Follow The Foliage

Until last year, our design philosophy was just wanting the garden to look good. Plants were stuck in where there was an opening, aiming for the right growing conditions. Leaf and flower color was considered in the placement, but not so much size and shape. Above is an example of the lack of diversity in the area we refer to as the flat bed. The lower section was the gravel driveway for the house next door that was bought, demolished and the garage built in its place. The downhill part is where the foundation for the garage was excavated. It is solid red clay soil. Nice rectangular chunks could be sliced out, dried in the sun and used for construction. Getting things to grow in this has been challenging. It seems spiky leaves do best here. We did try to mix it up with the red foliage of Penstemon digitalis ‘Husker Red’.Moving over to the lowest set of steps going up to the knot garden we see the little leaf syndrome. There is color variety with the purple of the Ajuga leaf and the silver Cerastium and Dianthus, but only the Hellebores which are slowly but surely making their presence felt with self sowing have a nice large green leaf.Late last summer a program of large leaf introduction was begun. One of the best candidates to be spread about is Heuchera villosa ‘Brownie’. This is not a showy leaf, but the size, color and hardiness of this cultivar make it an excellent choice. We have found it will grow in most any situation here except the fullest blazing all day sun and has the added appeal of producing offsets that can be split off and replanted for the highly desirable massing effect. Shown here with the Cerastium and Coreopsis ‘Zagreb’. This trio has a nice contrast of color, form and size.Another pleasing combination with an eye to the future is this maple seedling that was germinated in the greenhouse from a collected wingnut at a nearby nursery with particularly fine fall foliage. At some point this tree will tower over the companions shown above, Dryopteris erythrosora ‘Brilliance’, Fothergilla to the right and Helleborus orientalis to the left.Not really part of the garden, but an interesting foliage duo is Hosta ‘Royal Standard’ and an unknown Hedera growing behind the heating/air conditioning unit. These were planted to keep the weeds down in a very shaded area. It works too. The ivy must be kept off the house, but we like it on the fence.Coming back from the heater to the front of the house some of the earliest plantings appear. Two Acer palamatum ‘Butterfly’ maples were planted the day we closed on the house in 1996. We love the foliage interest on these trees and have pruned them over the years in various ways. Right now they are being kept to the height of the front stoop so as not to block the front door from the street. The ever present violets have taken over the space between the step stones. Bulbous oat grass is along the stone facing on the right. In the center driveway bed the nigella and lamb’s ear, Stachys byzantina are beginning to flower. Across the driveway is the muhly bed with Purple Sensation alliums still showing color.The chance to show our favorite branch on the whole property cannot be passed by. How this happened is a mystery. Maybe something was pressing on this stem to bend it away from the house while the offspring Semi and Chickenpoet, then Gardoctor lived here. Before we moved here and cast the step stones to make a nice path to get to the utilities at the side of the house. Who can say, but we love the result.Following the path to the back gardens and up the hill finds a group of Hosta ‘Sunpower’ with native ferns, Persicaria macrocephala ‘Red Dragon’, various weeds and Gaillardia seedlings of mixed parentage. Morning shade with afternoon sun make this a challenging area to plant. This hosta can take full sun without getting burnt edges, a good feature.Passing by the ferngully bed reveals Astilbe, variegated Solomon’s seal, the lower stalks of Joe Pye weed with a little Penstemon ‘Husker Red’ seedling that snuck into the mix. One minus here is that all of these disappear in winter.Trudging onward and upward, oh you want to rest for a bit? I don’t blame you, this is a steep trek for those non-hillbillys among the group. As for me, I like to keep going and take a rest at the top for there is a nice bench up there, with a cushion. Oops, the cushion was left out in the rain and the whole thing is a soggy mess. We will have to stand up unless you want a soggy bottom. What is being shown here is the fading foliage of the tulips and little iris retics at the front edge as the patchwork of creeping thymes planted in the knot garden quadrants are filling in as instructed.Looking at the opposite quad which has filled in the most of the four with the thymes. New this spring are the bamboo teepees in the centers planted with one each of Lilliums Chinese trumpet ‘African Queen’, ‘Lady Alice’ and asiatic ‘Tiger Babies’. Scarlet runner beans have been planted to grow on the poles. We are hoping this will add some summer interest up here and still let the thymes weave and bob to fill the spaces. It is an experiment that might have surprises with the color and height of the bulbs. It will take a few years for the lilies to reach their advertised height of five or more feet. Anticipation is a good thing.Centered behind the soggy seated bench is a stand of hemlocks, Tsuga canadensis with chartruese new growth framing Cotinus coggygria. This smoke tree was moved from between the main house and the garage when the two structures were attached with the construction of the addition a few years ago. It nearly expired with the drought of the last two years but has never looked better with the more than adequate rainfall of recent weeks.Descending back to the house for a cool beverage, Schweppes ginger ale and maybe some cheese and crackers, Triscuits and muenster, we pass the daylily hill. Let’s have some red seedless grapes too. Watch your step here, there should have been more stone steps rather than just gravel path on this incline. We will put that on the to do list. The daylily hill contains more than daylilies. There is an edging of Spiraea bumaldi ‘Magic Carpet’, Sedum ‘Autumn Joy’ and bulbs. The tulips have gone by and the lilies are showing buds. There are various types of lilies in this bed that will be featured in another story when they begin to bloom soon. Hosta ‘Sunpower’ is planted under the Acer palmatum var. dissectum ‘Crimson Queen’ that was recently pruned to the right of the photo. Tall Dryopteris x australia, Dixie Wood Fern is beginning to reach above the masses of strappy foliage. The odd oriental poppy and yet another Husker red can be seen here as well.Our lady of the corner, Athena is nearly submerged by the yellow budded Sedum acre. Flanked by Heuchera ‘Silver Scrolls’ with pinkish blooms, she will be cleared of foliage soon to gaze out upon the garden.That is stretching it a bit since she actually faces the deck and house so we can gaze at her from the lazyboy with laptop at the ready. Looking back at the daylily hill, which was the focus of some tweaking last fall, click here to read about that project, the foliage takes the stage rather than flowers for now. The stipa, now called Nasella tenuissima gives waves of movement with the slightest breeze at the corner. Tall Phlox paniculata from dear neighbor Mae is rising with a slightly different leaf form in the sea of green. The daylilies and lilies will give splotches of color soon for a couple of months, then it will be back to green leaves. But green is a color too, they say, and it is a nice one that cools us on hot summer days. The goal of more variety in shape and size of the green is still being striven towards.
Frances
(All photos in this post were taken with the old camera, Canon Powershot A720 IS)