There's a new meme by Christina starting today about one of my favourite subjects. Foliage!
However I do find it difficult to make choices for a post about foliage.
Where do I start? Combinations of foliage? Macro photos? Autumn colour? Foliage with beautiful markings? Architectural foliage?
It's a subject with plenty of scope and I take so many photos ..... so lets have a wee wander through some of the foliage in the garden today with the emphasis on colour and form.
Autumn seems to have come early to our garden and the autumn shades are already much in evidence. Here's a few examples from top left in a clockwise direction: maple, fothergilla, clematis and red stemmed dogwood.
I like the contrast between the upright peeling trunk of the Tibetan cherry, the strappy arching leaves of the phormium and the purple ground cover of the heuchera.
Next the serrated, glaucus leaves of the Honey Bush Melianthus Major. The stripey leaves of a clump miscanthus grass can be glimpsed behind.
Golden oats (stipa gigantea) shimmer in the breeze and combine with the autumn colouring of the red stemmed dogwood.
Here's another dogwood with almost black stems growing beside the the sumac. In spite of it's size the sumac or Rhus has delicate young foliage in shades of pink changing to green as it matures.
Next is the very elegant acer which has fingers of green leaves normally edged with pink. As the seasons change the leaves take on a redder hue.
At the moment this stunning plant is in a half barrel hidden away behind a sheltering wall with the other acers. There was not enough shelter in the garden for them initially and their foliage got blasted by the winds. We may try this one in the border next year.
Lets finish this gentle meander through the foliage with a look at the smaller leaves of the often forgotten ground cover plants. From top left: Asarum europaeum or wild ginger , Heuchera "Green Spice",Hedera or ivy, Heuchera " Palace Purple".
Please take a look at Christina's Garden Blogger Foliage Day there's lot of wonderful foliage there. You could also look at Pams Foliage Follow Up.
Hi Janet, thanks for joining GBFD. You have some great colours in your garden today, who says flowers are the most important feature. Melianthus Major is a plant I've been meaning to grow (probably from seed) I tends not to stay quite as beautiful as yours is in the heat but does give a good pressence in the garden. I love all the deep pink autumn colours, one is apt to think that autumn means red, yellow and orange but it's not always so. Thanks again for joining and making FD a success, there have been many great posts. Christina
ReplyDeleteJanet, you have some wonderful foliage - it seems that there are rather a lot of us that are foliage addicts! You have given me an idea of what to plant round my Prunus serrula and I must buy another Melianthus major, maybe keep it in a pot this time, thank you.
ReplyDeleteGreat foilage and photos! Kelli
ReplyDeleteHi Christina, Having lost my first two melianthus plants during the winter I tried them from seed and they are very easy. I would think that melianthus would flower in your garden although I do grow it for the leaves.
ReplyDeletePauline I make a wire netting (about 18ins high) cage round the melianthus and fill it with bark or compost. I don't cut the plant back back or remove the bark until the spring.
Kelli, thanks for your comment.
Wonderful images, Janet, and thanks for linking to my Foliage Follow-Up meme, which I started nearly a year ago. Your acers are my favorite. I wish they grew more readily in Austin.
ReplyDeleteGreat foliage! Such pretty fall colors, too. Love the cherry bark!
ReplyDeleteAh, beautiful, Janet. I love the water-color textures and tones of the stipa with the dogwood. You've also reminded me that the stems can be as important as the leaves.
ReplyDeleteLovely shots Janet and a reminder for me to plant melianthus. Are these taken with your new Nikon? Ronnie over at hurtling towards 60 has just bought the same model camera and seems very happy with it.
ReplyDeleteDave
Beautiful photos Janet, and a great celebration of ground cover, so often the poor relation. I really like the phormium against the peeling bark and the heuchera. I rather miss my phormium (purple, of course), but it rather outgrew its allotted space!
ReplyDeleteHello again, Janet - just catching up with your posts. My… you have been busy!
ReplyDeleteFirst off, enjoy experimenting with your new camera. I’m guessing you’ll find it both fun & frustrating. You have a great eye for composition so we are in for a some visual treats for future posts :-D
I’ve really enjoyed the images from your recent posts from the foliage here to wonderful Autumnal scenes (no surprises that you’re ahead of us there) to foliage and blooms in your garden. Jealous of your toadflax in your GBBD post - really must get some of these. Lol… I say that every year… oh yes and I always add that I should bring back some sea holly again :-)
It’s always interesting to see some Radical action in a garden… looking good! I’m with you on both zing and taking action. Been attempting some here too but things on the home front have halted things garden and elsewhere. It’s nice to be able to take a quick look around blogland this morning to see what’s been happening :-)
Pam, perhaps I'll manage to post on both foliage memes next month! You never know I might be organised!
ReplyDeleteHolley, the cherry is one of my favourite trees in the garden. It may outgrow it's space in the not too distant future!
"Water-colour textures" Stacy, what a beautiful phrase. I'm going to squirrel it away for future reference. The dogwood stems add so much to the garden especially when combined with the stupa which has an ethereal quality.
Dave,everyone should have at least one melianthus in their garden. As for the camera all the photos were taken with it on automatic. Work in progress..
I also like phormium especially all these stripey ones. We did have a purple one that got blasted by the wind. I should have cited it more carefully. I just bought a new one today. It was reduced in the sale...
Shirley, thought you had been quiet for a while. Glad you found time to have a browse. There will be another post on the radical action planting soon. I still have CDs, manuals etc to look at for the Nikon. At the moment I'm just playing with it...
It's not just interesting to see leaves, it's interesting to see which leaves people have chosen to show.
ReplyDeleteYou are getting some lovely fall color. We probably won't for another month. Heuchera 'Green Spice' looks like yet another really nice Heuchera. There are a lot of Prunus species with really interesting and colorful bark, I wish we could grow more of them successfully here. The Tibetan Cherry has a beautiful rich color.
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