Don't forget your Foliage Follow Up!

A bit late, but here we go - Once on a trip, I saw a combination of large Agave villmorianas growing out a mass of plain ol' Aptenia cordifolia that looked fantastic. That inspired some of what is going on here. I've ended up loving the chartreuse Aptenia and silver Dymondia margaretae together. They edge the rest of the plantings nicely.

I grabbed a couple of pots of Aeonium 'Kiwi' at the nursery that looked prime for division. I can think of about a hundred places I'd like to tuck this plant into the garden. Some Tanacetum 'Aureum' reseeded near this succulent I can never remember the name of. I'm really enjoying the combination of their leaves. And it should be even better when *insert name here* succulent blooms with its yellow flowers. And the geometry of the fennel fronds is always nice, as is the color of the new leaves on the Kale 'Richmond's Pride'.

This picture is kind of cheating because it is really more about the blooming Ceanothus 'Concha'. I didn't take it until after I'd posted my Bloom Day post so I'll justify including it here by saying how much I like the combination of the blue flowers with the yellow foliage of Phormium 'Yellow Wave', although mine is starting to revert and I need to cut those green chunks out.

I love my super tough Heuchera maxima and Asparagus densiflorus 'Myers'. The banana leaves are unfurling and look interesting with their purple undersides. And my Helleborus x sternii has reseeded quite prolifically. I'm going to transplant these guys and have lots of free Hellebores, which I'm happy about because Hellebores are expensive!

And here is my new pot I got at Flora Grubb last time I was there. I'm trying out the "overplanted pot" look in it. I've got Carex 'Sparkler', Aeonium 'Kiwi', a bromiliad whose name I don't feel like going to look up right now, Begonia 'Escargot' and a gold-foliaged jade plant. I'll just let them duke it out. All around the pot is Asparagus 'Myers' - the same plant that was next to the Heuchera maxima in a previous image. It's interesting how floppy it gets in the shade (such as this photo) yet grows so narrowly upright in sunny spots (other photo). That upright growth would be a drought adaptation that reduces the amount of direct sun the fronds are exposed to. Less direct sun = less transpiration. Smarty plants!

Thanks to Pam for hosting Foliage Follow Up!