And a Cool Foliage Follow-Up

I had planned to continue the purple theme today (I definitely have enough of it in my garden!) but while strolling around with the camera near nightfall, the blues caught my eye instead:

Powdery blue sea kale leaves, cozying up to my blooming oakleaf hydrangea

The bluish silver of an unnamed artemisia (similar to a 'Powis Castle') that will soon grow to meet the hosta leaves over the peachy heuchera. (That's a lettuce to the left, "behind" in terms of sunshine, that will be harvested before the artemisia gets much bigger.)

Silvery and fuzzy, the kalanchoe brings out the cooler tones in the achillea and heuchera leaves, and plays off of the achillea buds, too.  I had left the pot in this spot last year, but this summer I just went ahead and planted it here, to see what would happen over the growing season.

This time, it's the silvery leaves of 'Frosted Violet' heuchera that are bringing out the blue tones in the nearby, unnamed hosta.

Bronze fennel makes for a cooling, intriguing background to the red coleus, sweet potato vine, blue eucalyptus, and bright yellow lysimachia.

When can gold take on shades of blue?  When you surround a 'Sum and Substance' (I believe--but this is unconfirmed) hosta with ruby orach, silvery painted ferns, Greek oregano, and top it all off by painting the nearby arbor with a blue-hued burgundy stain!

Hope you enjoyed my Foliage Follow-up for June 2010!  To see what's catching the eye of fellow foliage freaks around the world, visit Pam's Bloom Day & Foliage Follow Up post, and click through the comments.