Foliage

Plant foliage brings drama and structure to the garden with color, shape, and texture all its own. Bright, cheerful flowers may have beauty-pageant appeal that gets noticed by passers-by, but where would all those pretty floral faces be without the stalwart presence of foliage? Every garden benefits from an inspired selection of plants chosen for the beauty of their leaves, and the harmony their presence brings to the entire landscape.

Organized by color and texture, each chapter in Nancy Ondra’s eye-opening new guide illustrates the features and requirements of dozens of plants, all chosen for the unique appeal of their leaves. Colors range from brilliant chartreuse to stunning silver to dusky, moody maroon. Surfaces can be rough or smooth, velvety or prickly, and edges can be scalloped, smooth, or saw-toothed.

With the stunning range of color and texture represented in Rob Cardillo’s rich photography, it’s easy to see how much season-long interest foliage can add to a garden. In addition to identifying and discussing beautiful plant possibilities, Ondra draws on her many years of gardening experience to present vivid plant combinations that work together to enhance and extend garden color. Knowing how and where to use foliage to complement flowers and grasses is as important as understanding the plants themselves.

Flowers come and go, weather can kill blooms prematurely or prevent them from ever appearing, but sturdy, reliable foliage can be the gardener’s salvation, year after year.

Nancy J. Ondra is a freelance garden writer and editor who owned and operated a small rare-plant nursery for six years. She is the author or co-author of a dozen gardening books including Foliage: Astonishing Color and Texture Beyond Flowers, which won the 2008 Book Award from the American Horticultural Society); The Perennial Gardener’s Design Primer (winner of a 2006 Silver Award from the Garden Writers Association); and Grasses: Versatile Partners for Uncommon Garden Design. She currently gardens on her own four acres in Pennsylvania; works as a horticulturist at Linden Hill Gardens in Pennsylvania; and contributes to two garden blogs: www.hayefieldhouse.com and www.gardeninggonewild.com.

Rob Cardillo has been photographing gardens, plants, and the people who tend them for more than 20 years. Formerly the director of photography at Organic Gardening, he now works for major publishers, horticultural suppliers, and landscape designers throughout the United States. Visit him at www.robcardillo.com.