Designing for Foliage

Using different shaped leaves for visual interest.

Schizachyrium scoparium 'The Blues'
Item # 88475 		Schizachyrium scoparium 'The Blues'
Little Bluestem Grass

each $5.99
3 to 6 $5.79
7 or more $5.59
Stachys byzantina 'Helen von Stein'
Item # 92835 		Stachys byzantina 'Helen von Stein'
Large Leafed Lambs Ear

each $5.29
3 to 6 $4.99
7 or more $4.79
Salvia officinalis 'Minima'
Item # 84757 		Salvia officinalis 'Minima'
Little-leaf Culinary Sage

each $5.29
3 to 6 $4.99
7 or more $4.79
  • Topic: Garden Design
  • Author: Cindy Bellinger
  • Keywords: leaves, shape, texture, size, shape, color, Garden Design, leaf, gardens, foilage
  • Date: February 2003

© All articles are copyrighted by High Country Gardens. Republication is prohibited without Permission.

So often when we think of gardens, we think of illustrious masses, or even little spots, of colorful flowers. But then, as they do, the flowers always fade. What’s left after the flowers are spent? The real basis of any garden: the foliage.

It’s a whole different concept designing a garden for foliage, but the results can be quite exquisite. For most of the year foliage dominates a garden. So why not deliberately make the main feature of plants—the leaves—the central ingredient of a garden?

Problem is, if you turn to most books about foliage gardening, it immediately becomes clear they were written for areas that support tropical and semi-tropical plants, not for the arid regions of the West. If you have an atrium or arboretum, great. Then you can raise all the Colocasia (Elephant Ears) and caladiums your space can hold; and enviously, you can also have those large variegated leaves, dainty ferns and soft mosses that immediately say ‘lush.’ It’s these kinds of gardens that fairies and elves love to romp in. For the Western outdoor foliage garden, we need a different perspective, though. Maybe even different kinds of fairies.

One has to be rather clever designing a foliage garden in arid climates. So many of our drought tolerant plants sport short, spiky leaves that at first glance it’s hard to find enough variation to get a wide range of texture. But this is where the challenge comes in. Foliage plants do exist, though we may need to think of them differently.

Take the hollyhock for instance. All species have leaves nearly as big as their flowers, but it’s the flowers we usually notice. Against adobe walls and rustic fences these flowering stalks have been photographed to the point of almost being a Southwestern icon. Sited differently, however, these tall stalk plants with their wide green leaves can become a backdrop to offset shorter and less showy leaves.

Though this article focuses on the Western garden, the plants mentioned can also be grown in the Midwest and in many places in the East.

When designing a foliage garden, there are four elements of leaves to consider: texture, shape, size and color. For many Western gardens there are the added dimensions of seasonality and altitude as well.

Leaf texture or surface is perhaps the most outstanding characteristic. Attributes range in an incredible mixture from glittery to dull, waxy to scaly, rough to smooth. Botanical texture terms refer to the specific hairs on the leaf: downy, tight, velvety, bristly. Often the way a leaf curls and twists is part of the defining texture as well.

Leaf sections, or lobes, are described as rounded, divided and splayed. Vein characteristics are defined as protruding or feather-like. Finally, the margins of leaves come in a variety of edges from open and saw-like or tiny teethed to gently scalloped and smooth.

Taken altogether, these different characteristics can be used as keys in plant classification.

The primary function of all leaves is to capture sunlight for the process of photosynthesis, that of turning the carbon dioxide taken in by the plant into the oxygen that it expels. And it’s the green leaf pigment, or chlorophyll, that is the conduit for this exchange. What’s interesting about leaves, however, if you are considering them as the main ingredient in a foliage garden, is green quickly becomes discerning especially in hot climates with plenty of sun.

Some leaves like those of Agastache rupestris (Licorise Mint Hyssop) are actually a very light green in order to reflect the sun and heat and choosing such plants can quickly add to the range of color in a garden. Other plants that do this are: Forestiera neomexicana (New Mexico Privet), Caryopteris clandonensis ‘Dark Knight’ (Blue Mist Spirea) and Zinnia acerosa (White Flowered Bush Zinnia).

For a garden with certain areas that pique the interest, choose several of the plants that sport foliage in hues of blue and gray. One such plant is the Marrubium rotundifoia (Silver Edged Horehound). With rounded and crinkled felted foliage, this plant has multi-colored leaves—gray-green on top, edged and backed with fuzzy white. Different species are different heights. Dianthus gratianopolitanus (Firewitch) has short grass-like leaves with intense blue-gray coloration. Planted together the different foliage types give you constrasting color, shape and texture.

To achieve a mottled look in portions of a garden it’s fun to use leaves with variegated edges. Because they have less chlorophyll, they need to be tucked into shady spots. One easy to grow plant with variegated leaves is the Pulmonaria ‘Roy Davidson’ (Lungwort). After the early spring sprays of blue bell shaped flowers have passed, the silver flected foliage lights up your beds through late fall. Other veriegated plants include Lamium maculatum (White Nancy), Aegopodium podagraria ‘Veriegatum’ (Verigated Bishop’s Weed) and Vinca major ‘Variegata’ (Veriegated Big Leaf Periwinkle).

If you’re uncertain about plants for a foliage garden, look through books for leaf ideas. Lauren Springer’s book, The Undaunted Gardener, and Judith Phillips’ book, Plants for Natural Gardens, are both excellent resources. Also, besides showing photos, our 2003 High Country Garden Catalog, icons all plants for their traits such zone, tolerance to drought and so on.

And don’t forget the moving texture in gardens—the grasses. From yellow to silver, grasses certainly add moments of interest to any garden. Try Schizachyrium scoparium (The Blues), a blue bladed cultivar of little bluestem, or the rare Festuca idahoensis (Siksiyou Blue), a brilliantly blue fine bladed Fescue. Another is our exclusive Elytriguia elongataate, a tall wheatgrass. The Color Encyclopedia of Ornamental Grasses by Rick Darke has a wide selection of grasses for every garden.

Following are more plants to think about when considering a foliage garden.

Salvia officinalis ‘Minimus’ (Dwarf Herb Sage) is a wonderful selection of culinary garden sage with long, thin gray-green semi-evergreen leaves and bright lavender blue flowers. ‘Minimus’ has a dense mounded shape to 15 inches high.

Tanacetum densumx ssp. amani (Partridge Feather) has fern-like leaves and loves sunny hot spots.

Tanacetum vulgaris ‘Crispum’ (Fernleaf Tansy) is an heirloam cultivar with delightfully deep green, crinkled foliage on stiff upright stems. A highly rabbit resistant ornamental herb that grows to a height of 18 inches.

Artemisia ‘Greenmound’ (Greenmound Dwarf Groundcover Sage) has deep green foliage and grows tight and slow.

Caryopteris clandonensis ‘Worchester Gold’ (Golden Blue Mist Spirea) is a xeric shrub with chartreuse-yellow leaves and stunning light blue flower spikes in mid-summer. Excellent surrounded with gray leafed groundcovers like Marrubium and Artemisia.

Stachys byzantina ‘Helen von Stein’ (Large Leaf Lamb’s Ear) is a soft, velvety silver colored plant that grows about a 15 inches high.

For even greater variety—and some fun—try planting a few vegetables among your perennials. The leaves of kale, Swiss chard, rhubarb, cabbage and even carrots can add a lot of diversity.

Even the longest-flowering plants only last a short while when taking in the total season. But when a garden is planned with the underlying foliage in mind, that tranquil feeling of gardens will still be there long after the flowers are done. Foliage takes the garden into another dimension, adding texture and color that flowers can’t do on their own.