Zantedeschia catches the setting sun in our upper garden.
~
Brightly colored flowers always catch my eye at the nursery. We all respond in our own peculiar way to color.
But more and more, when I’m choosing plants for my own garden, I’m more drawn to the intricate details of beautiful leaves.
~
Hosta leafs out amid wild violets and ferns.
~
Anyone who assumes that leaves are just monotonous green may find a new world waiting once they open their eyes and notice the wonderful colors, shapes, and texture available with foliage. Combining leaf textures and shape can be even more interesting than designing with flowers.
~
Colocasias with dwarf pomegranate
~
Leaves grow in countless shades of green. They surprise us with many other brilliant colors, too. Most any color found in a flower may find its echo in a leaf.
~
Caladium ‘Southern Charm’ is a new introduction from Classic Caladiums this year. This new Caladium will thrive in full to partial sun.
~
Beautiful veins, interesting shapes, crinkled surfaces, variegation and surprising textures can make foliage as ornamental as flowers. Leaves emerge and persist for weeks or months, while most flowers fade in just a few days.
Foliage forms and fills a garden, while flowers appear briefly as highlights.
~
~
Many of my favorite foliage plants are returning, expanding, and filling our garden with interest and beauty this week. I greet them like old friends, delighting in their fresh new leaves.
Many that overwintered inside as tubers or dormant in pots are awaking, and waiting in their nursery pots for me to plant them out in their summer spaces. Sometimes it takes time to discern the best spot for each plant, and to group good companions together.
Like smearing paints on canvas, I plant living colors and forms in garden soil. Unlike paint, which mostly stays where it’s put, plants move, expand, intermingle and respond to moisture, light and heat. Their colors change with the weather; they arise and wither with time’s changing winds.
~
~
Woodland Gnome 2019
Many thanks to the wonderful ‘Six on Saturday’ meme sponsored by The Propagator.
~
Just a peak into the shady nursery, where my plants grow on and wait their turn for planting out.
Forest Garden 
Calocasias are available in local nurseries, but I never see them in anyone’s garden. They dislike arid climates, but should be okay near the coast.
Yes, they love humidity and moist soil. They are crazy happy in our climate in May to November…. Only a few are hardy enough to survive our winters.
Winters are not a problem here if they go dormant. Summers are the problem.