Saturday, March 28, 2009

Colorful foliage

Good morning everyone. It is mild, breezy and partly cloudy out this morning. I will be heading off to work later, so not much time to play in the gardens today. I will go out and put the sprinklers on, as it is one of my two days to water with them.

In a garden forum there was a thread about colorful foliage and that's the inspiration for this post today.

Colorful foliage adds much beauty to our gardens. I sometimes take them for granted, since I want to see all colors of the rainbow in my gardens. These shrubs and plants are colorful all year long down here.

First off, are the coleus. Here is what Wikipedia has to say about them.


Solenostemon is a genus of perennial plants, native to tropical Africa, Asia, Australia, the East Indies, the Malay Archipelago, and the Philippines. They are commonly known as Coleus, a name which derives from an earlier classification under the genus name Coleus, species of which are currently included in either Solenostemon or another genus, Plectranthus.



Then we have copperleaf ~ Acalypha wilkesiana macafeana.

Copperleaf, sometimes referred to as beefsteak plant, attracts attention with its unusual, colorful variegated leaves. The large leaves are mottled in red, copper and pink. The color varies from leaf to leaf and appear as if someone randomly colored the areas between the veins. It resembles some large-leafed coleus cultivars, however, the leaves are not uniformly variegated like coleus leaves. Although it is grown for its foliage, it does produce long, slender spikes of greenish-pink flowers. For more information, visit Copperleaf Plant



Next we have Snow on the Mountain, or Snow Bush. ~ Snow bush? Yes - snowbush is a tropical plant that is well adapted to our Florida Yards, but will not survive areas with freezing temperatures. It is named because if gives the appearance of its leaves being covered with that cold white stuff – the green leaves are spotted and splotched with white, and pink and purple are sometimes blended in for an additional surprise of color.

For more info click on Snow Bush.




Next we have colorful, tropical crotons, Codiaeum Variegatum.

Codiaeum Variegatum was first introduced to America by the Henry A Dreer nursery in the 1870's. They are grown for their dazzling leaves which may include crimson, scarlet, pink, yellow, brown, and orange shades, as well as green, white and cream. For more info click on Crotons.net

We have 3 or 4 different ones.
















That's if for this morning from tropical s.e. FL. Hope you all have a great weekend playing in your gardens if the weather permits.

FlowerLady

5 comments:

Catherine@AGardenerinProgress said...

I agree foliage is very important. I love all the plants you can grow in your garden. Most of those are houseplants here.

Tootsie said...

my coleus has yet to germinate...and I am worried. I have croton in the house...but it won't grow here outside. the others are wonderful and I am going to keep an eye out for them when I plant shop!

F Cameron said...

I bought coleus on sale in September last year. They really impressed me for fall colors and lasted almost until Thanksgiving. I'm going to be daring and try them in the outer gardens to see if it's true that deer will them alone!
Cameron

Dirt Princess said...

I love coleus and crotons! They do add so much color. I recently came across a coleus that is a perennial here. Every year my coleus always died. Then a fellow gardener gave me some colues she had for years and years...it is great!

FlowerLady Lorraine said...

Good morning everyone. I've been busy playing in the dirt, so haven't been blogging.

Catherine ~ When I was looking up names of plants I saw that quite a few of what I grow outside down here were grown as houseplants up north.

Tootsie ~ I got my coleus as baby plants from a gardening friend, then made cuttings from them for more plants. I think they are so pretty. Hope your seeds will sprout for you.

Cameron ~ That would be great if your could plant coleus in your outer garden. Your gardens are so striking and full of wonderful color. I hope the deer with leave them alone too.

Dirt Princess ~ Do you know the name of this perennial coleus? It's nice when plants surprise us with a longer lifespan.

Happy Gardening ~ FlowerLady