Keywords: Foliage plants, Iris foetidissima 'Variegata'

PAL Question:

I would like to use Iris foetidissima 'Variegata' in large numbers in my landscape.The Great Plant Picks website says that this plant is evergreen in our Pacific Northwest winters. As I have never grown this iris, I would love to hear what you have to say. Is it really evergreen? I live in Portland, Oregon. Some people I asked say otherwise.

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Keywords: Foliage plants, Landscape design

Garden Tool:

New gardeners often focus on flowers and color in their first design effort, only to feel less than satisfied with the floral results. Experts advise us to think about plant form and leaf texture for a design that works no matter what the season. Two books demystify the "designing with foliage" concept:

Dramatic Effect with Architectural Plants by Noel Kingsbury (Overlook Press, $35.00)
The occasional black-and white-photos reinforce the lesson that architectural plants look good without distracting color. Kingsbury explains how shapes are used in the garden and how this design concept works for all garden styles from the Japanese look to Southwest themes. The last section of the book is a mini encyclopedia detailing all the suggested plants.

Foliage: Dramatic and Subtle Leaves for the Garden by David Joyce (Trafalgar Square, $35.00)
Joyce goes farther with classifying types of foliage shapes with poetic descriptions like, 'Needles and Threads' and 'Eggs and Spoons'. A concise list of trees, shrubs, perennials and edibles is provided for each foliage shape. The color photos show off the plants in isolation so readers can focus on the shape and texture.

Season: All Season
Date: 2007-04-03
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Keywords: Athyrium, Coleus, Foliage plants

Garden Tool: From knock-your-socks-off colors of Coleus to the dreamy silver elegance of Japanese painted fern (Athyrium niponicum var. pictum), the theme is foliage. Flowers, mostly, are ephemeral. For longer lasting color with less fuss, combine foliage plants in your garden design.

Ornamental Foliage Plants, by Denise Greig (Firefly Books, $45) inspires with a section on foliage plants for specific themes and situations. Judy Glattstein's prose in Consider the Leaf: Foliage in Garden Design, (Timber Press, $24.95) is rich with experience and example, including information about growth habits and care. David Joyce organizes plants by leaf shape and size, texture, color, and overall plant form in Foliage: Dramatic and Subtle Leaves for the Garden (Trafalgar Square Publishing, $35). The highlight of Leaf, Bark and Berry: Gardening with Foliage Plants, by Ethne Clarke, is a plant directory organized by color groups with luscious photos (out of print, but available through online booksellers and at the Miller Library).

On the web, the University of Illinois Extension has an attractive and easy to use Directory and Guidelines for using plants with colored foliage. Give it a try.

Season: Summer
Date: 2007-04-03
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