Foliage is what actually counts. Flowers, stems, bark, fragrance — all these are important, but when looking at plants from a design standpoint, it’s the leaves that I care for, and anything which has a very long season of interest is well worth taking note of.
Plants with good form that persist through cold weather are an essential component in my Vermont garden, where frost hits by mid-October. While I cut , pull, dig and haul in my seasonal rounds, then I’m thankful for the stalwarts that stay, somewhat belligerently, their foliage glistening with beaded raindrops as flocks of Canada geese fly south west overhead.
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Listed below are two of my favorite edibles, Swiss chard (Beta vulgaris) and kale (Brassica oleracea), easily developed from spring through winter in cold climates. Both are vitamin-rich leafy greens which taste delicious when lightly sautéed with garlic in olive oil.
They are cold-season annuals best grown from seed in spring or autumn, but many garden centers are expanding their offerings of edible transplants for the home cook. They are beautiful at a potager or vegetable garden but much more lovely in a large container which gets sunlight.
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This clump of lamb’s ear (Stachys byzantina, zones 4 to 9) sparkles with frost on cold mornings. Its textured foliage holds up through freezing rain, hail and hard freezes, which makes it among the most resilient plants that I grow.
This cultivar, ‘Helen Von Stein’, has sporadic flowers and large leaves which develop on fuzzy stems. Of Mediterranean origin, the plants need full sun and well-drained soil which is not too rich, so throw some dirt to the pit once you place the plants to the ground. They are especially useful along paths and close boulders, as their delicate textures contrast nicely with rock.
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Once I sow lettuce seeds directly into compost-rich beds in August, my plants are ready to harvest by late October but are almost too pretty to select! Lettuce (Lactuca sativa) is just another cool-season crop that looks good planted along paths or tucked into containers or beds.
Look for pretty heirloom types like ‘Speckled Trout’ or ‘Merlot’, that may be ordered by email or purchased in cell packs in garden centers.
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With the onset of cold weather, most perennials are cut back to the ground, but lady’s mantle (Alchemilla mollis, zones 3 to 7) continues to thrive, amassing droplets on its ruffled leaves and looking perky under gray skies. I grow it about Summersweet shrubs, which turn yellowish late in this season.
In mid-June the plants throw up airy, intimate chartreuse-colored flowers that associate well with peonies, blue Bachelor Button (Centaurea spp, zones 3 to 8) and tall white phlox. The flowers are good to cut too — but I like the plant because of its reliable form when everything has withered.
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Coral bells (Heuchera spp, zones 3 to 9) are a must-have in planting schemes, lasting well into early winter with good form. In reality, they’re among the best plants for overall functionality — used as a massing ground cover or as accents, they seem good pretty much all of the time.
Look for unusual colors such as burgundy or chartreuse, and variegated forms with silver accents, and set them in containers from the door and together front walkways. Those people with short growing seasons know the value of the perennial.
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Using its formal outline of miniature boxwood, this edible garden in the Montreal Botanical Garden is a feast for the eyes. Pebbled’Lacinato’ kale (Brassica oleracea‘Lacinato’), also known as Tuscan kale, combines with cabbage and sorrel within this mid-November composition that shows the ability of symmetry and repetition.
Tuscan kale, a most important ingredient in minestrone, has been developed in Italy since the 17th century and is among the plants listed in Thomas Jefferson’s gardens at Monticello at 1777.
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Evergreen hellebore (Hellebore x hybrida, zones 5 to 9) looks great with a carpet of leaf litter or trailing ground covers, such as lamium or golden creeping Jenny (Lysamachia‘Aurea’, zones 3 to 9). It doesn’t seem to get bothered by slugs or defoliating insects, and it holds its form through the slush and snow, looking cool and unflustered in the close of the year.
Some varieties have upward-facing blooms, but most possess a demure, nodding inflorescence that opens early in this season.