May 2013 Foliage Follow-Up

I love my front yard garden.  I know that it's not good for house resale to have so much garden, and I also know that when we do finally move the person who buys the house will likely get rid of most if not all of the plants here.  But when I come home, seeing this garden makes me happy:

(Excuse the slant. I clearly had trouble standing up straight and taking a picture on this day!)

With this front yard garden, I was aiming for 3 things:

1. Year-round interest through texture, form and color contrasts.
2. A drought tolerant, low-maintenance garden.
3. Taking advantage of the backlighting that I would get every evening as the sun set.

I am very happy to say that I mostly managed to hit on all three counts.  Here are some detail shots:

Japanese maple. Its fiery burn eludes the camera, unfortunately.

Mexican feathergrass and sea kale is a favorite frothy combo.
I like to think that the oakleaf hydrangea grounds them a little.

Grandma's variegated iris, brown carex, 'Bressignham Ruby' bergenia, heucheras, sage and grasses.

The view as I exit my car.

The front yard isn't the only place with good foliage interest, though. Here are a few shots from the backyard:

Heucheras might be my favorite plant to view backlit.
I thought the little-leaf-shadow inside the blazing bigger leaf was cool here..

Another heuchera, this one nestled at the foot of a just-emerged chocolate eupatorium.

My newly planted urn, featuring a softleaf yucca in the center. (You can see it hanging down from the top of the frame.)
Ivy geraniums, heucheras (dug up from the garden), and white licorice plant ring the outside.

 That's probably enough for this month's foliage post! For more foliage links, visit Pam's May Foliage Follow Up post and check out the comments.  :-)