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Although this could very well be a picture of me finding a new treasure at a favorite nursery, it's actually an illustration by David Catrow for a children's book called Plantzilla.

Tuesday, July 16, 2013

Foliage Follow Up July 2013

 
 
Every month around this time, I head out with my camera to try and capture foliage within a certain category or unifying theme and I come back with totally random images.  This month, I was thinking about interesting foliage combinations but then this Asplenium scolopendrium caught my eye and I forgot about the idea. Ooh, maybe it still qualifies; see the camellia leaf in the upper left? 
 
Fortunately our monthly foliage follow up host, Pam Penick, is  tolerant of my randomness. I had the pleasure of meeting Pam in San Francisco at my first Garden Bloggers Fling, another of her brainchildren.    Make sure to click on over to Digging to join the foliage fest!


Fuchsia 'Autumnale'


Trachycarpus wagnerianus


Cussonia paniculata sending out a new flush of leaves which  come out in groups on this plant. 

The red table/green room collection keeps growing.  The idea was to get these planted in the ground or in decorative pots. Oh well, plastic is so much easier to haul inside in the fall, right?  The basket was going to be discarded at work so I thought it would make a good planter for some small succulents.  Probably should line it with landscape fabric before I plant anything in it so that the soil doesn't all fall out.

The amazing risen-from-the-dead Agave weberi surrounded by  Pelargonium 'Indian Princess' whose red-splotched chartreuse leaves I love.

Fern-like foliage of Tanacetum vulgare.

Phytolacca americana ‘Silberstein’ or Variegated Pokeweed.  There's an interesting post about this plant at Gardening Gone Wild.

Miscanthus 'Giganteus' formerly listed as Miscanthus floridulus; aka Miscanthus japonicas, commonly called Giant Chinese Silver Grass (That's a lot of names!)  It's 12 feet tall  and I call it a pain to clean up every spring!  Tetrapanax  with Sinocalycanthus chinensis in the middle. 

Corprosma  makes me smile because it sailed through the winter.

Polygonum 'Painter's Palette'  mingling with Cotinus coggygria 'Royal Purple'

Thanks Pam for hosting another foliage follow up and for reminding us all to appreciate the beautiful foliage in our gardens.

31 comments:

  1. Peter, interesting shots, different colors, shape and variegation of foliage. I love these two:
    Cussonia paniculata and Phytolacca americana. I before had Phytolacca and it was exotic plant for here but it died after wintering. Nice photos!

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    1. Thank you, Nadezda. Cussonia paniculata is not hardy here but I grow it in a pot and bring it inside in the winter. I'm sorry that your Phytolacca died!

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  2. Yay! I'm so glad someone else like zonal geraniums...I love that one...actually, I love all of the ones with the differently-colored foliage!

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    1. Oh gosh, I was thinking that I was the only one all this time. Golden Palace Gem is also fabulous and any of the patterned leafed ones are groovy. I love the feel of the leaves and the smell of the cut, bruised, or brushed foliage screams summer to me. Thanks for coming out as a pelargonium lover!

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  3. So many interesting textures and color combinations, A a few that are new to me , I'll be on the 'Plant Lust ' site today ,

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  4. You have some very striking combinations. I really love the last photo.

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    1. Thanks. That last photo is one of my favorite combinations in my garden. Clematis 'Nelly Moser' scrambles through this as well and when she blooms her pretty pink blooms tie the whole thing together really nicely!

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  5. Your Agave weberi looks great! It really rebounded nicely. And I love the Painter's Palette with the purple smoke bush foliage.

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    1. I'm shocked at how rapidly A.weberi has rebounded but it will take another year for it to regain its former stature.

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  6. The fifth photo shows such a gorgeous arrangement of suculents - indeed lovely.

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    1. Thank you. They're really supposed to be there temporarily but this has been a fairly lazy gardening year for me.

