July 17, 2010

Follow these fabulous Foliage Follow-Up links

Filed under: Foliage Follow-Up — Pam/Digging @ 4:52 pm


Luscious foliage in a Lancaster Avenue garden in Buffalo, NY

Even in this month of bounteous flowers, foliage anchors the summer garden. Celebrating each month’s favorite foliage plants is what Foliage Follow-Up is all about. I invite all bloggers to join me on the 16th of each month, right after Bloom Day, in posting about your leafy goodness. Embarrassingly, I didn’t get my act together, after recent travels, to do my own foliage post this month. But that doesn’t mean I’m not keenly interested to know about your favorites for July.

Several bloggers have already posted about theirs and thoughtfully linked back to Digging so that I could find them. Their links are below. If I’ve missed your Foliage Follow-Up post for July, please let me know in a comment, and I’ll add your link to the list.

Kim at A Study in Contrasts

Linda and Mark at Each Little World

Sue at A Corner Garden

Linda at Patchwork Garden

Denise at A Growing Obsession

Elizabeth at Fold, Fallow and Plough

David at Tropical Texana

Rosie at Leaves ‘n Bloom

Ricki at Sprig to Twig

Cindy at From My Corner of Katy

Tune in tomorrow for more images from the garden shown at top, as well as others visited on the last day of Buffa10.

All material © 2006-2010 by Pam Penick for Digging. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.

June 15, 2010

Deer resistant Bloom Day & Foliage Follow Up

Filed under: 2nd garden--2010, Bloom Day, Foliage Follow-Up, Pests, Xeric plants, Yuccas — Pam/Digging @ 5:17 pm


The new island bed out front, where deer make daily foraging rounds, is holding up well thanks to fuzzy and spiky leaves and strong-smelling foliage. While foliage is the backbone of that bed, flowering perennials are going strong too. It seems natural, then, to combine Bloom Day and Foliage Follow-Up in one post about the deer-resistant garden this month.

Pictured above, ‘Senorita Rosalita’ cleome, looking stunning (and completely unmunched) in front of bright-yellow-and-green Yucca filamentosa ‘Color Guard.’


The cleome’s pink-lavender flowers often wash out to a tepid pale pink in my photos, but today I got a few images that capture the color pretty well.


The cobalt flowers and bright-green foliage of majestic sage (Salvia guaranitica) have so far also proven unpalatable to deer.


Tried-and-true lantana grows like a weed under the mailbox in part shade, with no supplemental water, and still blooms. Deer hate it. Gotta love it.


Hymenoxys, or four-nerve daisy (Tetraneuris scaposa ), has been sampled. One plant was chomped down to an inch high. But it survives, and the others are, so far, untouched and in full bloom, adding cheery color to the front of the bed.


Another four-nerve daisy


The lavender-and-white flowers of Mexican oregano (Poliomintha longiflora) are spaced along fragrant, leafy branches, and the deer turn up their noses. I love the fragrance and run my hands across it whenever I walk past.


The spent flowers turn brown and hang on the branches, so it’s worth cutting Mexican oregano back by one-third after the flowers fade. Doing so keeps the plant looking green and tidy and encourages another flush of flowers.


Heartleaf skullcap (Scutellaria ovata) is a native with fuzzy and oily leaves and stems. Its lavender flowers stand up a foot or a foot-and-a-half tall in springtime, and afterward the plant may disappear entirely during the summer. In winter the fuzzy leaves reappear and make a lovely blue-green mat through spring.


Texas betony (Stachys coccinea) has rough-textured, even irritating, leaves, and the deer have left it entirely alone. Red flowers bloom all summer.


Red cordyline (Cordyline australis ‘Red Star’) is an annual in all but the mildest winters here in Austin, but it sure is worth replanting every year. Deer don’t bother it, and it provides rich color in dry part-shade. The foliage echoes the red of Texas betony flowers.


Various greens make up most of the foliage in my deer-resistant bed: lime-green bamboo muhly, deep-green Texas dwarf palmetto, blue-green silver Mediterranean fan palm. But the real stars are a lemon-lime trio of Yucca filamentosa ‘Color Guard,’ which anchor the hottest, sunniest corner.


I absolutely love the color and the drama. They make a big statement in this garden.

To see what’s blooming in gardens around the world on this date, visit May Dreams Gardens for links to other Bloom Day posts. To participate in Foliage Follow-Up, which occurs on the day after Bloom Day, just leave a link to your post right here in the comment section and link to this post so I can find you. I’d love to see what foliage you’re mad about this month.

All material © 2006-2010 by Pam Penick for Digging. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.

May 16, 2010

Foliage Follow-Up: Grasses & xeric containers

Filed under: 2nd garden--2010, Agaves, Containers, Foliage Follow-Up, Grasses, Stock tanks, Succulents — Pam/Digging @ 4:37 am


The day after Bloom Day means it’s Foliage Follow-Up, when we get to show off our favorite foliage plants for the month. Right now I’m loving the blond-and-chartreuse waves of Mexican feathergrass (Nassella tenuissima). I have an unidentified agave in the pot, a passalong from one of our local blogger get-togethers. The silver leaves of strawflower (Chrysocephalum apiculatum Flambe Yellow), seen in the background and also featured in yesterday’s Bloom Day post, add foliar interest as well.


