Foliage Follow-up -September 2014

This is my first attempt at joining Pam Penick on Folliage Follow-up meme at her Digging blog.  Folliage is very important for me..possibly more important than flowers, reason why I plant a lot of perennials because I like their foliage. For this month I pick just a few of the many great foliage plants I grow and will share with you more in future posts.

Purple Fountain Grass (Pennisetum setaceum "Rubrum") is the center plant in my front pots

The front pots never get watered by me, just the rainfall so the plants have to be drought tolerant.  Also, this area of the house faces west and gets the afternoon sun.  While the Purple Fountain Grass is not hardy to our area (zone 9) it is such a easy to grow, hard working grass.  I've been buying it for the last 4 years and I am still not tired of it. Every year I change the companion plants to vary the look of the container but I haven't changed yet the Primadona of this arrangement.  The filler plant this year is a cute spotted coleus that hasn't grown bushy enough and you can hardly see it here (possibly not enough water).  The trailers are Sweet potato vine on the back, Calibrachoa "Apricot Punch" and Wire Wine ( Muehlenbeckia maxillaries) in the front. The pots are placed near blue foliage plants as "Elijah Blue" grass, "Halcyon" Hosta and "Blue star" Juniper. You can also see the Sedum "Brilliance" and a taller pyramidal form of Dwarf Alberta Spruce.

Ornamental grass, Eulalia or Miscanthus sinensis "Adagio" (zone 5-9)

Weeping Serbian Spruce (Picea omorika) hardy to zone 4 is the latest acquisition for this fall

Varigated-kiss-me-over-the-garden-gate or
Persicaria orientalis ‘Shiro-gane Nishiki’ (tall annual started from seed)

Sedum "Ogon", succulents, cactus, aloe vera

Foreground: Coleus and Calla Lily folliage   Background: Colocasia Black Coral

 I wintered all the plants above in the sun room and I thought I will loose all coleus due to the cold temperatures.  The coleus above had more red last year and my notes say it is a "Mt. Washington" variety. The coloration has changed as new growth emerged in the spring. Most red is gone and it is only at the base of each leaf and on the stems.

Coleus (unknown variety), "Magadi Compact Blue" Lobelia and Red-leaf Perilla

Thanks for Pam for organizing this meme. Check her amazing blog at Digging.