Plants with Great Foliage and Flowers (Foliage Follow-up)

Many times, spring peaks in March here.  As is the case this year, temperatures can take a dramatic upswing, causing everything to bloom seemingly at once.  Remarkably, this is when I most appreciate the foliage in my garden.  Foliage gives the eye a place to rest when brightly colored flowers all seem to scream for attention.  Foliage also gives the garden the structure it needs to ground all that floral chaos.

While I tend to think of plant selections in terms of foliage versus flowers, there are a large number of plants in my garden that offer both.  For this month's Foliage Follow-up post hosted by Pam at Digging, I thought I'd feature some of the foliage plants I treasure in my garden for also offering floral interest, albeit not during the early spring floral fest.

Arthropodium cirratum (aka Renga Lily) is a graceful foliage plant for dry shade areas.  It usually blooms in late spring/early summer, producing beautiful sprays of white flowers with yellow and purple stamens.

Callistemon 'Cane's Hybrid' is glorious when it produces flushes of delicate coral-pink bottle-brush blooms at intervals during the course of the year but its vase-like structure and silvery new growth make it a standout any time

Crassula multicava (aka Fairy Crassula) is new to my garden but I've long admired the sprays of tiny flowers the plants produce in winter.  Here, the undersides of the leaves offer an echo of the Cuphea 'Starfire Pink''s flowers above.

Echium candicans 'Star of Madiera' is already getting ready to produce its blue bloom spires but its variegated foliage makes it a focal point in my garden all year

Pelargonium 'Oldbury Duet' offers much the same effect as Echium 'Star of Madiera' albeit on a smaller scale.  Its variegated foliage is very attractive but so are its maroon and pink flowers.

Plectranthus ciliatus 'Zulu Wonder' offers quilted green leaves with purple veins and underside color all year but in fall, when there's not much else in bloom here, it bears delicate lavender flowers

Prostanthera ovalifolia 'Variegata' is a gorgeous, if short-lived, shrub with scented foliage that also flowers

I have LOTS of rosemary but Rosmarinus 'Gold Dust' (shown here in front of yellow-flowered Bulbine frutescens) is my favorite.  Its medium blue flowers are an added bonus.

I haven't actually seen Yucca 'Bright Star' bloom in my own garden but the flowers I've seen in photos are impressive

There's another group of foliage plants with flowers that I can take or leave.  The flowers are fine but, if the plants don't bloom, it's really not an issue in my view.

Clockwise from the upper left, this group includes: Melianthus major, which has never bloomed in my garden; Aeonium haworthii 'Kiwi', which produces small flower stems, leading to the plant's decline; Abelia 'Kaleidoscope', better know for its bright variegated foliage than its white, bell-shaped flowers; Agave attenuata, which produces an impressive "foxtail" bloom when mature, then dies; Correa 'Wyn's Wonder' with tiny coral pink flowers that are often hidden by the foliage; Pelargonium peltatum (aka peppermint geranium), another plant producing flowers almost lost within the foliage; and the green and lemon-lime forms of Santolina virens, which produce small yellow button-like flowers

And finally, there are some foliage plants that I like best without their flowers.

From the left, these include: Aeonium arboreum, the bright yellow flowers of which can be more freaky than decorative; Coleonema pulchellum 'Sunset Gold', which produces tiny pale-pink flowers that strike me as being at odds with the strong gold foliage; and Senecio vitalis, whose dusty white blooms I usually cut off when they appear

For a look at other plants offering fabulous foliage, visit Pam at Digging.

All material © 2012-2017 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party