Foliage Follow-up - Standouts and Hidden Treasures

Rain and other demands on my time delayed my Foliage Follow-up post this month.  As early spring brings new blooms every day, it's also easy to lose track of the foliage for the flowers.  But, despite my seeming obsession with floral color, my garden actually has its share of attractive foliage.  I'll share a few of the standouts today, along with some plants my camera's missed in the past.

I love this Echium webbii both in and out of bloom.  In bloom, it looks like a dwarf version of E. fastuosum 'Pride of Madeira'.  Even though it's less flashy than the variegated 'Star of Madeira', its graceful form always draws my eye.

On the smaller end of the plant spectrum, this Abelia x grandflora 'Confetti' also earned my admiration this month.  Unlike most of my other Abelia, which throw out tall gangly branches on a haphazard basis, this one continues to form a nice neat clump.

This graceful Agave desmetiana 'Variegata', nicely framed by the bronzy new foliage of the Xylosma congestum behind it, also drew my eye

It looks great when viewed from the street too

After taking the first photo of the Agave desmettana shown above, I panned my camera further along the same bed and captured one of my favorite Agaves half-hidden from view.

Viewed from the back side of the street-facing succulent bed, this Agave 'Blue Glow' is partially screened by stems of the restio planted behind it.  The restio was sold to me years ago as the dwarf Chondropetalum tectorum (aka small cape rush) but, as explained in this article, it's probably C. elephantinum.

Here's another view from the street.  There are actually 3 'Blue Glow' Agaves in front of the restio.

I've pondered the fate of that restio many times, but it took years to become established and I lost 3 other specimens in the time that took that one to reach this point so it's going to stay.  Perhaps the 'Blue Glow' Agaves beneath its skirt will grow large enough to stand out on their own but, eventually, they'll bloom and die and I can replace them with something more appropriate in that spot.

You may remember that I faced a similar issue with out-of-control 'Cousin Itt' Acacias in my back garden (addressed in my October Foliage Follow-up post).  As mentioned in November's Foliage Follow-up, I moved the succulents swamped by the Acacias and planted several Lotus bethelotii to fill in as a groundcover in front of the Acacias.  The Lotus has always been a fast grower, with aggressive tendencies of its own, so I was perplexed by the failure of these plants to spread.  It soon became obvious that something was eating the infant plants as one after another virtually disappeared.  Disappearances and evidence of persistent nibbling occurred elsewhere in my garden too.  Insects?  Squirrels?  Birds?  I considered all of them.  Earlier this week, the culprit finally revealed itself.

Many of you may have immediately identified a bunny as the culprit but, although I know there are plenty of rabbits in a park a mile away, I've never seen any here.  I assumed they either had a territorial arrangement with the raccoons and skunks or their range was constrained by the coyotes.

My husband pulled video of the rabbit bouncing around our back garden in the early evening before my paparazzi effort sent it hopping.   Three screen shots are shown above.  Maybe the rabbits have expanded their range as more and more of my neighbors bring their dogs in at night due to the intensifying concerns about coyote attacks on pets. 

I'd already caged some of my plants and now the Lotus are covered too.

The bunny apparently loves the fresh foliage of Orlaya grandiflora (aka Minoan Lace).  A few of the plants completely disappeared overnight.  Caged, this one is now recovering.

I'm using empty flats turned upside-down to protect the Lotus berthelotii 'Amazon Sunset'.  They're held down with landscaping pins to prevent the bunny from moving them.  Why the bunny ignores the rampant Lotus on the other side of the path is a mystery.

Meanwhile, I've discovered that 'Cousin Itt' is now enveloping plants on the back side of that bed too.

Maybe the Duranta repens 'Gold Mound' can survive 'Cousin Itt's' embrace but, if it can't, it's not a big loss.

Oh well.  Visit Pam at Digging for more Foliage Follow-up posts.  Have a great weekend!


All material © 2012-2018 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party

Foliage Follow-up - July 2017

As summer heats up, shade becomes all the more important so, when it came time to identify subjects for the foliage follow-up post hosted by Pam at Digging, trees came to mind.  This past winter I once again had our Magnolia grandiflora "thinned" to accommodate a neighbor's view concerns but the crew went further than I'd expected and, until recently, I felt it looked a bit sad, not to speak of the fact that it provided limited shade.  It's finally looking like it should again.

The Magnolia standing proud in the front garden (left) and a recent flush of new growth along its branches (right)

I also had all 4 of our Arbutus 'Marina' thinned.  They've filled out again too but, this month, even more than the shade they provide, you've got to admire their handsome peeling bark, which is particularly evident at this time of year.

This particular tree sits on the northeast side of the house.  Its bark peels to a degree all year but look at the curls it's got now!

A few other foliage selections also caught my eye.

