Hooray! Now if someone would get that Akebia quinata out of the way (the thing won't die!) and do a little clean up, the phormium would look pretty sweet!
Foliage Follow Up is posted by the inimitable, inspirational and now published author Pam Penick at Digging, Hie thee post haste unto her site on the interweb to behold foliar wonders from hither and yon.
That I y is very nice!
ReplyDeleteThanks. I think a bird must have planted it.
DeleteGorgeous, all of it! Do slugs love your Bergenia? Someone warned me off them when we moved here because of slugs. But I really love the way it looks. That variegated ivy looks like stained glass.
ReplyDeleteIt's funny about Bergenia, in the winter the edges of the leaves look like a slug salad bar but there are no holes in the middle. This looks more like weevil lunch to me.
DeleteI was going to ask the same thing as Alison, my Bergenia always ends up being a salad bar. Yay for you're phormium! I did a count yesterday and somehow I've ended up with 5 of them in the ground again!
ReplyDeleteOh my Loree, however did that happen? You've got to watch those phormiums every minute or they'll sneak in and plant themselves all over the palce.
DeleteYour part of the planet is so very different from here! The marbled ivy is pretty I'm glad it gets to stay. I need to find phormium this spring and try it. The rest of the plants I will enjoy in your posts.
ReplyDeleteI'm looking forward to hearing how phromium does for you.
DeleteI really like the texture on that Phormium foliage.
ReplyDeleteIt's a charmer!
DeleteI'm enjoying this mild winter. My Rhododendron 'Cilipinens' is going to bloom like it's supposed to for the first time since we moved here 5 years ago.
ReplyDeleteThere are two reasons why some things are common. They're beautiful and easy to grow. I like that Ivy. I'd be tempted to let it stay, too.
Deirdre
If you've only been here five years, you've lived through somer pretty extreme (by PNW standards) witers! Most are like this although sometimes we get snow a couple of times during the winter. Hooray for your Rhododendrn blooming for the first time!
DeleteA lot of different foliage! I have Bergenias in my garden and snails love its leaves...I don't love snails. Happy Sunday, Peter!
ReplyDeleteSnails and slugs aren't my favorites either! Hyvää sunnuntai, Satu!
DeleteYou dubbed me "inimitable"? I'm flattered! Still giggling over your last line as well. But color me green over your phormium. They simply melt away in our summers. I'll have to content myself with admiring yours from afar. It's lovely!
ReplyDeleteWell, I tried to immitate your cool circular rock/stock tank thing but as soon as the rains came, the whole thing was swallowed up into the mud. Speaking of mushy messes, agaves + our winters = mush. Unless you're Loree but I think she's signed some sort of pact with Satan. Or maybe it's just really good drainage. In any case, much as I try, I find you inimitable except that we can grow Yucca 'Color Guard'.
DeleteI had no idea that phormiums didn't like heat. They're not so fond of cold either.
Euonymus stand out to me. What beautiful foliage, and such a wonderful and dependable plant.
ReplyDeleteIt's nice that there are enough easy and lovely plants around to keep a brown-thumbed curmudgeon like myself happy playing in the dirt. The evergreen euonymous were plants that weren't even on my radar until they started popping up in a lot of public plantings. I figured that if they could stand up to the gas station/church/school sort of planting they might not die in my garden.
DeleteSo nice! I hope your phormium continues to make it through many more winters.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Renee! It'll be fine for many years to come. Gardeners will start planting them widely again, they'll become huge and we'll depend on them as major players in our gardens. We'll get haughty and then Mother Nature will decde to send us another Phormium Killing Winter and we'll all cry foul and decide not to plant them for a couple of years. It's an interesting cycle.
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