Friday, July 17

Foliage Friday

This month, Frances combined Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day with "Weed Wednesday," an idea she got from The Home Garden blog. That got me to thinking: If Weeds get to have their own day, then why wouldn't we also have a special day to celebrate some of the prettiest greenery? (And yellow-ery, and silver-ery, and blue-ery... you get the idea!)

I'm a foliage gardener in general anyway, so here's a post in celebration of Foliage Friday. First up: Golden Creeping Jenny, Lysimachia nummularia 'Aurea', pictured here in my shade garden.


Many people see this plant grown over the sides of containers, and for good reason. Its cascade of gold is a wonderful effect as a "spiller" in many different color combinations. I like to grow it in my shade garden, though, where it rambles nicely around and sometimes over plants like miniature hostas and dark-leaf ajuga (above) and ferns, 'Jack Frost' brunnera, and broadleaf sedge (carex platyphylla) below.


A word of caution: Golden Creeping Jenny isn't as aggressive as her green-leaf cousin, but she does spread. I have a very dry garden, however, so the lack of moisture here really keeps her in check. The photos above show her at her height of spread, and in a few weeks I'll go out, rip her out from around anything she's really choking out, and then ignore her again for the rest of the summer.

So... anyone else care to join me for Foliage Fridays? I would love seeing the interesting foliage combinations that you all have going on! Just leave a comment in the notes to direct me over to your place to see what you've posted.

And if I ever get all of this weeding done in my own yard, I promise to put up one of those cool "add your post link here" widgets like Carol has on the Garden Bloggers Bloom Day posts. Just... um... don't look for that any time soon. (Back to weeding, ASAP!)

18 comments:

Rosemarie said...

I would love to join (having so much shade, I have a lot of foliage). Stay tuned and I'll get something posted (sorry I haven't visited your blog in a while!)

Rosemarie said...

Okay, I'm posted!

http://rosemariegarden.blogspot.com/2009/07/foliage-fridays.html

Mr. McGregor's Daughter said...

This is such a great idea! I'll have to see what I can come up with. So many of my foliage plants are used to set off flowers. I'm not sure if I have any foliage only combos right now.

Eva said...

Sounds like fun!! I'm in.

Mr. McGregor's Daughter said...

I managed to find a couple of photos, they are: here

Lisa at Greenbow said...

I will look for a decent photo op. I like the idea. I have some creeping jenny but it doesn't creep much. I thought it was because of my dry garden. Yours looks to do much better even though you think your garden is dry.

Frances said...

Hi Kim, such a great idea, and thanks for the link love too! The yellow creeping jenny is a favorite here too. We are dry enough that it is not a problem. Your combinations always look fresh and unique. I predict this will be a popular friday ritual. :-)

Frances

Iowa Gardening Woman said...

I would love to join you for foilage Friday..........off to do a post right now.

CONEFLOWER said...

I love the idea of foliage Friday, but it's late and I've not collected my photos yet. Okay if I post tomorrow?

Love your photos! See you soon... tomorrow!

CONEFLOWER said...

Actually, I guess my last post would qualify for Foliage Friday. Please visit and let me know what you think.

Jean Campbell said...

I just gathered up this past week's foliage pics into a collage, which you can see here: Collage

I'm caught up in a lot of purple foliage right now, including Strobilanthes, Setcreasea, and Colocasia 'Black Magic.' Caladiums of all colors are happy in the heat and rain we're enjoying.

Dee/reddirtramblings said...

The weeds are doing their best to take over my entire garden, but that's the way they roll. Your foliage Friday idea is a good one, and I've enjoyed seeing people's foliage pics. I love creeping Jenny. She inhabits my shade garden too.~~Dee

CONEFLOWER said...

Ooops, make that my next to last post to show for Foliage Friday. Sorry.

kate smudges said...

I love the colour of the Golden Creeping Jenny, but this year spent hours digging it out from around the pond. It was killing off too many other perennials and creeping rather alarmingly into others. It was as if it took several years to gain a foothold and then it sprang into action.

With even a small amount of red currants, you can make some jam. Just mix them up with an equal amount (or less) sugar, add a teaspoon of lemon juice and boil up the mixture in the microwave. Pour into a jar and store in the refrigerator. You won't get much, but you'll be able to enjoy some red currant jam. I love it.

Dig, Grow, Compost, Blog said...

Great idea for Foliage Friday. Will have to see if I have anything interesting for it for this coming Friday.

That creeping jenny really is pretty. I often wondered how it did in the garden. Good to see it can behave itself in the right conditions.

Anonymous said...

I am eager to see all the foliage combinations.

Garden Lily said...

I'm currently hiding out in my house, eating in malls or restaurants, coming out only after dark to put out sprinklers (melting in the heat wave on the west coast), but as soon as I can emerge safely, I hope to join you for Foliage Fridays. I love the combinations of colours and textures you've captured in your two photos.

Kerri said...

You've just sparked an idea in my muddled mind with your pics of Creeping Jenny and Ajuga. Thanks! :) It looks great!

Post a Comment

One of my favorite things about blogging is the interaction--posts are often simply the beginning of an interesting conversation! So thanks for taking the time to join the discussion, and please know that I enjoy reading each and every comment left here. I try to answer as many as I can.