Foliage In the Garden: Contrasting, Textures, and Colorful Foliage

From In the Garden

Gardening is more than just flowers and vegetables. It is also about the foliage. Foliage is something that will be present all season long even when the flowers are gone. If you chose wisely you might have foliage in the garden all year long so you need to consider foliage for three big elements; texture, contrast, and color.

Trees and shrubs are the most obvious forms that provide us with foliage. Lots and lots of foliage which is a major player in the garden in the form of leaves. Not all trees and shrubs have the same foliage. Just look at the 'Sango Kaku', red cedar, and mature oak trees in the above picture. The foliage of these three trees is completely different and that is what makes the combination pleasant. Their foliage contrasts pleasantly and the color changes make a big impact in the garden.

From In the Garden

Another source of contrasting textural foliage with interesting color changes are the perennials. A good number of perennials disappear during the winter season, but boy do they add so much to the garden during the growing season. I have a lot of shade here in my gardens so I've had to learn to work with it. Heucheras, hostas, Japanese maples, hellebores, astilbes, brunnera, goatsbeard, forest grass, and penstemons all work well together and play off from the contrasting and textural foliage of their neighbors and all require the same or similar growing conditions. The overall effect of a mix of perennials with different textures, and contrasting colors is greater than each plant can provide individually in the garden. No flowers required.



Lastly, we'll look at how color can affect the contrast of plants in the garden. The smoketree/bush is a wonderful accent shrub for a garden. They come in all sorts of cultivars and types. The two pictured above are 'Royal Purple' (on the right) and 'Golden Spirit' on the left. I paired them together specifically so they could play off from one another and what a play! Even though the texture of the two smoke bushes is similar, the colors make each shrub pop all on their own. The bonus of a backdrop of 'Annabelle' hydrangeas in green helps to set off these brilliant colors. Foliage with different colors and tints makes a big impact.

Try to consider foliage when planning your garden and not just flowers and flower color. If you plan for texture and contrast you will have interest all year round....

in the garden....

Trees With and Without Leaves in Winter

From In the Garden

What is a gardener to do in the winter when the garden is asleep, the trees are bare, the sun is low and it is just too cold to garden? Well, take pictures of course and see what is interesting in the garden even without the dressings of the spring, summer and fall garden seasons.

One of my most indispensable type of trees in my garden are Japanese maples. I am most fond of them because of their colors, their growth habit, their form, structure and year round interest. A very special tree is my 'Sango Kaku' Japanese maple, aka Coral Bark Japanese maple, aka Christine's Tree. Can you see from the above picture why it is called the Coral Bark Japanese maple?

During the cold of winter the newer limbs of the Coral Bark Japanese maples can glow with a vivid red color. They are really colorful against a blue sky or neutral background. The neutral background in this case is an oak tree that holds on to its leaves all winter (I believe it is a Willow Oak).

Just look around for interest in the garden. You don't need fancy or special trees in order to have interest. Interest is everywhere-you need only look. Trees are one of the most valuable resources we have in this world (in my humble opinion). They are more precious than the most precious mineral or gem because they provide us with so much-think shade, oxygen, moderation of temperatures, beauty, and value. Trees are a renewable resource but one that takes many many years to replace and I don't know about you, but I only have one lifetime and I want to enjoy my trees-now-so I take care of my trees and value them each day.

Some interesting trees during the winter include: sycamores, J. maples, birch trees, all evergreens, hickories, Kentucky coffee bean tree, oaks, crabapples, pines, magnolias, sumacs, junipers, beeches, and many more. These trees don't necessarily need leaves to provide interest in the garden.

What types of trees do you find interesting in the winter and why?

Words and Photos Property of In the Garden Blog Team,

In the Garden

Spectacular Sango Kaku and J. Maple Fall Color and a Vacation

From In the Garden

I cannot help but showcase the fall color of some of my Japanese maples. Japanese maples are my favorite small trees (crepes come in second place) and I think you can see why from the fall color of a few of mine. Pictured above is Sango Kaku. I call this my Christy tree because she was here visiting when I planted it in 2003.




I don't believe I've ever posted on this little Japanese maple, cultivar unknown. It was also planted in 2003 when I came home from Iraq and finally had the time to garden. The red is wonderful. This tree was damaged quite heavily in the freeze of 2007 but has recovered nicely. I'm looking for good things from it as it grows. I have other Japanese maple cultivars that are putting on a good show but they are very small so I'm not ready to share them. Aside from the fact that I simply love Japanese maples, I have more of this kind of tree than any other kind of tree here; hence I call it my signature plant. Someday all of them will be big and it will simply be a sight to see with them all here. I anxiously await that day!