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  7. I think I spied Polygonum 'Painter's Palette' yesterday on Alison's blog and was wondering what it was. Busy busy leaves but very cool! Also glad to see A. weberi coming back so nicely! (and you know it just occurred to me that Scott needs one of those, being his namesake and all)

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    1. I didn't think of that until you mentioned it! You are so correct! BTW, the for sale sign on the house next to ours just went up today and it should appear on Redfin tomorrow or the next day.

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  8. You have so many goodies in this post! I think my favorite is the agave/pelargonium combo. And Loree is right--Scott needs one of those.

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    1. That combination worked out better than I thought it would. I told myself last year that only succulents should surround the agave but I also wanted to continue to experiment with combining other foliage plants and succulents like Sally at WeHop. Scott definitely needs an Agave weberi!

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  9. I'm still mulling over a location for the variegated Pokeweed I bought over a month ago. Glad to read it gets the Hayefield endorsement. Persicaria 'Painters Palette' has seeded itself all over my garden and is one of my signature plants. Every so often I thin it out-easy to pull.

    Oh and my Tetrapanax is finally putting on some size. My hope is to winter it over in the ground with protection so the bigger it gets before winter sets in, the better.

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    1. That variegated Pokeweed is really sweet especially when the stems turn magenta and the fruit is dark purple. I hope it decides to seed around a bit as I'd love to replace some of my regular green ones with ones with more interesting foliage!
      Good luck with your Tetrapanax! They are pretty wonderful plants!

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  10. I think my favorite is the spiky agave surrounded by the colorful pelargoniums. Although, I swoon every time I see cotinus leaves. Love that shade of purple, too!

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    1. Thanks Holley! Hope you are enjoying a little respite between guests, cows, and parents stuck under their house!

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  11. Fabulous collection of foliage you have there Peter, and a selection of plants not that dissimilar to the ones that we go for. And that red table/green room collection looks fine as it is, love it! :)

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    1. Thanks! I wish I were as strong as you guys and cold bring myself to cut down my grove of giant timber bamboo. I love it but eliminating it would give me a HUGE sunny space to grow more plants. On the other hand, everyone who walks through my garden comments on what a special surprise the walk-through bamboo grove is in a small urban garden.

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  12. Very nice selection of great foliage plants. I love 'Painter's Palette'. It's a great addition to the garden and I don't mind it seeding around a bit. As Sue said it's really easy to weed out if necessary and very easy to pull up and share. I'm also a fan of zonal geraniums. That one looks terrific with the agave

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    1. Painter's Palette is one of my faves too. I only wish it were evergreen! Glad you like the zonal geranium/Agave combination.

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  13. I grew up in LA and had a real aversion to zonal geraniums for years..common, B&B for snails, and of course the scourge of geranium budworm. I now have a decent sized collection of mostly scented types , with several zonals thrown in.I've come full circle.Thant combo with the Agave is an ooo-la-la !

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    1. I get the common thing but have never seen a slug or snail take a single taste. I always have a scented geranium or two hanging around. They have to come in for the winter and get t look pretty bad by spring but smelling those summer scents inside in cold gray winter days is pretty swell!

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  14. AWESOME foliage photographs! Especially love the unusual shapes of the Trachycarpus and Asplenium. Also the contrast in the pic with the Miscanthus and Tetrapanax.

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    1. Thanks Jason. Hope all is well in your neck of the woods!

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  15. Theme, shmeme...your random approach has revealed several must-haves. I see your new K. bahariensis on the red table. Looks like you got a warty one like my latest. I seem to be seeing only that kind lately. Maybe my smooth one will become a collector's item.

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  16. I have a pelargonium that stays small and was divided into 3 plants that all bloom a couple of times a year, peach, they are my favorite houseplants. I think your 'Indian Princess' would look great with your Cotinus. Lots of interesting foliage. I also grow timber bamboo, Henon and nigra. I'm surprised how slowly they grow and increase.

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  17. Very nice foliage!! I've got two Corprosmas but I´m afraid of planting them in the ground as I don´t know how much cold they take.

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Thanks so much for taking the time to comment! I love to hear your thoughts.