Foliage with fanfare

My love for flowers is well-documented.  Nevertheless, I value my foliage plants as well.  I've a substantial collection of plants grown specifically for their foliage.  However, with the recent and somewhat unexpected appearance of masses of flowers on my Acacia cognata 'Cousin Itt', I was struck by the number of foliage plants that offer attractive flowers as well. 

'Cousin Itt' has a large presence in my garden as shown in the top 2 photos.  The plants have produced tiny buds in the past and a few small puff-ball blooms but never anything like the masses of flowers they're flaunting this year.  I've frankly never seen these plants with abundant blooms like this either in person or online.

I started looking at other foliage plants that offer floral "benefits" even if only briefly.  I've listed some that came to mind below.  (Note: most of the floral shots were pulled from my photo archives as the majority of the plants shown here bloom in warmer weather.)

I have several Abelia 'Kaleidoscope' shrubs, as well as other Abelias.  All of them produce small, bell-shaped white blooms that manage to accent the foliage without overwhelming it.

I've 6 Agonis flexuosa (aka peppermint willows), all inherited with the garden.  In summer they produce long, trailing stems studded with white flowers.  As an aside, the foliage stems are a favorite of the local crows when building their nests.

I also inherited 4 Arbutus 'Marina' (aka strawberry trees) with the garden.  I suspect most of these trees are selected for their shape and trunk color but they produce clusters of beautiful lantern-shaped coral-colored flowers.  The hummingbirds love them too.

I discovered that Arthropodium cirratum (aka Renga lilies) do well in dry shade and, as I've divided the clumps many times, I've accumulated a lot of them.  They produce graceful sprays of white flowers accented by touches of yellow and lavender in May-June.

I don't actually like most succulent flowers.  Crassula multicava 'Red' (aka royal carpet jade and fairy crassula) is an exception, even when the dainty pink and white flower sprays sprawl over surrounding succulents.

I planted several Drimia maritima (aka sea squill) at the bottom of my slope.  The bulbs were huge and very heavy.  They produce attractive wavy green foliage when the rain arrives in the fall.  The foliage dies back when faced with summer's heat.  The leaf-less white flowers jump up in August-September.

It's easy to forget that Hebe 'Purple Shamrock' blooms.  I frequently use the foliage in flower arrangements but I rarely remember to photograph the flowers.

There's a Laurus nobilis (bay laurel) hedge separating our property from the neighbor's along our back slope (also inherited with the garden).  I didn't even notice that it blooms in late winter-early spring until a couple of years ago.

I planted 2 Leptospermum 'Copper Glow' shrubs in our front garden in 2014 after we'd removed our front lawn.  They're near the top of my list of favorite plants.  The sprays of flowers they produce in summer are simply a bonus.

I have lots of Lomandra but the wider leaves of Lomandra hystrix 'Tropic Belle' appealed to me when I tripped across it at a nursery in 2018.  The flowers of my Lomandra 'Breeze' and 'Platinum Beauty' are relatively inconspicuous so I wasn't prepared for the flowers of this one.  They dry well too.

Melianthus major (aka honey bush) has impressive serrated leaves.  I cut it to the ground each year and it bounces right back.  It's already producing its first rust-colored flowers, although the second and third photos above were taken in prior years as this years blooms are just getting started.

This hedge of Laurus ilicifolia (aka Catalina cherry) on the south side of our property line also came with the garden.  Its flowers are attractive, as are its berries, although the latter are messy, prone to self-seeding, and loved by rats.

We've significant stretches of Xylosma congestum hedges both along the street and lining the main level of the back garden.  It's the best of the many hedge materials installed by prior owners.  I didn't notice its blooms until a few years ago when it was swarmed by bees.  The berries are attractive too.

I've misgivings about some blooms on foliage plants, most notably those borne by agaves.  Most agaves are monocarpic and therefore die after flowering.  Yes, they often produce pups and/or bulbils as a byproduct of the process but it usually takes years before those grow large enough to make anything near the statement their parents did.

This year I have 3 agaves with bloom stalks.  From left to right, they're Agave 'Blue Glow', A. mitis 'Multicolor', and A. vilmoriniana.  They'll leave big holes in the garden when they die off.  Oddly, however, my neighbor's 'Blue Glow', which bloomed last year, has not died out, even after she finally cut its bloom stalk down over a month ago.

Best wishes for a pleasant weekend, free of any weather-related drama.  It looks as though we have at least a short dry spell ahead of us here, for which I'm grateful.

All material © 2012-2023by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party