May 2017 Foliage Follow-Up

Foliage Follow-Up is hosted each month by Pam at Digging on the day after Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day to help us celebrate the important role that foliage plays in our gardens.  Click here to to see foliage from the gardens of other participating bloggers.
At this time of year, foliage is especially exuberant.  The garden seems to vibrate with fresh new growth.  As usual, this is a random post of what caught my eye as I walked my little plot.

Out in front, the Agave ovatifolia seems to have taken the wet winter and spring in stride.  There's a little scarring on the tips of a couple of leaves.  Yucca 'Bright Star is planted way too close and as they both continue to grow, they'll battle it out.  The contrast in color is sure sweet so I don't really want to try and move the yucca.

Magnolia macrophylla in the hell strip elicits more inquires from passers by than any other plant.  

Persicaria microcephala 'Red Dragon' looking very happy.  It's time for the Chelsea chop.  (Cutting this down by half will help it to remain upright and not sprawl all over the place.

Acer palmatum 'Peaches and Cream'

Acer palmatum 'Purple Ghost' 

Cordyline banksii 'Electric Flash' made it through the coldest part of winter in the greenhouse. 

Podophyllum delavayi

Podophyllum that appeared in a pot as a seedling a couple of years ago.  Looks a bit like 'Spotty Dotty'

Sanguinaria canadensis 'Multiplex' with Fatsia  polycarpa needham form

Impatiens omeiana with Podophyllum 'Spotty Dotty.'  This impatiens wilts a lot in the heat of summer and would like better soil but it spreads each year and is loving our wet spring.

Begonia Grandis emerging from the fading foliage of snowdrops.  The pink petals all over everything are those of camellias.  The flash of color on the ground is kind of fun.

Spotted foliage of Pulmonaria.

Athyrium niponicum - Japanese painted fern is obscured this year by the foliage of a cardiocrinum giganteum that will be blooming later.  Had to pull back the big leaves to appreciate these.

Lily of the valley is a sweet flower but the foliage is a tad boring.  Convallaria majalis 'Albostriata' has interesting leaves all season long.

Crazy variegated Photinia that grows very slowly.  I've been threatening to rip it out for several years and finally cut it back severely.  It's rewarded me with bushier growth.

 Heucheras continue to grow on me.  This one, 'Red Lightening' is new to me this year and I've enjoyed having this splash of vibrant color sitting in a pot this winter.

Cordyline 'Cherry Sensation' or something like that that just came out of the greenhouse.

I've had a crush on Phormium 'Guardsman' since first seeing it at Flora Grubb during the San Francisco Fling.  I'd spotted it at one nursery in our area but it was a bit too expensive for me.  This weekend, on a trip to Wells Medina Nursery (post to come) I spotted it at a much lower price.  It had to come home with me.

Another Acer palmatum.  I knew the variety once. 

A favorite foliage color combination of three purples.  It is to this combination that I'm thinking of adding the blue foliage of Berberis temolaica.

David's hair came out of the greenhouse but has become a bit floppy.

Podophyllum pleianthum fighting for it's place in the jungle. 

It's a joy to see so much foliage again.