Agaves always make a strong foliage statement in my garden. On the left is Agave victoriae-reginae; on the right, Agave americana var. mediopicta ‘Alba.’ And at top, the lower leaves of Agave ovatifolia, or ‘Whale’s Tongue’ agave.


Foliage plants star in my focal-point collection of containers in the raised bed. ‘Santa Rita’ Opuntia occupies the purple pot. In the stock tank are variegated artemisia, a baby ‘Sharkskin’ agave, gray santolina, golden barrel cactus, and Yucca rostrata ‘Sapphire Skies.’ In the blue pots are variegated American agave and more golden barrels. And on the ground, Yucca flaccida ‘Bright Edge,’ gopher plant (Euphorbia rigida), and daylilies round out the scene.


A huge Nolina texana in a pot underplanted with ‘Sparkler’ sedge, ‘Diamond Frost’ euphorbia, and ‘Toffee Twist’ sedge add life to a shady nook.


And a cute new cactus from one of the box stores. Can anyone ID it for me? It’s a ball cactus, aka Parodia magnifica, and quite cold-hardy. My thanks to Brent for the ID!

So what’s capturing your interest, foliage-wise, in your garden this May? Join in and post about your favorites, and then let us know about it by commenting on this post and leaving your link. I look forward to seeing your foliar stars!

All material © 2006-2010 by Pam Penick for Digging. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.

April 16, 2010

Deer-resistant Foliage Follow-Up


For April’s Foliage Follow-Up (a celebration of foliage on the day after Bloom Day), let’s see how the one-month-old garden in the deer-infested front yard is holding up. It’s mostly a foliage garden, after all. In case you’re wondering, by “deer-infested” I mean that a half-dozen to a dozen deer come tromping through every night. Some mornings they’re still moseying through the yards on their way back to the greenbelt that borders my neighborhood.

First stop: the focal-point trio of ‘Color Guard’ yuccas. I bought them for their stripey yellow-and-green foliage, knowing that deer would eat the blooms. It’s worth sacrificing flowers if I get to keep fabulous foliage like this. So far they remain untouched.


What’s this? A deer’s calling card. This gopher plant (Euphorbia rigida) has had its flower head bitten off.


I felt grimly smug, I must admit, when I saw the flower head lying on the driveway, where it clearly had been spat out in disgust. I knew that the perpetrator had received a taste of irritating, latex-like sap with that ill-advised sampling. None of the other gopher plants were touched. Yeah, go tell it on the mountain, deer!


Hymenoxys (Tetraneuris scaposa) is one of the few plants I put in this bed for its flowers. Pictured at bottom, it’s a scrappy little native that will bloom nearly year-round. So far, the deer have left it alone.


Silver Mediterranean fan palm (Chamaerops humilis var. argentea) is a stunning specimen plant with silvery-blue foliage and a strong silhouette. I positioned it for screening my across-the-street neighbors, though it will take a few years to grow large enough to do the job. Again, so far no deer damage.


Texas betony (Stachys coccinea) has coral-red flowers and hairy, almost prickly stems that the deer have left alone.


Pale pavonia (Pavonia hastata), a South American cousin to our native rock rose, has white flowers tinged with burgundy and a wine-colored eye. The flowers open in the morning and close in the afternoon. Again, so far the deer have not munched on it.


I planted red cordyline (Cordyline australis), an annual in Austin except in mild winters, to relieve the sea of green. It has a nice color echo with the flowers of pale pavonia and Texas betony. We inherited a couple of cordyline along the foundation of our home when we moved in, and the deer never bothered them. So I’m hopeful that these will be left alone too.


Mexican oregano (Poliomintha longiflora) has strongly scented foliage and eventually will be covered in a mass of lilac-and-white, tubular flowers attractive to hummingbirds. Softleaf yucca (Yucca recurvifolia) is an evergreen, non-clumping yucca that’s not as sharp as some. I expect deer to eat the flowers this summer, but so far the foliage of both plants has not been bothered.


Texas dwarf palmetto (Sabal minor) is a slow- and low-growing native palm.


Copper canyon daisy (Tagetes lemmonii) isn’t native to central Texas but might as well be. It can grow with no babying once established and provides a cloud of yellow flowers in fall. Its strongly scented foliage makes it unappealing to deer.


Majestic sage (Salvia guaranitica) is a shade-tolerant salvia with lime-green leaves and electric-blue, tubular flowers. Easily divided and transplanted, I dug up three pieces from the back garden and moved them to the front bed. I’m still waiting to see whether the deer will find these tasty.


Lindheimer’s nolina (Nolina lindheimeriana)—this is one of three divisions from my former garden—is one of our native woody lilies, related to agave and yucca though it has a grassy habit. Here it’s paired with softleaf yucca.


Variegated Agave americana is a vigorous, offsetting agave that can rapidly take over if not “de-pupped.” But I love the stripey foliage and writhing arms. So far the deer haven’t bothered it, but it may be in more danger in the fall, when deer look for trees and stiff plants to rub their antlers on.


At one month old, the garden has held up well to nightly visits by deer. Only one plant, the euphorbia, has been browsed so far. I’m cheered by this early success but certain that the real test will be this fall and winter, when the deer are hungrier. But by then these plants should have a solid root system and be better able to withstand any munching.

If you are moved to join in for Foliage Follow-Up, just post about your favorite foliage this month and leave a link to your post in the comments on this post so that others can find your contribution.

All material © 2006-2010 by Pam Penick for Digging. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.

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