Re: Foliage only plants

Highly recommend about any of the var. foliage Carex that are hardy
for you - they just stay great all year.  Of course, Hosta and Ferns
- hard to beat ferns for nifty foliage; some all year around - and
then the Asarum (hardy gingers), some of which have marvelously
marbled leaves...and Hellebores, whose foliage remains very nice all
year.  Euphorbias also keep on looking good (of course, you have to
remove spent flower stems).  Var. Symphytum are another that
brightens a corner if you don't happen to have rabbits:-)  Arisaema
foliage is (on several of them) quite striking all summer.  Rampant
as it is, var. Lamium galeobdolen looks good all season; Pachysandra
all year around, if dark green suits you.  In the same vein are the
var. vincas...not exciting, but nice all season.  Saxifrages - the
mother of thousands - many have marbled as well as colored foliage -
nice in dampish shady spots.  If you have sun and a bog (or make one)
Sarracenias (pitcher plants) are hard to beat for dramatic foliage
tho' their flowers are also incredible.  Amorphophallus konjac has
marvelous foliage as well as leopard spotted stems - mine have never
bloomed, but I don't care as I like the foliage.

I grow Canna 'Wyoming' as well as some of the var. forms for their
foliage - and Caladiums and Colocasias - the tropicals are starting
to hit their strides now in the heat.  Can't live without Ipomoea
batatas these days - in its several forms.  'Margarita' shines.

Personally, I find I select plants for foliage first and flowers
second, tho' I love flowers - but they are so fleeting where good
foliage stays with you all season, if not all year.

Marge Talt, zone 7 Maryland
mtalt@hort.net
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> From: Saxton, Susan <SSaxton@schwabe.com>
> 
> Okay, I give.  While I still maintain my fervant love of roses,
clematis and other flowering plants, I am definitely, especially at
this time of year, appreciating the foliage only plants like heuchera
and especially persicaria (or whatever they are calling it these
days) 'Painter's Palette' and a Korean violet I just bought that is
wonderfully green and silver marbled.
> 
> What are your other suggestions for plants grown primarily for
foliage -- particularly those that are holding up well in the summer
heat?

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