Wishlist Plants for Foliage

Alright, one last wishlist post from me, your GPOD editor… This time I’m looking past flowers to foliage that I want to add to the garden. Everyone knows that foliage is the heart of a well-designed garden as it lasts so much longer than flowers. BUT I’m very guilty of being seduced by pretty flowers, so I need to really focus on stepping up my foliage game this year.

What are your favorite foliage plants? Send in photos, we’d love to see them!

This conifer is Pinus contorta ‘Chief Joseph’ (Zone 5 – 8). In the summer, it looks perfectly normal. But in the winter, the needles turn this brilliant yellow. It is slow growing, and needs some protection from direct sun in the winter to keep from burning, but wow, what a color! The burlap behind it in this photo is to give it a bit of shade. I took this photo at Hidden Lake Gardens in Michigan.

Another favorite with yellow foliage… Aralia ‘Sun King’ (Zone 4 – 8). Hard to beat that color! I actually planted one of these last year, but it is still small… it takes time to build up to this huge specimen I saw in a garden in Virginia.

I took this photo of a dahlia at Chicago Botanic Gardens, I just loved the rich dark color of the foliage contrasting with the bright yellow flowers! Unfortunately, I neglected to take a picture of the label, so I’m trying to figure out the variety. I THINK it might be ‘Happy Days Yellow’.

Begonia grandis (Zone 5 – 9) is probably the most cold hardy begonia out there. The small pink flowers are pretty, but the foliage is really the star, I love how the backs of the leaves are red.

Bowman’s root (Porteranthus trifoliatus, Zone 4 – 8) is a wonderful perennial native to eastern North America. I’ve always enjoyed is pretty white flowers in the spring, but