Foliage Counts

When leaves bring as much excitement as flowers

I ’m giving flower lover , but sometimes leaves are just as beautiful as the best blooms ! And , of course , leaves often stay look fairly for far longer than the brief spirit of a bloom . There are gobs of great plants with jaw - dropping leaves , but here are some of my favorites . What are yours ?

Yucca ‘ Color Guard ’ ( Yucca filamentosa , Zone 4 – 9 ) . The dramatic , spiked leaf of yucca are always great , and ‘ Color Guard ’ takes it to novel heights with a wide , bright yellow streak down the nub of each foliage . The dear thing about this is that it looks expert absolutely 365 day a year . The leaves hold up right through the cold and snowfall of wintertime . They laugh at summertime droughts , and deer do n’t exhaust them .

Blue leaved rose ( Rosa glauca , zone 2 – 8) . I have it off rosebush , but most rise have beautiful blooms on candidly ugly plants . Not this species of rose wine . It forms a expectant , arching bush as much as 4 or 5 foot improbable , covered in some of the most beautiful leave out there . Each leaf is silvery grey-haired with a thrill of red . The little , pink flowers are second tier when set against those terrific leaves .

Trees like maples are renowned for their fall color , but some perennials put on a exhibit that is just as wondrous . This mass ofAmsonia hubrichtii(Arkansa blue star , Zone 5 – 8) growing in the Lurie garden in downtown Chicago has pretty patrician flowers in the spring , but really shines in the spill when the foliation turns a rich , smart , golden yellow .

You ca n’t mention foliage without talking about flame nettle ( Solenostemon scutellarioides , annual ) ! There are interminable choices of flame nettle on the market , but this has to be one of my very ducky , the cultivar ‘ Sedona ’ with shiny , burn leaves in shadowiness of orange and red . ( Get tips ondesigning with flame nettle ) .

Sometimes I care leaves with some attitude … genus Solanum quitoensis(Naranjilla , annual ) has huge leaves covered with vicious looking purple spikes ! Try taking a collation out of THAT , deer !

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