Foliage Follow-up: 'Tis the Season

As I'm in the middle of Christmas holiday preparations, red and green are front and center so it seemed only appropriate to focus on foliage in those colors for today's Foliage Follow-up post.

Some of the red-green color contrasts in my garden are simply the product of new growth.

Reddish orange tips decorate the ends of every stem on Agonis flexuosa 'Nana'

Every time Calliandra haematocephala (Pink Power Puff) is trimmed, the new growth comes in red

This noID guava produces red-green leaves every fall

The pinkish-purple color at the tips of Hebe 'Purple Shamrock' is also more prominent during cold weather

Leucadendron salignum 'Chief' develops stronger red coloration in winter, while the reddish tones of Coprosma repens 'Plum Hussey', present all year, become more prominent.  Not all Leucadendrons turn red during the winter months, though; some, like 'Wilson's Wonder' (not shown here) develop yellow tones in winter and turn red in summer.

This Leucadendron 'Jester' showed deeper red color during the heat of summer.  Our cool season temperatures have brought out more variability in the foliage, which now shows the red, green and yellow variation for which the plant is known.

Leucadendron salignum 'Safari Sunset' develops red flower-like bracts this time of year

Trachelospermum jasminoides (aka Star Jasmine) develops red-green leaf color in winter

Sedum rubrotinctum has turned mostly red as the weather cooled and even the Aloe vanbelenii x ferox and Aeonium arboreum sharing the space have turned a little red around the edges

Crassula ovata 'Hummel's Sunset' has developed redder edges too

However, some succulents that turned red under summer stress shift back to green.

Aloe wickensii is shown here during summer's heat (left) and currently (right)

That's it for my seasonal foliage highlights.  Visit Pam at Digging to find more foliage follow-up posts.


All material © 2012-2016 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party