It’s easy to understand why most gardeners want colour in their garden. But I feel that the unsung heroes of a garden are often the leaves, fronds and grasses. They provide the vital backdrop to the whole show. Beyond this, many are stars in their own right that deserve to be centre-stage! Here are my 10 top foliage plants – all are plants which are doing a great job for me in my garden at the moment, either in pots or borders.
10 Top Foliage Plants – #1 Pteris
My list of 10 top foliage plants starts with Pteris Cretica Albo Lineata. This is an evergreen fern with light green fronds that have a creamy band down the centre. These grow about 40-60cm in length. I originally bought it in the discounted area at a garden centre. It looked very unhappy, and nothing special – but it was cheap and needed love, how could I resist!
Well, I’m really pleased I didn’t, as it has turned into an absolute beauty. It can be a house plant but it also flourishes in the shade in the garden and can cope with temperatures as low as -5C.
I initially had it in a container in a shady area of my patio, but after a year it looked much stronger. So I’ve planted it out into my new, north-facing deep shady border. Here it creates a lovely shape and provides wonderful contrast to the other plants. If you want to read more about the planting of this border you can find it here.
10 Top Foliage Plants – #2 Hosta Guacamole
I could fill this list with hostas. I love them and probably have 15 or 20 of them in borders or pots. But I’m going to confine myself to two. (I’ll list all the others I love in a future blog.)
The first of the two I’ve chosen today is Hosta Guacamole. This is in a woodland type bed in my garden. It’s apple green foliage is rimmed by a much darker green and it absolutely ‘zings’ in this semi-shady spot. Ulimately it will grow about 80cm tall and spread about 70cm.
#3 Hosta Sum and Substance
The second hosta in today’s list is the giant beauty Sum and Substance. One of the biggest hostas, it’s light yellow green leaves grow to a wopping 50cm. They’re like dustbin lids!! I adore this bruiser and have him in a big pot on my patio next to my kitchen window. He produces delicate lilac flowers, (notice how I definitely call him a he!) but I chop these off. I just like the leaves.
Yes the slugs and snails make a bee-line for him, and I must admit I don’t provide him with additional protection from them – I’m a big believer in letting nature sort it out. But the leaves are so big that to my eyes they can cope with the odd hole or 10!
One thing you do need to be aware of is that he needs a sheltered spot. If the wind whips past him, the leaves will tear!
#4 Braun’s Holly Fern
As with hostas, I could fill my list of 10 top foliage plants with ferns. I love love love them. However, I will confine myself to just a few which are performing very different roles in my garden.
First up is Braun’s Holly Fern. It has such lovely fresh green elegant fronds. The plant grows about 70cm tall and will spread 60cm. However I have mine in a pot, planted up with ivy and a grass in a semi-shady spot. This limits its growth. I think the effect is lovely, full and soft – and it looks like this all year round. I take care that the pot stays moist, and chop off the brown looking fronds from time to time. But otherwise that’s it.
#5 Athyrium otophorum var. okanum
My shady woodland-type bed has this beauty in it. Athyrium otophorum var. okanum or Eared Lady Fern as it’s also called. I just love the contrast between its pale fronds with their maroon markings. It’s semi evergreen, so does die back but oh the joy when it makes a reappearance.
10 Top Foliage Plants – #6 Tree Fern
I’ve always fancied having a tree fern, but knowing they need over-winter protection, I have been nervous about taking the plunge. But a few years ago I did and I haven’t regretted it. I have Dicksonia Antarctica . They are very slow growing, so a big one is expensive to buy. Scared I’d kill off such a major investment in it’s first year, I bought a very small one. But I love him.
I have the tree fern planted up in a massive basket container in the shady, sheltered part of my patio. Ultimately he will live in the basket on his own. However, for now, while he’s small he shares the spot with Heuchera Fire Chief. He’s also under planted with purple and hot pink tulips, so the basket looks fantastic all year round.
#7 Uncinia Rubra
My seventh suggestion in my list of 10 top foliage plants is an unusual choice. Uncinia Rubra is not a showy stunner, but I’m selecting it because it’s an unusual colour. If you need a workhorse of a plant, that has reddish-brown glossy leaves, to work in your colour scheme, it’s perfect.
It grows about 30cm tall, and doesn’t like full sun, so a shady or semi-shady spot is ideal. In the summer it produces dark brown black flower spikes which again are small but pretty.
To me this plant is like a very undemanding child. It risks being overlooked and just being left to get on with things – but that’s a crime. As when you put it in the right setting or pot, and stop and properly look at it, you just love it.
# 8 Imperata Red Baron
Imperata Red Baron is also called Japanese Blood Grass. I have it in several spots in the garden, on my patio and next to my mini pond. I’ve included it in my top ten as it’s a wonderful plant in its own right but it is also a fantastic foil for others. For instance, in a container grouped next to a Heuchera Root Beer and a red clematis, the leaves of the grass shine like jewels, but the other plants look better too.
I’ve also found the grass easy to divide. So from my one initial plant I now have four – happy days!
#9 Stipa Tenuissima
I have this Stipa or Mexican Feather Grass as it’s commonly known, in the sunny bed that encircles my patio and it works brilliantly. It’s soft swaying thread-like stems, topped with feathery seed heads (which winter birds love) are the perfect contrast to more rigid, formal planting. It provides movement and softness and is so beautiful that it isn’t outshone even by the lovely roses, echinacea or phlox nestling alongside it.
This stipa grows about 60cm tall and although the guides might say it only grows 30cm wide, if you allow for the spreading stems, the plant’s span looks more like 60cm.
#10 Irises
You may object to my final choice. After all, an Iris has a very lovely flower. However, in my opinion, given how short-lived the flowers are, it is the leaves which merit this plant’s inclusion in garden schemes. I love irises. Indeed I’ve dedicated a whole blog to bearded irises. So I won’t go on too much about them here. All I will say is that if you plant them at the edge of the border, or against the right kind of wall or shed backdrop, the swordlike leaves are wonderfully architectural.
Top 10 Foliage Plants -more to come?
Well that’s my list of top 10 foliage plants for today. But to be honest I could have put into this list any number of hostas, ferns and grasses. And there are wonderful flowering plants such as my variagated Daphne Odora Rebecca, heucheras and acers which I could have included. So I promise to do a further list soon.
Really enjoyed reading this, thank you
I’m so pleased you liked it Rosetta