I think I have always loved plants with interesting foliage. This appreciation stretches from grasses and flaxes to colourful broad-leaved perennials. Somehow my garden is now home to grasses, sedges, heucheras and various other ‘foliage plants’ of many different colours.
![DSCF9050 cp](https://wildhopehomestead.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/dscf9050-cp.jpg?w=748)
This happened almost subconsciously. Perhaps it is the latent artist within me that desires these colourful swatches in the garden. I especially appreciate them during winter, when much else is dull and little is flowering. Plants with great foliage and flowers are a double-bonus; my favourite of which is Astilbe x arendsii ‘Fanal’ (which isn’t in flower yet). I remember when I first discovered heucheras in a garden centre. They came in so many rich colours and I discovered they liked shade, which there is plenty of in my garden. Thus began a love affair, and, not surprisingly, my first purchases were burgundy/purple heucheras: Heuchera americana ‘Velvet Night’, Heuchera ‘Amethyst Myst’ and Heuchera ‘Berry Smoothie’. I have 8 different heucheras and heucherellas in my garden at the moment, and cannot pick a favourite. I have trouble picking a favourite grass/sedge too, but it is probably Uncinia rubra at the moment. Here are some shots of foliage in the garden this spring.