Dear PBS members, I'm a couple days late with this week's TOW topic; sorry about that, but better late than never. Fabulous Foliage PBS Topic of the Week With bulbs and geophytes, perhaps more so than with herbaceous flowering plants, the attention is primarily placed on floral effect. Yet there are some geophytes with handsome foliage, worthy of growing for their foliar appeal as well as the flowers, and even some grown exclusively for the foliage. If some of your bulbs stopped flowering on a regular basis, which ones would you grow because of the nice foliage? Veltheimia comes to mind, as a genus with gorgeous foliage, worth cultivating regardless of whether the pretty flowers show up or not. I grow some geophytes where the main attraction is foliage, and I put together a photo gallery to help illustrate my examples. For ease of access, by having all photos in one place for this discussion, I put together a gallery on my website at: http://plantbuzz.com/Buzz/PBS/… (* Note: some of the same photos are already uploaded to the PBS wiki and can be found there separately. Not all photo galleries at the link above are enabled yet, but will be fully enabled in the next couple of days. Those mini-galleries that are enabled are indicated in red text). Allium ====== Alliums contain a diverse range of plants, some of which have striking foliage. One species that jumps out for foliar interest is Allium senescens var. glaucum, an Asian species known by a number of colorful common names, among them "cowlick oinion", "circle onion", and "spirale onion". I selected the form 'Blue Eddy' in which the foliage is extra silvery-blue, and the prostrate swirling action more pronounced. I use it as a ground cover. The late summer hemispheres of pale pink flowers are pleasant but do little to improve on the effect. Many allium species within the melanocrommyum section (the subgenus that contains the "big ball" types, such as A. giganteum), have remarkable spring foliage. I posted a photo that shows a bed of varied melanocrommyum species in spring growth with lush, succulent foliage. That photo is a springboard to the next species; Allium karataviense, which has outstanding foliage in the spring. From wild collections, and among several known cultivars, the foliage coloration, size, and shape is noticeably variable. But in all forms, the thick leathery leaves held just above ground level are richly pleated, often suffused with purplish tones. The popular new variety 'Ivory Queen' has luxuriant pale pewter-toned foliage creating great accents in a shrub/perennial planting bed, perfectly complimenting the clean white flower globes. Allium nutans is another swirling onion, again from the far east, and akin to Allium senescens. By the way, it's interesting to note that the leaves always spiral in a clockwise direction. I wonder if they spin the other way in the southern hemisphere? But back to A. nutans, it is a stalwart sort with foliage much larger, wider, and thicker than A. senescens. In one particular form I grow, the foliage is extraordinarily heavy and thick, a real "bruiser", with gray leaves that ascend and twist in eye-catching formation. The dense globes of white flowers are pleasant but anticlimactic. It's always fun to find deviant forms of household plants, and one such plant originating in my garden is Allium schoenoprasum 'Curly Mauve' (call it curly chives if you like). I believe it's a cross between typical taller forms of chives with some dwarf collections from Corsica that tended to have prostrate foliage. One has to see this cultivar in person to believe it; from early spring to early summmer bulking up with wild medusan clumps of fine curling "tentacles". The gray-lavender flowers are pretty, but they tend to negate the foliage effect. Novel seedlings appear that are even more extreme in the prostrate curled disposition. Arisaema ======== This is a group many of you know and love, myself included, yet they are plants that your non-gardening friends and loved ones will pretend to admire (or possibly just barely tolerate) as you point them out and wax poetic over the strange brown structures that you and I know as curiously spectacular blooms. But there are some species where the foliage is every bit as alluring as the bizarre flowers, in fact, it seems that nearly all of the Asian species come in both green-leaf forms and beautiful variegated-leaf forms. There are some too, where the leaf shape, size, appearance, and structure, are to be marvelled at, whether variegated or not. Arisaema ringens is such a species. Ariseama ringens has simple three-part foliage, each foliage trio so large, lush, waxy, glossy and pertly displayed, that they barely seem real. The bizarre clenched-fist-like blooms are fascinating for the collector of such oddities, but the huge glossy green leaves appeal to everyone. The Japanese A. kishidae is a real trooper.. a good doer in our harsh New England winters. I grow the variegated form, which has boldly variegated foliage, growing wider than tall, the leaves only reaching about 8" (20 cm). The translucent copper, white-striped spathes appear before the leaves emerge, yet remain above the foliage when the leaves finally unfurl. One of the finest species. Some years it doesn't flower, but I can always admire the foliage. Arisaema heterophyllum is a stalwart giant. It doesn't sprout until June, then miraculously grows to 6' tall (2 meters) in just 3 weeks. The spathe is green, and not showy, but it's the stately stature and elegance of this species that demands attention. The complex multi-segmented leaf that encircles the flower, atop a strong 4-1/2' (135 cm) stem, is impressively bold and imposing. A photograph taken in a friends garden shows Arisaema serratum and A. sikokianum, two more Japanese species, both in their variegated leaf forms. The flowers on the latter species, A. sikokianum, are of course spectacular, but who wouldn't grow either species even if they never flowered. To be continued... ============= Mark McDonough Pepperell, Massachusetts, United States antennaria@aol.com "New England" USDA Zone 5 ============================================== >> web site under construction - http://www.plantbuzz.com/ <