Wednesday Vignette and Foliage Follow-Up

Pam at Digging hosts Foliage Follow-Up on the day after bloom day each month to help us remember and celebrate the important role that foliage plays in our gardens.  This month the day also falls on Wednesday when Anna at Flutter and Hum  hosts Wednesday Vignette.  I'm linking to both.  You know how the holidays are with double booking of festivities.  The first three vignettes from my garden feature foliage that caught my eye this rainy week.  The remainder of the images are of other foliage that is looking good in the bleak midwinter.

Despite the summer drought and heat and growing in some of the poorest soil I have (parking strip) Melianthus major 'Antonow's Blue' made beautiful and lush foliage this season which continues to look very nice.

Nothing new or unusual here but the common Arum italicum thrills me every winter with it's tropical-looking, beautifully patterned leaves. It may be a bit invasive in some gardens but has been fairly well-behaved here.

Phyllostachys vivax aureocaulis is spreading nicely and the contrast of the golden culms and green foliage is lovely in the summer but in the winter the punch of color is very welcome.

Stachyurus praecox is usually the last deciduous shrub to lose it's leaves in the winter.  They're still a nice golden color and usually drop just in time for the winter show (late January) of blooms on bare branches.  

Spanish Moss is supposed to be hardy to zone 8 and enjoys moisture so I left a hank of it outside this year to see what happens.  So far, it's still looking happy.  I understand that in the spring, birds take it for their nests faster than it can grow back in our climate.  We shall see.

Again, nothing new but the winter foliage of Cyclamen hederifolium always delights!

Some of the new silver leaved varieties of cyclamen that just got planted this fall.  Looking forward to when they are as full as the more established ones in my garden.

My only criticism of this beautiful and tough variegated Aspidistra is that it's slow-growing.  It handles dry shade very well and the tag said that if it's placed in soil that's too rich, the variegation will diminish.  No manure for this bed.  What the bowling ball is doing there is a mystery to me.  I'll move it next time I'm in the garden.

How about you?  Is there foliage in your garden and/or a vignette  that you'd like to share this month, this Wednesday?   Join in the parties and post.