Foliage Follow Up - April 2010

Every spring, when the new foliage emerges, I remember just how many shades of green (and red, and purple, and yellow, and silver!) plants can show.  I also remember how much I love seeing all of these colors backlit by either the early morning or late evening sun.  Check out the glow:

Peach Heuchera

Strawberry leaf.

Emerging variegated sedum

Tree peony

Tree peony, up close (peep the water droplets from that morning's dew--very cool)

Glowing green centers on the red sedum spurium

bergenia,  left,  and species tulipes, right

A closer view--just for Joey, Mr. McGregor's Daughter, and all of the other bergenia lovers out there!

Emerging leaves on the 'Sykes Dwarf' oakleaf hydrangea

And a close-up of the same... just because the color difference on the two halves (one side backlit, one side not) completely fascinates me

'Golden Sword' yucca, with sedum spurium and common sage

Species tulips, with their streaked and backlit foliage providing a nice contrast to the blazing flowers... and to the sedum below.

Last but not least, I'm veering a little more off-topic to show you one plant whose foliage is too thick to really shine in backlighting.  There's just no way I could leave it out, because it commands the attention of all who pass by my house, from its lofty perch at the top of my front porch steps:

This is just a tease of the blue agave, but I promise a full photo of it in situ sometime soon.  I just wanted to highlight the great toothed markings on the leaves themselves, leftover from a time when these leaves were tightly pressed against each other within the rosette of inner foliage.  Amazing!

To find out what other foliage is capturing the attention of gardeners around the globe, visit Pam's Foliage Follow-Up post and follow the links within the comments left there.