December Foliage

Foliage reigns at the Fairegarden, but even more so in the colder months. Flowers are fleeting, most have a bloom time of only a few weeks at the most. Evergreen foliage has been added in every colorway to add to the interest in all season. Pam of Digging has decided that foliage deserves to have its day of display once a month, just like the flowers of GBBD. I agree. The concrete cat, Freedom protects the turning straps of Hemerocallis ‘Kabuki’.

Ever striving for less work and more enjoyment, evergreens have been added to the lineup of planters along the wall behind the main house. The leaf man trough, meant to be a nice deep round hypertufa but most of the sides fell off from being unmolded too soon, is now home to miniature conifers, Juniperus horizontalis ‘Blue Pygmy’, Chamaecyparis obtusa ‘Nana lutea’, silver Thymus ‘Heigh-Ho Silver’ and Armeria ‘Nifty Thrifty’.

Sharing a bench with leaf man is the Rosemary topiary forest. We wrote about it in one of our very first posts, back when we posted every single day. Click to read it here, Rosemary, catchy title, don’t you agree? The blood grass is still showing red along the top of the wall. Unheard of so late in the year.

In a more successful hypertufa if not straight sided, using a cardboard box is likely to cave inward if not supported, we found out the hard way, is Calluna vulgaris ‘Multicolor’. We are still waiting to see colors more multi than green from it. Still pretty though. The green glass ball is one that was broken when we redid the pond. The damaged side is turned to the bottom.

In the trio of reddish pots, from the right, just trying to prevent boredom here, we know you were expecting us to name them from the left, HA, are Lavendula ‘Hidcote’ with a ring of rosemary cuttings that were stuck in the fall of 2008 to prevent squirrels from digging, (it works and the cuttings even rooted), Carex testuca ‘New Zealand Orange Sedge’, and a mixed planting of Erysimum ‘Cloth Of Gold’, Helictotrichon sempervirens ‘Sapphire’, forget me nots and Dicentra eximia, finally going dormant.

In the newest of the glazed pots, the low round purple number, California poppies, Eschscholzia californica were sown last winter. Even if they never bloom, we love the silver lacy foliage. Surely they will bloom this spring though.

The Sleeping Maiden is snoozing on the hill. Her planting is now the evertan Carex seedlings, probably offspring of C. ‘Toffee Twist’ and unknown Carex fathers. There was this wild party one night, see…. To read her story, click here-Sleeping Maiden. Yet another clever title. Sometimes after writing a post, the creative juices just dry up when it is time for the title.

Several pots of white kale, Brassica ‘Evening Lace’ were bought on mark down at the big box store. A few were planted in the ground and three were left in the black plastic pots and stuck in a quickly disentegrating limb of Ferngully, RIP, that rests at the base of the golden elderberry, Sambucus ‘Aurea’.

In the same area is a mixed planter, also bought at a steep discount of purple kale, probably B. ‘Redbor’.

The metal window planter on the shed holds some Sweet William, Dianthus barbatus seedlings and golden creeping jenny, Lysimachia nummularia ‘Aurea’ that could use a trim. This planter gets zero attention from the gardener. It really should be redone this year, I mean next year. Time to get ready to write 2010, it even feels funny typing it.

It has been mentioned that we avoid working in the front gardens if at all possible. We are usually dressed oddly and don’t want our privacy invaded, unless it is Mickey coming by in his golf cart for a visit. In the space between the garage and the main house that was paved when the driveway was laid, the blue pot collection holds Yucca filamentosa ‘Golden Sword’. Many plantings have been tried in these pots. Yellow tulips, violas, Camellias, summer annuals all have looked quite attractive, but only for a short time. The Camellias died outright. Wanting something evergreen, upright and interesting, these yuccas seem to fit the bill. The blue foliage of the blue stars, Juniperus squamata and upright Chamaecyparis pisifera ‘Boulevard’ offers a cool foliage dominated rock walled bed by the front door sidewalk. Heuchera ‘Citronelle’ contrasts and the still tiny japanese maple gives red foliage in the growing seasons. Bulbs live in there with a covering of forget me not seedlings. Calm, restful to the eye, and above all, no maintenance for the shy gardener.

The value of evergreen foliage of different hues cannot be stressed strongly enough, if there is hope of winter interest. Do consider these plants, whether for containers if your climate allows, or in the ground. It is so nice to have something alive and colorful to look at until spring shows its face again.

Frances

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~ by fairegarden on December 18, 2009.