Get It Growing News For 04/18/08
By Dan Gill
LSU AgCenter Horticulturist
When you think about adding color to your landscape, flowering bedding plants are usually the first thing that comes to mind. Many plants with colorful foliage, however, can serve the same purpose. These plants will often stay attractive and colorful longer and with less care than flowering bedding plants.
Since the color these plants provide is from their foliage, they are never out of “bloom.” As long as they are alive and healthy, they provide color.
One of the best known and popular plants with colorful foliage is the caladium. This plant is a perennial that grows from a tuber and is excellent for part shade to shade. The foliage colors are attractive combinations of green, white, pink, rose, red and chartreuse. Depending on the cultivar, caladiums can grow to be 10 inches to 24 inches tall.
Over the next few weeks you can plant unsprouted tubers (the best buy) or plants growing in pots (they’re more expensive, but you get immediate color). If you left caladium tubers in the ground last year, they should sprout sometime this month. So keep an eye out for them. If you dug and stored your tubers last fall, you can plant them now through mid-May.
Plant caladium tubers about 2 inches deep and 8 inches to 12 inches apart in beds generously amended with organic matter.
Coleus is a tender perennial that’s generally killed by winter freezes. Some coleus cultivars, such as the Wizard series and the Kong series, do best in partial shade. Other coleus cultivars thrive in full sun, such as Alabama, Red Ruffles, Pineapple and the Solar series.
Depending on the cultivars you choose, coleus will grow from 10 inches to 30 inches tall. Many cultivars will grow naturally bushy and full, but I generally pinch out the growing tips occasionally to encourage branching and control their size. It’s also a good idea to pinch off the rather unattractive flower spikes as they appear in late summer.
Amaranthus is an annual that loves summer heat and is commonly known as Joseph’s coat. The brilliant, sometimes-neon colors of their foliage may be a little too much for some gardeners, but others will find their bold colors invigorating in the landscape. These plants grow 3 feet to 5 feet tall and are best used in the back of the bed or border in full sun.
Amaranthus is easy to grow from seed and may be available as young plants at the nursery. Don’t be disappointed by the foliage color of young plants – the color develops as the plants mature. Cultivars such as Illumination, Molten Fire, Aurora and Joseph’s Coat will bedazzle you with foliage colored magenta, burgundy, red, green, yellow and gold.
Alternanthera is related to amaranthus and also is commonly called Joseph’s coat, although these sun-loving plants are much smaller than amaranthus. Some only grow to be a few inches tall and are excellent for edging beds and in pots, while others may grow to be 2 feet tall or more.
New cultivars of alternanthera show up every year, indicating the popularity of colorful foliage plants. Colors are generally red, yellow, pink or white combined with green. Short cultivars include Red Threads, Summer Flame, Nana Aurea and Snowball. Taller cultivars are Purple Knight, Gail’s Choice and Party Time.
Bloodleaf or chicken gizzard plant (Iresine herbstii) is similar to the taller-growing alternantheras and is also a valuable plant with colorful leaves for summer color.
One of my favorite colorful foliage plants is the copper plant, Acalypha wilkesiana. It is a tall, shrubby plant that thrives in full to part sun. As long as winters are mild and plants are well-mulched, it is reliable about surviving for years in the garden. The foliage is generally shades of chocolate, copper, red, green, yellow and chartreuse. The leaves may be fringed or crinkled. This tough plant grows 3 feet to 5 feet tall and will perform well all summer with little care.
More choices
In addition to the plants I’ve mentioned, you can find many others available and worth considering. Notably, you can’t go wrong with ornamental sweet potatoes. This running vine with foliage generally dark purple or chartreuse will cover large areas. Cultivars include Blackie, Margarita, Black Beauty and Tricolor.
I also recommend duranta Cuban Gold; graptophyllum Black Beauty, Chocolate and Tricolor; pennisetum Purple Fountain; Persian shield (Strobilanthes); perilla Magilla; variegated shell ginger (Alpinia); and setcreasea Purple Heart.
All of these plants will thrive in the heat and humidity of the coming summer, and you will find many more available at your local nursery. If you have only focused on flowers in the past, you will find colorful foliage plants offer a whole new opportunity to provide abundant color in the summer landscape.
Get It Growing is a weekly feature on home lawn and garden topics prepared by experts in the LSU AgCenter. For more information on such topics, contact your parish LSU AgCenter Extension office or visit our Web site at www.lsuagcenter.com. A wide range of publications and a variety of other resources are available.
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Contact: Dan Gill at (225) 578-2222 or dgill@agcenter.lsu.edu
Editor: Rick Bogren at (225) 578-2263 or rbogren@agcenter.lsu.edu