Foliage Follow-Up: Colorful new pots and plants for spring
Yesterday was one of those perfect days for working in the garden all day long. And that’s exactly what I did, including potting up this beautiful new purple pot with the twistiest paleleaf yucca (Y. pallida) I’ve ever seen. The leaves look like ribbons curled with scissors, don’t they? A ghost plant (Graptopetalum paraguayense), which picks up the purple, will eventually spread and spill over the edge, or so I hope. The heart stones were given to me many years ago by my husband’s sweet grandmother.
An old concrete pedestal gives the pot a lift and a little more oomph in the lower garden. I chose the purple pot to complement the dusky purple leaves of an existing ‘Sizzling Pink’ Chinese fringeflower (Loropetalum chinense). That’s a ‘Cream de Mint’ pittosporum on the left, a cute little shrub for shade.
A wider view shows the newly replanted culvert-pipe planter too. The pipe planter used to hold a ‘Margaritaville’ yucca, but the yucca was looking ratty after a rough move during my stucco wall construction.
Its replacement is one of my favorite agaves for shade: squid agave (A. bracteosa), with wavy, green leaves like tentacles. I underplanted it with ghost plant too.
It’s pretty from every direction, especially with the loropetalum’s fading pink blooms visible in the background.
And now for something different! I recently spray-painted my metal phormium (?) silver because, why not? When it was green it often passed for real, at least in photos. But real isn’t really the point. It’s plant art, and I thought it would be fun to make a focal point out of it. Now it’s what you see as you walk down the steps into the lower garden, and I’ve placed it in a semicircle of ‘Will Fleming’ yaupon hollies, which I hope will eventually form a curved green wall around it, like ta-da!
Meanwhile, Moby the ‘Whale’s Tongue’ agave (A. ovatifolia) and its escorts are looking particularly fine, luxuriating in the spring sunshine.
And it’s finally warmed up enough for me to put my new Pilocereus azureus outdoors. You may remember that Reuben of Rancho Reubidoux recently shared this cutting with me. That big nail is an improvised plant stake, keeping it from leaning over until it grows a root system. A golden barrel cactus keeps it company for now.
So what sort of foliage is making you happy in your March garden? Please join me for Foliage Follow-Up, giving foliage plants their due on the day after Bloom Day. Leave a link to your post in a comment below. I really appreciate it if you’ll also link to my post in your own — sharing link love! If you can’t post so soon after Bloom Day, no worries. Just leave your link when you get to it. I look forward to seeing your foliage faves!
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Here is my foliage post – softer than your spiky one!! 🙂
https://patientgardener.wordpress.com/2015/03/16/foliage-follow-up-march-2015-geranium-palmatum/
Your new potted combinations are very nice & the heart shaped stones are a special touch! What a cool yucca. Spray painted phormium is beautiful. My foliage post is not as dangerous as yours this time around. http://www.outlawgarden.blogspot.com/2015/03/foliage-follow-up-march-2015.html
Can’t wait to get into my garden – it snowed here in Massachusetts yesterday, bringing the total snowfall to a record 108+ inches. It will be weeks before the snow will melt and gardening will begin again.
You’ve had a LOT of snow this year, Amy. Hope spring arrives sooner than you expect. —Pam
Oh that Yucca pallida! I bought one last year specifically because of its curls, yours is at a whole other level. Love it.
This is definitely the curliest one I’ve ever come across, Loree. Naturally I snapped it right up. —Pam
I am always amazed by your colorful planters and lovely selection of succulents. Moby is looking fabulous…love watching it grow! Here is my Foliage Day post…some covered by snow and some new buds! http://landscapedesignbylee.blogspot.com/2015/03/garden-bloggers-bloom-day-and-foliage.html
If it’s any consolation for your long, cold winters, I think you northerners experience the bliss of spring in a way we southerners never can. The only thing I can compare it to is our longing for the first cool breath of fall after a long, hot summer. Thanks for joining in for Foliage Follow-Up, and happy spring! —Pam
Love the silver phormium plant art, it is now reflective and sparkly! Love it. And your new plants/post are wonderful, too. Nice finds, Pam! P.S. Sorry Moby got you the other day 🙁
Bad Moby! —Pam
I love your new container combos, especially that twisty Yucca. I focused on emerging foliage for this month. My post is here: http://bonneylassie.blogspot.com/2015/03/foliage-followup-march-2015-be-leaf-in.html
I’m enjoying the magic show of spring leaf here too, Alison. Thanks for joining in with your beautiful new leaves. —Pam
How do you do those culvert pipe planters? Surely they aren’t filled with potting soil but rather there is something else filling in the bottom, right? I saw a garden designer on TV who filled the bottoms of enormous planters with gallon milk jugs. That purple-colored planter is great.
I use whatever’s on hand to take up some room — milk jugs, upturned plastic pots — but there is a lot of garden soil in the bottom of this one, just to keep it from being top heavy. —Pam
Nice looking plant combos and pots, too. I love that twist-leaf yucca. I bought one at the Wildflower Center’s plant sale a year and a half ago and it grew fast! Time to repot again. Isn’t it nice to finally get out in the garden?
Yucca pallida is one of my favorite yuccas — great color and shade tolerance. And yes, it’s wonderful to be working in the garden after a cold, rainy winter. —Pam
I posted and forgot to comment. I love the silver paint! Only one foliage plant really doing anything but still it is a nice treat in March. http://eachlittleworld.typepad.com/each_little_world/2015/03/foliage-follow-up-31615.html
That first arrangement is fabulous, Pam. I really like the placement of the heart stones and the way it’s organized. Also, “Moby” is quite impressive! Thanks for hosting Foliage Follow-Up. Here’s my link:
http://plantpostings.blogspot.com/2015/03/my-tropical-wish-list-of-flowers-and.html
I enjoyed your tropical wish list of great foliage (and flowering) plants, Beth. However, there’s no need to move all the way to the tropics for some of them. We can grow quite a few here in zone 8b Austin. 🙂 —Pam
Moby is breathtaking, and that Yucca pallida is awesome — I LOVE the way its twists are echoed by the twists in the culvert pipe. Also: I was delighted to see a quote from you in this article! Got there via this new Audubon post on bird-friendly yards.
Spiraling and radiating lines have a special place in my back garden, Luisa, showing up in the pattern of paving stones, the culvert-pipe planters, and certain plants. Thanks for noticing! And thanks too for pointing out the Audubon article. I’d seen it last year and am still so honored to be mentioned in the magazine! —Pam
Fabulous plantings, Pam, both container and in – ground. Might there be some Y. rupicola in the genetic makeup of that twisty Y. pallida?
Perhaps it is a hybrid of the two, Peter, although it wasn’t labeled as such. —Pam
I love the curly Yucca and it looks great in that planter. I’m developing a fondness for Yucca – at least for the species that don’t grow 20 feet tall and take over entire slopes. My belated foliage follow-up entry is here: http://krispgarden.blogspot.com/2015/03/foliage-follow-up-in-praise-of-thyme.html
Thanks for hosting, Pam, and happy St. Patrick’s Day!
Your thyme groundcover has filled in beautifully, Kris, and really ties everything together. Thanks for joining in this month. —Pam