Well, now that the obligatory pretty pictures (sadly the pictures cannot compare to the real thing) are out of the way we come to the real reason of my post. We here at In the Garden will be taking the month of December off from blogging in order to spend quality time with our families and loved ones. In the meantime we thought we'd leave you with some favored posts from the past. These are in no particular order but they are older posts regular readers may have missed or may want to look back over. I have provided a brief description so you don't waste your time looking through them all in case the subject does not interest you. Browse them if desired or not. We all know time is precious. Some of these do not have photos due to them being old. I lost many of pictures when I switched my blog over from the FTP website to blogger. Sigh, such is life. Enjoy.

1. Patience? Who has any of this in the garden?

2. Fertilizer? Get some energizer bunnies.

3. Silent Spring? A tribute to a wonderful pioneering woman who stood her ground and changed America.

4. Things You'll Never Hear a Gardener Say. 'Nuff said.

5. Land Grant Universities. Interesting information about your local extension offices and the universities they are affiliated with.

6. Who's In the Garden? One of my favorite posts of all time. This post generated a lot of comments-conversations amongst the core group of commenters of this garden blog when it first started. It was like sitting on the front porch and I do miss that.

7. Gigantic Snow People. Putting the quirks of a great north eastern state to work and utilizing that cold snow to make lots of fun.

8. The Masters in Georgia. A wonderful look at spring colors and an American tradition.

9. Cedar. A wonderful versatile tree with many uses that brings back memories.

10. Wildlife In the Garden. Sharing our gardens with a multitude of life.

11. Fiddleheads. Love them all and a special tribute.

12. Mom's Vegetable Garden. Where memories are made.

13. Flying Flowers. A lovely look at butterflies.

14. Shenandoah Color. A colorful drive.

15. Citrus in the Deep South. The yummy flavorfulness of healthy citrus.

Fifteen posts are more than enough I think. You all take care.

Do be safe over the holidays and here's wishing you all Happy Holidays from all of us here....

in the garden....

Sangu Kaku-The Coral Bark Maple

Next to crepe myrtles, Japanese Maples are my favorite small tree. These trees give so much to the landscape and are cherished by so many gardeners. I think the gardeners cherish them so much because they are so expensive. They are expensive because many of the named varieties are grafted and because Japanese maples generally take a long time to grow.

I call this tree Christine's tree. Christine is my oldest daughter and since she has been on her own, she hasn't really lived close to me. Always in another state, except when we were all in Germany. That is why this tree is her tree. She happened to be visiting when I bought this little thing on sale at Home Depot four years ago. She was here for Thanksgiving and I remember this specifically because we had a big Thanksgiving and I was just finishing the last of my raking for the season.

The tree has flourished even in spite of the hard freeze in April. This tree was just beginning to get its fall color when I took the picture, and is backlit by the morning sun. I hope the glow comes through as well in the picture as it did in person. New growth in the spring is a light green leaf edged with red. The leaves slowly darken and turn a pretty much uniform medium green. But new growth continues to come in all season so the tree is never boring. If new growth, fall color and overall beauty were not enough this tree offers up red bark in the winter. Hence the common name of Coral Bark Maple.

Every now and then Christine will ask how her tree is doing (she still lives in Maine) and I let her know it is growing just fine. I had planted two Japanese maples when I planted this one and Christine had reminded me when I told her how this one was doing. The other was a weeping Japanese Maple, which I don't have anywhere in my garden and I love them. My dogs (probably BJ) must have thought the tree was in his way as I found it months later pulled out by the root ball and all dried up. Oh well, Christine's tree is doing okay.

Japanese maples are understory trees and ideally should be protected from the hot sun. I have seen many Japanese maples growing in full sun which do perfectly well, but this is not a smart practice. Japanese maples are native to Japan where their natural growing environment would be somewhat moist, rocky and cool. I have tried to emulate those conditions by planting this tree in a rocky area close to the corner of my house where a gutter drains. Japanese maple roots should not harm foundations but should be planted far enough away from structures so they can mature without having to be pruned. Normally Japanese maples will not need to ever be pruned except for the occasional opening up of the canopy.

Many gardeners lost portions of their Japanese maples in the freeze this year but the fact the trees did not die outright is a testament to their resilience and tenacity. I know I was very fearful my Japanese maples would not return because they were completely blackened. If you did not get a chance to prune out the dead areas, wait until spring leaf out then gently clip out all of the dead branches. They will probably not rejuvenate themselves but new growth will quickly fill in.

A newly trained master gardener and citizen forester, Judie, has trees in honor of most all of her family members in her garden. She loves trees more than me. Shrubs are my big thing. Does anyone else have trees like my Christine tree and Judie's trees? I once heard when a baby is born members of the family plant a tree in honor of the baby. And let's not forget those annual give a way trees by the tree board which come with certificates. Jimmy's little redbud he received in the fourth grade is still growing-albeit slowly.

in the garden....