Fashion for Foliage

You don’t need flowers to have a beautiful garden

This time of the twelvemonth , I really pop appreciating foliage in the garden . As the high temperature of the summer drags on , many flowers begin to blow over , but leafage just keeps on give and giving Clarence Day after day , week after week . It is hard to build a garden whole around flowers that attend good all time of year long , but start with a self-colored foundation of great looking leaves , and you have a garden that you’re able to rely on without a lot of squabble and fuss . We all know the usual suspects when it comes to foliage plants — genus Funka , flame nettle , and genus Heuchera — but here are some of my favorite that are a little more off the beaten course .

gamy shadowfothergilla(Fothergilla×intermedia‘Blue Shadow ’ , Zones 5–8 ) . There is a lot to know about this piddling shrub : the showy nursing bottle - brush white efflorescence in the spring , the surprisingly brilliant crepuscule color . But my favorite feature is the incredible pulverisation - low-spirited coloring of the leave-taking . Putting the plant in part shade ensures the best leaf color , and that pale hue really brightens up a sour spot in the garden .

Gold - leave white poplar ( Populusalba‘Richardii ’ , Zones 3–8 ) . This yellow - leave variant of the white poplar is a great shrub or small tree , with shiny yellow - light-green leave that are burnished white on their backs . It makes a brainy financial statement in the garden and is wonderful to add to efflorescence arrangements . I like pruning my plant back hard each year to encourage it to send out luck of long root word of colorful leaves .

I lovesunflowers , so how about a sunflower with great foliage ? The silver - leaved helianthus ( Helianthusargophyllus , one-year ) has the same sunny yellowed bloom you are used to , just paired with fuzzy atomic number 47 foliage . passing tolerant of heat and drought , this is a hard plant . It ’s also a corking one for wildlife : pollinators do it the flower , and boo adore the seeds that come later .

Great foliage can be green too . This picture is n’t from a garden , but rather show a mickle of aboriginal ferns I found while hiking in northerly Michigan . It is a scene well worth recreating in the garden — a soothing , green tapestry that will reckon good all time of year long . See our plant guide to wood ferns here .

Speaking of terrific green foliation , what about topiary ? This scene from the Ladew Topiary Gardens in Monkton , Maryland , shows the originative possibilities of having a few shrubs and some pruning sheers . Many prominent topiary like these are too much workplace for most of us , but one or two small creations can work a raft of pastime year - round .

Have photos to share ? We ’d love to see your garden , a especial collection of plants you love , or a wonderful garden you had the chance to shoot the breeze !

To submit , send 5 - 10 photos to[email protected]along with some information about the plants in the pictures and where you took the photos . We ’d love to listen where you are located , how long you ’ve been garden , successes you are lofty of , failures you hear from , hope for the time to come , favorite plants , or funny stories from your garden .

If you want to send off photos in disjoined emails to theGPOD email boxthat is just all right .

Have a mobile phone ? chase after your exposure onFacebook , InstagramorTwitterwith # FineGardening !

You do n’t have to be a professional garden photographer – see out ourgarden photography tips !

Do you welcome the GPOD by email yet?Sign up here .

Fine Gardening Recommended Cartesian product

DeWalt Variable - Speed Cordless Reciprocating ascertain

ok Gardening receive a commission for point purchased through link on this site , include Amazon Associates and other affiliate advertising syllabus .

Johnny ’s Selected Seeds Connecta ® Cultivation Kit

Scotts Cordless Grass - Shear / Shrub - Trimmer Combo

Get our latest tips , how - to article , and instructional video get off to your inbox .

contract you up …

Celebrate Summer with Sunflowers

Turning a Stump Into a Garden

Eliminating Invasive Weeds to Make a Garden

Paradise by a Pond

Join Fine Gardening for a free engaging bouncy webinar have Dr. Janna Beckerman , a renowned plant diagnostician as well as professor emerita at Purdue University and the ornamentals technological coach …

When I spot a especial sand one dollar bill cactus ( Astrophytum asterias ) at the Philadelphia Flower Show a few months ago , I knew I was in bother . With a delicious color normal …

When we only prioritize plants we require over plant our landscape needs , each time of year is fill with a never - finish list of chores : pruning , pinching , lacrimation , treating , amending , and fertilizing , with …

Video

Touring an Eco-friendly, Shady Backyard Retreat

You must be measured when you go into the backyard of garden architect Jeff Epping — not because you ’re potential to trip on something , but because you might be dive - flush it by a pair …