I was very lucky to escape to South Florida for a time this winter. Aside from soaking up the sun and thawing out my toes, I enjoyed visiting some wonderful public gardens. I fell in love with the striking, bold foliage plants available to tropical gardeners. The huge glossy leaves of Philodendron ‘Imperial Red’ or the many lovely varieties of Dracenea, Ginger Plants, and my favorite, the deeply incised foliage of Philodendron ‘Selloum’, add wonderful textures and interest to the landscape. Giant Taro with 2 foot wide leaves on graceful stems and of course palm trees and banana plants add a dash of excitement to tropical gardens.
It started me thinking about using bold foliage in my Mid-Atlantic garden. It turns out that there are many, plants with striking foliage patterns available to us. With our changing climate many more are becoming hardy in Delaware, SE Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Eastern Maryland. In a brief discussion with the landscape architects at Wallace Landscape Associates, we came up with few of our winter hardy favorites. Some of them are: Ostrich Fern, Oakleaf Hydrangea, Hosta sp., Rhubarb, Crambe, Leatherleaf Mahonia, Southern Magnolia, Gunnera, Acanthus or Bear’s Breeches, and bold textured ornamental grasses and bamboos. There are even banana plants and palm trees hardy enough to survive winter in our area.
There are also some slightly tender plants that can be grown in containers and overwintered in a sheltered location or removed from the garden and stored indoors for the winter months. Just to name a few of them: Hardy Banana, Canna, New Zealand Flax, Fig tree, Agapanthus.
Last of all there are tender annuals that add their bold beauty to the garden or container for just one growing season. A few of them are Cardoon, Artichoke, Castor Bean Plant, Peace lily and Taro sometimes called Elephant Ears.
In addition to striking foliage many of the listed plants provide a bonus of flowers and fruit. To look their best bold textures need to be skillfully blended into gardens and containers. Size, winter appearance and cultural needs must be considered. If you crave a lush, tropical look in your landscape, the experienced landscape architects of Wallace landscape Associates can make it a reality.
