Welcome to Garden Bloggers’ Foliage Day where I encourage you to look at the foliage in your garden and give it the appreciation it deserves.
Today (Saturday) is bright, sunny, cold with a light icy wind. The wind is less than much of the last week but is still making it uncomfortable to work outside.
The cold wind has changed some of the colours of the foliage this month.
Usually the leaves of this Lonicera fall in autumn, they have clung on but the cold has turned them from dull green to this rich red
Euphorbia rigida – in an exposed position
Just a few steps away in a position protected from the wind the the foliage maintains its green colour.
Euphorbia rigida – in a protected position
The Agapanthus haven’t enjoyed the sub-zero temperatures
Even the needles of this tree have turned brown due to the cold wind – I hope it will recover
Looking across the Evergreen borders to the East
Interesting trunk of the Mulberry with a skirt of Acanthus
Every year the Acanthus becomes more prolific. This is an invasive plant; if you can’t spend time removing all the new seedlings each year it is a plant possibly best avoided.
All the Succulents have been pushed close to the house wall for protection from the icy north winds
The Wisteria still hasn’t been pruned, too cold and too windy
Wisteria is such a perfect plant for a pergola attached to a house; in spring its foliage appears early and shades the terrace and also the windows from the sun, in winter once the foliage has gone light streams into the house again just when it is most needed.
Form and structure are what the garden is all about in winter (and in mid summer)
There are a few new shoots pushing through the soil in some places, giving hope for the new growing season, but for now it is the structure and form especially of the clipped evergreens that give the garden its beauty at this time of year.
I hope you’ll join me in posting about the foliage in your garden in January, just leave a link to and from this post.
Creating my own garden of the Hesperides 
Lovely, Christina. I envy you the agaves. We’re having similar weather here – bright and very cold if without the wind.
I’m always a bit worried about how winter hardy the Agaves really are. I might try them in the ground if they get through this cold winter. I hate the wind
I think (stress the think) that they can withstand cold but not winter wet – which might not be a problem with you?
Not usually. The fig of India is dropping most of its sections but has regrown in the past.
My Acanthus seems to spread by suckers, I’m going to have to start digging some of them out, it is trying to take over! So glad you haven’t any snow.
My link is http://leadupthegardenpath.com
Yes I think they spread by seed and any piece of cut root is likely to grow so beware if you try digging them out, it can make matters worse. Thanks for joining this month.
I don’t let mine go to seed, the flower spike is always cut off before they can do that !
you are better than me Pauline; I mean to cut the spikes but have so far failed every year.
The trees and shrubs give you the structure to keep it looking good all through winter. It’s my strategy for the bank. And more labour saving in the long run.
I’ve come home to a lot of mush here, plenty of clearing up to do.
Apologies for not joining in this month. One quick walk around outside was enough for the moment!
I understand Jessica and am looking forward to your posts about Australia.
Overall there is surprising little damage after such unusually low temperatures and it still looks beautiful. I have decided to remove all my Acanthus now. I have only got myself to blame as I moved it to “better” positions but each time I try to clear it, the Acanthus rises from the tiniest piece of root. Amelia
Yes, root cuttings is the best way to propagate Acanthus!
I can vouch for that!
Not sure yet if I will be joining in this month but perhaps a specific foliage ramble might do the trick! It is interesting to see what effect the cold has on your foliage – the colour of the lonicera and unprotected euphorbia are lovely. Where my Mum is on the fairly sheltered west coast of the Inner Hebrides it is the cold wind that does the damage in her garden, and you too have to contend with icy north winds I see. I love to see a skeletal wisteria and don’t think I have asked you before if you planted it yourself and if so, when?
I do hope you do manage to join in Cathy, you usually come up with an interesting slant on the theme. We almost chose this house so we could put up the pergola and plant Wisteria! It (they) were planted in autumn 2008.
I managed it! https://ramblinginthegarden.wordpress.com/2017/01/22/garden-bloggers-foliage-day-ubiquitous-ivy/
If your brown connifer is a thuja it is normal he is that colour and he will recover, if it is not a thuja then I’m afraid it will be a gonner…..
I didn’t plant the tree so I’m so sure what it is; fingers crossed it is a thuja!
Coming in out of the cold in many ways – getting back into blogging mode, I was so pleased to see GBFD as a reminder that there is still lots to blog about in the winter. I have a dreadful problem with Acanthus and spend most of the summer digging up bits that have spread. Your garden is always full of such interesting plants. This is my contribution for January https://hurtledto60.com/2017/01/22/garden-bloggers-foliage-day/
Hi Ronnie, how lovely to hear from you. Yes, I believe our gardens can give us pleasure in winter even if it is different from the colourful flowers of summer.
No foliage to speak of around here, I’m afraid. The cypresses look like a great winter plant for your climate.
Yes the cypresses do very well.
Christina has had few dead plants with the big frosts. Its foliage is beautiful with the shapes it has. Forgive me for making this suggestion. At the foot of the photo that says “Even the needles of this tree have turned brown due to the cold wind – I hope it recovers”. It can be due to a disease that attacks the conifers and that dries the plant and its leaves and spreads from one plant to another by contact. Once again Christina forgave my audacity. All your garden plants come out beautiful in your photos. Keep the heat with the wind so cold. Greetings from Margarita.
You may be right about the tree Margarita. I will look more closely. Do you know the name of the disease? The tree has changed colour before but not so much. Thank you for the suggestion.
I’m so sorry Christina, but I do not know her name. It is best to cut a branch and go with it to a nursery plant. There they will diagnose the disease and give you the remedy. So did my brother. There are different diseases depending on the plant whatsoever. Good luck. Greetings from Margarita.
Yes, the structure and form as well as the lovely varying shades of evergreens add to the beauty. I do hope that tall brown evergreen recovers from its winter chill.
I hope so too Cathy. It is such an integral part of the garden. I would miss it dreadfully.
I’ll take a snap or two of the foliage in the morning. I tend to wait for the blooms when they surface. I also grow a lot of alpines that, in close-up, can look good and you can’t feel the cold in a photograph.
I’d love to see whatever you’d like to share Ian. My monthly post aims at encouraging everyone to value the foliage at least as much as the flowers which to me are just the icing on the cake, but I want the garden to have form, texture and atmosphere all the time.
I’m glad you’re able to protect those agaves and I hope that poor tree with the brown needles springs back when the weather becomes more hospitable. I’ve been wondering about how all the rain we’ve received (we’re under deluge today!) will affect my own Acanthus, which had been kept under control by our persistent drought – I’m afraid I may regret adding them to the dry shade area beside our garage but then this winter’s rain may still be an anomaly.
I think most of the Agaves are quite tolerant of cold as long as they are in free draining soil; I’ve seriously thinking of creating a small bed of succulents because I so admire your planting. I know there are only a limited number that would tolerate the cold winters but it would be fun to try. If you cut off the flowering stems of the Acanthus before they set seed you shouldn’t have too much of a problem but pulling them up and leaving any of the root might be worse.
It would be interesting to see what succulents would make it through your winters. Even here there are agaves which stand half a chance of making it through a winter, and the sight of an agave covered in snow is always a surprise.
Cacti can also do well. I don’t know it you want to explore that spiny mess though.