March Foliage: Not Like This, Fortunately!

I am a day late contributing my post to Christina’s Garden Bloggers Foliage meme, although she has not yet been known to wrap anyone’s knuckles for this – do have a look at her blog to see what foliage is featured in other people’s gardens at this time of the month.

We travelled through snow covered forest and field for some of our journey back from my Mum’s yesterday – freshly fallen during the night, we think – and got home in time for a leisurely ramble round the garden before it got dark. There had been both rain and sun in our absence, but not so much of the former that new growth was damaged or of the latter that seedlings in the greenhouse shrivelled – so all was well. Closer inspection today revealed all the fresh shoots that have revelled in the generally milder temperatures this spring and are racing ahead in their eagerness to show their true colours.

Who would not be delighted to see (top to bottom, left to right) Aquilegia ‘Purple Emperor’, Phlox paniculata ‘Rembrandt’, vibrant growth on a geranium and monkshood, Phlox ‘Pink Eye Flame’, Dicentra alba, Dicentra spectabilis, paeony, echinops and early foliage on Hamamelis ‘Zucchariniana’? All fabulous!

But then there is the form and colour of foliage too, as ably demonstrated by Acer ‘Orange Dream’, Tulip greigii ‘Fur Elise’ and Artemisia lactiflora, the latter finally having been confirmed by a lost label that had gone walkabout – beautiful, aren’t they?

And the last few months have really confirmed the benefits of cornus in the garden – my plants may only be small, but their stems have been beautiful over winter and now the emerging leaves add further weight to that favourable impression. Here the bright green leaves of  Cornus alba ‘Sibirica’ contrast with the red stems but link perfectly with the lime green stems of C. sericea ‘Flaviramea’ in the adjacent pot, whilst the multicoloured flames of C. sanguinea ‘Midwinter Fire’ can be seen in both stem and leaves. Finally, am I alone in being totally enamoured by the cabbagey form of Primula denticulata?!

Thanks, Christina, for encouraging us to look at more than just blooms in our garden!