Purchased as Chondropetalum tectorum, this Cape Rush may be more correctly classified as C. elephantinum, although mine seems to fall mid-way between the 2 species in size.  I originally planted 3 in my street-side succulent bed in 2013 but only this one thrived.  I wish you could see how the sheaths on the joint stems gleam in the afternoon sun but I wasn't able to capture it well in the mid-afternoon glare so I made do with this early morning shot.

The dominant plant in this foliage mash-up is Leucadendron 'Safari Sunset', which develops bright red bracts in summer.  L. salignum 'Winter Red' is planted in front of it.  At maturity, the former should be about twice the size of the latter.  The hedge of Xylosma congestum is shown in the background with Stipa tenuissima in between.  The gray-foliaged semi-weed threatening to engulf the Leucadendrons from the left is Helichrysum petiolare 'Silver Mist'.

I brought this Persicaria 'Red Dragon' with me as a cutting from my former garden.  It's struggled in my current garden even in this afternoon shade location next to the house but I thought it looked pretty good here with the window shade pulled down behind it in a our futile effort to keep the house cooler.  I'm going to try taking some additional cuttings this fall to see if I can find a more hospitable location for it elsewhere.

It's hard for me to let a foliage-focused post go by without featuring at least some succulents so here's this month's selection:

The planter stand here had belonged to my mother-in-law but the rusted steel bowl it originally held corroded and slowly fell apart.  I bought a cheap shiny steel wok, which accommodated me by quickly rusting outside.  I planted it up with a mix of succulent cuttings with a Graptoveria 'Fred Ives' in the center.  I like the way it glows in the mid-day sun in what's otherwise a fairly shady spot on the covered patio on the south side of the house.

Finally, as my Agapanthus flower stalks begin to look scruffy in July, mass decapitations are generally part of my summer tidying-up process.  This year, inspired in part by the Alliums spray-painted blue after the flowers faded I saw during the 2017 Garden Bloggers' Fling, I decided to try leaving some nude Agapanthus stalks in place.  I haven't decided yet whether it's worth the effort of cleaning them up.  We'll see.  For now it's just an experiment.

Painting the seedpods would probably improve the color contrast but I've no intention of taking things that far.  The contrast may be greater when the stalks dry and the Xylosma hedge behind them is trimmed, producing a flush of fresh orange growth.

For more foliage follow-up posts, visit Pam at Digging.


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

July Favorites

During the dog days of summer, it's hard to get really excited about the garden here.  The heat is oppressive and most of the plants are acting as though they're in a witness protection program, hunkering down and trying their best not to be noticed.  It helps to take one's camera on a stroll just after sunrise, when the garden feels freshest, which is what I did this week.

There are plants that are adept at standing up to the heat.  I got a jump start in calling those out last week with my post entitled "the good, the bad and the ugly."  I complemented the Leucadendrons and showed photos of 'Wilson's Wonder' and 'Safari Sunset' but 'Pisa' also deserves recognition.

Leucadendron 'Pisa' with the sun showing through its silver leaves (left) and the cones decorating its branches (right)

In the bed opposite that occupied by 'Pisa', Melianthus major is also looking good in the early morning light.

Melianthus major is nestled in between Arbutus 'Marina', Grevillea 'Ned Kelly' and Leucadendron 'Jester' where it gets a bit of shade during the hottest part of the day

The ornamental grasses are also coming into their own.

Pennisetum 'Fireworks' also makes the most of the morning light

Seslaria 'Greenlee's Hybrid' mimics the display of Pennisetum 'Fireworks' on the other side of the flagstone path

It's probably too soon to get excited over Bouteloua gracilis 'Blonde Ambition' as the 5 small plants here have only been in the ground a few weeks (hey, it was on sale and I couldn't resist - and it's drought tolerant!) but I love that they're already sporting the flowers that look like blonde eyebrows

On the back patio, Phylica pubescens (aka Featherhead) has managed the heat thrown at it.

Okay, the 2 plants I put in the bad border were quickly killed by that miserable heatwave in June but this one in a large pot has settled in nicely

On the other side of the patio, also in a pot, I'm amazed that Duranta erecta 'Sapphire Showers' is blooming well on a steady diet of graywater from the kitchen sink.

Anything that can get by on weekly infusions of graywater alone is a winner in my book

Many of the Echeverias are blooming now but Echeveria 'Afterglow' is my favorite.

'Afterglow' has survived in this pot for about 3 years now without complaining and gets watered only every couple of weeks (if I remember)

Out along the street, the last of the three Chondropetalum tectorum (aka Cape Rush) I planted in 2013 has finally come into its own.  Situated in front of the Xylosma congestum shrubs we planted in spring as a continuation of our existing street-side hedge, it's responded to the extra water provided to those shrubs.  I'd like to find a few more of these to add elsewhere in the garden when the fall planting season comes around.

Rush viewed from the street (left) and from the dirt path in the garden with the late afternoon sun shining through (right)

That's it for my July favorite picks.  Visit Loree at danger garden to see what plants she and other gardeners are excited about this month.


All material © 2012-2016 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party