Don't be fooled. Inside this thin coating of sweetness is a fiery core of total insanity.

Friday, March 16, 2012

Foliage Followup -- March 2012

Well,  I didn't do a Garden Blogger's Bloom Day post, because I don't really have much blooming other than some primroses and Hellebores, which I've already posted photos of. But I have lots of emerging foliage, not to mention stuff that is evergreen.

This Sempervivum is called simply 'Black' -- it is positioned where two different creeping sedums converge.

Quite a few of these "hens" flowered and died last year, but they left behind plenty of healthy "chicks," which have already reached a good size. I'll probably move a lot of them to the gravel garden when it's finished.

This bright orange ornamental grass is really thriving in its spot, despite very little water last year. Another good candidate for the new garden.

The bright new foliage of Spirea 'Magic Carpet' matches the grass really well, they are in the same bed. But I think the spirea will be staying where it is.

Hypericum 'Albury Purple' lives up to its name.

The new foliage on a nearby returning Lupine is quite purple too.

This rather large clump of rose campion has never bloomed, although it is going into its third year. Maybe this year. I do like the fuzzy texture of its leaves.

I love the tight rosettes of this tall sedum, which resembles Autumn Joy in form, but the flowers are much too bright. Possibly it's the one called "Neon'?

The new foliage of this Monarda is always tinged with purple.

This big healthy clump of Centranthus ruber will probably get divided and placed in the new gravel garden, it likes sharp drainage. So far, no babies, despite warnings that it will self-sow with abandon.

Variegated columbine foliage is so cute!

The new foliage of Agastache 'Golden Jubilee' always come up heavily tinged with purple, then turns completely chartreuse.

It's hard to find leaves of Dianthus barbatus Sooty' that aren't chewed on, but I managed.

I have five or six enormous clumps of Nepeta 'Walker's Low' that will get divided up and replanted in the gravel garden. The neighborhood cats like it, but it has thrived despite their ardor.

I hope this cute little columbine coming up amidst some rocks survives.

It's been so cold still (I am so jealous of the rest of the country, which is enjoying such warm temps), our native Sedum spathulifolium 'Cape Blanco', which normally has blue-gray foliage, is holding onto its cold-induced purpleness.
Is this flower or foliage? Hmmmm...not quite flower yet, I think, on this Euphorbia.

This blotched Arum 'Jack Sprat' was a new purchase this time last year. This clump is looking nice and healthy, not so for others elsewhere, they've been chewed on, probably by slugs.

I love the form and coloring on this Cyclamen hederifolium. With leaves like this, who cares if it flowers?


No post from the wet Pacific Northwest would be complete without a picture of moss. Except this isn't moss.



Do you know what it is? It's a large patch of liverwort -- an even more primitive plant than moss. I often find it on the surface of plants I've bought at the nursery, and I scrape it off. Maybe once the dry season starts it will die back. But for now, it loves my wet shade.

Well, that's about it for my foliage. I hope you enjoyed leaf-peeping!

Please check out Pam's blog Digging, where she is showing pictures of an interesting Mahonia, and where other bloggers have left links to more posts with lovely foliage!