Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Foliage Follow-up: March 2011

Digging hosts Foliage Follow-up on the sixteenth of every month so that the foliar aspects of our garden have their chance to shine.  For this posting, I decided to concentrate on some of the more recent additions to my garden.

Planted last fall, this will be the first spring for the Oakleaf Hydrangea 'Alice' (Hydrangea quercifolia 'Alice').  It never completely lost all of its leaves, but is certainly putting out plenty of new growth.

Crimson Queen Japanese Maple (Acer palmatum var. dissectum 'Crimson Queen') is the first Maple I have ever tried planting directly into the ground.  Its unfolding red leaves are very nice; I hope it establishes itself.

When purchased, this Manfreda didn't have a species name.  It died back completely in winter, but is now emerging with nicely spotted foliage.  Suspect it might be a Rattlesnake Agave (Manfreda maculosa), but I think it may grow a little larger than is the norm for that variety (if anyone can identify, please let me know).  

The foliage of the Coral Bells 'Caramel' (Heuchera villosa 'Caramel') has a wide range of shades - from green to red.  The new growth has the redder colors whereas the older leaves stay green.  Very impressive coloration.

Have always enjoyed the strongly-patterned initial leaf coloration of the Lyreleaf Sage (Salvia lyrata).  It eventually tends to fade back towards a solid green, but that first production of leaves is very nice.

With a diminutive bloom at its center, the Red Billbergia's (Billbergia sp. 'Red') foliage is the primary reason to add it to one's garden.

Be sure to visit Digging to see other Foliage Follow-up postings.

5 comments:

  1. I'm a fan of lyre-leaf sage's coloration too. I wish my heucheras, which I inherited with the new house, had thrived, but only one survived and it struggles. Too bad, as they are so pretty. Yours looks great.

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  2. The foliage is definitely the primary reason, but I think that little flower is sweet, too! :)

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  3. Pam: This is a new variety of Heuchera I'm trying and though early, it seems to be growing like crazy. Will have to see if it blooms too.

    Blackswamp: Yeah - I didn't even know there was a flower hidden in there until I started taking pictures!

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  4. Just spent some time going back through your posts of the last few weeks. What a splendid bloom day you had. You always have such interesting plants. Those air plants are beautiful. Did you plant them yourselves or did they come with the wood? They look so healthy and at home. I was hoping you might post about the passalong plant I got from you last year. Colorful leaf. It survived the horrible winter and is coloring up nicely. Must get an ID on it.

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  5. Lancashire: I bought the Tillandsia loose at The Natural Gardener and glued them onto some wood that I had; I hadn't seen them at any of the nurseries I regularly visit. The pass-along plant was Red Dragon Knotweed (Persicaria microcephala 'Red Dragon'). It initially comes out quite reddish, then fades to a green/maroon combination.

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