By Lisa Marun.
More information about the March 2017 meeting topic:
Whether you’re starting a new garden from scratch or incorporating new additions into your landscape, there’s both an art and a science to establishing the look and the purpose you seek to achieve. One way to ensure the creation of an aesthetically pleasing visual palette in the garden is make foliage your focus. Be sure to think about how daily and seasonal light changes will influence how foliage looks, and how any new garden additions play off surrounding plants to create depth and meet your aesthetic goals.
A nice selection of plants with dark foliage can be found on North Park Nursery’s website: northparknursery.com/2015/11/plants-with-dark-and-purple-foliage.
If you’re looking to replace a hedge or create a new screen, consider the foliage on the plant suggestions provided by four local landscape designers on the San Diego Master Gardeners website: mastergardenerssandiego.org/newsletter/article.php?ID=1.
The Native Plants and Native People Trail at the San Diego Botanic Garden offers a great opportunity to see a lot of diversity in the foliage of plants that will likely do well in your garden (sdbgarden.org/garden_native.htm). Plus, for the sake of “research,” you’ll have a good excuse to visit several times in the coming year in order to see how the foliage changes with the seasons.
If you have the space for a new tree or two, ginkgo and Chinese pistache will be showstoppers come fall: sandiegouniontribune.com/lifestyle/home-and-garden/sdut-fall-color-plants-foliage-2013sep06-story.html
Landscape Plants for California Gardens is a great resource for San Diego gardeners with several sections that focus on foliage in Plant Functions and Aesthetics (Section Two): landdesignpublishing.com/docs/LPCG%20Sections%201-3.pdf.