Foliage Follow-up: Green & Gray

Each month, following Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day, Pam of Digging encourages us to celebrate the foliage in our gardens.  Although I'm a bit late getting to it, the view of the Mexican feather grass waving in the wind yesterday morning compelled me to take notice so I took my camera on a quick spin and captured a few foliage shots to share.

Mexican feather grass (Stipa tenuissima) has a reputation for being invasive in our climate.  Were I planting the back garden from scratch now, I'd probably make another selection, although frankly it isn't nearly as aggressive as other plants in my garden I consider more deserving of such a label (e.g., Geranium incanum and Euphorbia characias).  That aside, you can't beat it for adding movement in the garden.

Another grass I've used extensively is Sesleria 'Greenlee's Hybrid', shown here edging the flagstone path running through the front garden.  Like Festuca californica (not shown because I couldn't capture a good photo of it), it's a tidy plant and easy to maintain by comparison to Stipa tenuissima.  It also handles quite a bit of shade and stays relatively small.

Here it is again lining a path in the back garden

This is Senecio candicans 'Angel Wings'.  I fell in love with it when I saw it advertised in an on-line nursery post.

My plant's still small but I gave it a good-sized pot to grow in.  As I'm not sure how much sun it'll be able to take when summer gets going here, the pot will allow me to move it around as needed.