Although flowers usually steal the headlines, just think what your garden would look like without foliage.
Although flowers usually steal the headlines, think how bleak a garden would look without foliage. Leaves are a vital part of every garden. Consider the contrast between the lushness of summer and the bleakness of winter, when tender plants have gone and deciduous plants have lost their leaves.
Some foliage plants form the centrepieces to displays, like the brilliant coleus in one of my patio pots (pictured, above). It's one of the 'Kong' series, I think, and, having started off as quite a small thing, it has continued growing strongly to dominate this display. Yes it's tender, but I could take cuttings now to keep young plants through winter on a warm, bright windowsill. The contrast in colour between the cream-and-pink-veined upper surface of each crinkled leaf and the reddish pink below is stunning. Who needs flowers when you've got colour like this?
Many of my patio pots are planted for season-long impact, and that often means foliage wins over flowers. I've pots of ornamental grasses like miscanthus and imperata, several Japanese maples in large pots, a striking Hosta nigrescens, and a nicely clipped box ball, to name but a few. All have their place, growing and changing as the year progresses.
Of course I have pots of flowers, too, but it's the foliage that provides a lasting quality to my displays. And although my coleus isn't hardy enough to survive outside over winter, many of the others are. Growing bigger with each passing year, it's the foliage plants that really do give great value for money.
