Colorful foliage plants provide a steady and long-lasting shot of color and interest in the garden. While flowers come and go, beg for deadheading, or temperamentally decide not to even show up for the year, a good foliage plant offers low-maintenance brilliance all season long. Here are some of my favorite bold and beautiful foliage plants that will shine throughout the growing season.
Learn more: Fabulous Foliage in a Shade Plant: ‘Spotty Dotty’ Mayapple
Carolina Sweetheart® redbud
Name: Cercis canadensis ‘NCCC1’
Zones: 5–9
Size: 15 to 20 feet tall and 20 to 25 feet wide
Conditions: Full sun to partial shade; average, well-drained soil
Carolina Sweetheart® redbud provides more than just multiseasonal interest—it provides ever-changing daily interest. The typical bright pink early spring redbud flowers are followed by a summer carnival of colorful foliage in all shades of red, pink, white, and green, often holding several shades within one leaf. For best coloration, plant this small tree in good sun, but regardless of where you plant it, you might expect some mellowing of color in the height of summer. The specimen pictured here was photographed in early August and is growing under high tree canopies, and still looked pretty dazzling. Watch for sucking insects like mites, thrips, and whiteflies on this cultivar because it’s easy to mistake their damage for variegation at first. Also, as it’s a grafted plant, remove any green shoots that form below the graft.
‘Mystic Dreamer’ dahlia
Name: Dahlia ‘Mystic Dreamer’
Zones: 8–11; as an annual in Zones 3–7
Size: 20 to 30 inches tall and 18 to 24 inches wide
Conditions: Full sun; average, well-drained soil
There are few things more dramatic than nearly black foliage, and that’s what the Mystic Dahlias™ series offers. I particularly like ‘Mystic Dreamer’ for its lacy leaves, medium-pink flowers, and sturdy, low habit. It looks especially fetching as a foil for blue-green-foliaged plants, and I like tucking it near cabbage and kale in the vegetable garden. Like most dahlias, it makes an excellent cut flower, and this upright cultivar is also well suited to containers—no staking required. Lift, divide, and store the tubers for winter, and you will always have an abundant and versatile source of foliage drama on hand to liven up virtually any sunny spot.
‘Chameleon’ little bluestem
Name: Schizachyrium scoparium ‘Chameleon’
Zones: 3–9
Size: 1 to 2 feet tall and wide
Conditions: Full sun; average to dry, well-drained soil
If you grow native plants, you have likely become familiar with the beautiful and ubiquitous little bluestem, a staple member of many native plant installations. ‘Chameleon’ is a highly ornamental variegated cultivar that glows almost white from afar. The main show comes later in the season, when this finely textured grass begins to flush a few blades at a time with shades of pink and red. ‘Chameleon’ is stouter than the straight species and as such is less prone to flopping open onto other plants. Its smaller size and good behavior allow it to take a well-deserved position at the front of the bed, where it will certainly add drama to your summer and fall garden. Like any bluestem, it will be at its best both in coloration and habit in poorer soil and full sun.
 Star Showers® Virginia creeper’s stunning variegation . . . Photo: David McClure |
 . . . persists even when the vine takes on warmer tones in fall. Photo courtesy of Monrovia |
Star Showers® Virginia creeper
Name: Parthenocissus quinquefolia ‘Monham’
Zones: 3–10
Size: 30 to 50 feet tall (climbing) and 5 to 10 feet wide
Conditions: Full sun to partial shade; average, well-drained soil
Sometimes for inclusion in a garden setting, a plant needs the reduction in vigor that variegation can cause, and this is definitely the case with Virginia creeper. In Star Showers®, we get a more manageable version of our native vine, but more than that, the “stars” really shine all season wherever you place this striking cultivar. It’s also a dual-purpose plant because it will be happy to creep along as a scrambling ground cover, at least until it stumbles upon virtually any vertical surface, when it will head for the sky. As fall approaches, this nativar takes on the fantastic color typical of Virginia creeper, which combines phenomenally with its heavy variegation. This vine is easy to grow in most any soil and in varying light conditions but will be best in mesic soil and at least partial sun.
Showy foliage plants offer instant color, dependability, and an entire growing season of beauty. With so many colorful options of every type of plant and for every situation, the only hard part is deciding which to incorporate!
To discuss these plants or ask gardening questions, chat with the author on the Gardening Answers forum.
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Chloë Bowers is a landscape designer based in Newtown, Connecticut.
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