Skip to main content

9 Vibrant foliage plants for year-round color

Vibrant foliage plants 



Plants with colorful leaves are a testament to the artist's palette that nature provides, creating masterpieces that last beyond the fleeting bloom of flowers. Unlike flowers, which constantly die back and require periodic replanting, these evergreen gems demand minimal maintenance and upkeep while providing a dazzling show throughout the seasons.


If you're looking to add more drama and year-round beauty to your garden or outdoor space, here are 15 plants with colorful leaves that won't fade like flowers.


1. Caladium



Caladiums are beautiful plants with colorful, heart-shaped leaves in shades of green, red, white, and pink. They thrive in indirect light or moderate shade and prefer rich, well-drained soil that retains moisture and does not become soggy.


2. Cannas


Cannas are stunning plants with colorful, paddle-shaped leaves and attractive yellow, orange, red, and pink flowers. They range from 1.5 to 10 feet tall, depending on the variety, and have large, oval, or lance-shaped leaves that can be green, bronze, black, variegated, or striped.


3. Coleus



Coleus has square stems and opposite leaves that can be oval, lanceolate, or lobed. The main attraction of coleus is the leaves, which come in various colors such as green, yellow, pink, red, purple, and black, often with variegated veins or edges.


4. Hostas


Hostas are easy to grow and care for, as long as they have adequate light, water, and fertilizer. They prefer partial shade to full shade, as too much sun can fade their color or burn the leaves.


5. Heuchera



Heuchera, also known as coral beads, has rounded, lobed, hairy leaves that are green, purple, red, bronze, silver, or variegated. It prefers partial shade and well-drained, organic soil.


6. Smoke tree


The leaves form neat ridges at the base of the plant and are the smoke tree's main attraction. It produces small, five-petalled flowers on tall stems that emerge from the foliage in late spring or early summer.


7. Ninepark



In the fall, the leaves of the nine-leaf band change color, turning yellow, orange, and red. Its flowers are usually white, pink, or red, attracting hummingbirds and butterflies. However, the most distinctive feature of Ninebark is the fine hair-like filaments on the spent flower stalks, which give the plant a smoky appearance.


8. Tiger eyes sumac


Tiger eye sumac prefers full sun to partial shade and well-drained, sandy, or loamy soil. It needs regular watering, especially in hot and dry seasons, but not too much water, which can cause root rot.


9. Sweet potato vine



Sweet potato vine is a fast-growing annual and classic "spiller" plant commonly used for container gardening. It has heart-shaped leaves that can be green, purple, or chartreuse depending on the variety.

Labels:
Location: United States

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Great Designs for Container Groupings

Once your single containers are ready to merge It's hard to fail with a group of containers. Any size group, from a simple couple to large multiples, can enhance any outdoor space. Open patios and decks become softer and more intimate when you place pots around them. A straight and simple outdoor path lined with containers can become a wave of sorts—a formal one with some plants or an informal path with others. You never know what you'll come up with by placing one pot next to another or a particular plant with others. Once you start experimenting, you'll notice many places where a container is grouped. 1. Combine bright colors This collection of colorful pots introduces the viewer to the vivid color scheme in the beds behind it, mainly blue flowers. However, to maintain exclusivity, pots get exclusive rights to colors like magenta, pink and chartreuse. 2. Formal lateralization A combination of papyrus and vases always looks elegant, but when placed side by sid...
Post a Comment
Read more

Strategies for improving a small garden space

Prioritize functionality when every inch is precious When I started designing gardens 20 years ago, I was surprised to find that small spaces were more challenging to plan than large ones. In those early years, a small number of clients would come to me with detailed lists of items they must have, and I would struggle to fit everything in. Identifying specific features and details was a major breakthrough. A garden should be the final step in the process, not the first. Since then, every consultation I have with a new client begins with three questions I've nicknamed the "three W's." These prompts help my clients imagine interacting with their redesigned spaces, and while they're useful in remodeling gardens of all sizes, they're especially helpful when space is at a premium. When my husband and I recently moved into a new house with a small backyard, we had the opportunity to use the process for ourselves. Here's what we found. Three question...
Post a Comment
Read more

Top 10 Early Spring Flowering Shrubs

Early Spring Flowering Shrubs Spring-blooming shrubs and bushes add color to backyards early in the season, attract pollinators and more. 1. Carnelian cherry dogwood Cornus mas, zones 4 to 8 Size: Up to 20 feet tall and wide Welcome spring with bright yellow flowers that appear earlier than those of forsythia. These spring-blooming shrubs prefer full sun or partial shade and prefer rich, moist, well-drained soil. Leaves turn purplish red in fall, and scaly bark adds winter interest. Why we love it: Red fruits are edible, but they're also made into preserves, jellies and slices. Or leave them for the birds to enjoy. 2. Dwarf Russian Almond Prunus tenella, zones 2 to 6 Size: 2 to 5 feet tall and wide This moderate-sized shrub records the growing season with showy rose-red flowers and yellow-orange fall color. It prefers full sun, tolerates a variety of soil types and is very drought tolerant. Ruth's 100 produces lots of flowers on a small plant. Why we love it: Flo...
Post a Comment
Read more