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Since the Victorian era, fanciers of foliage plants have prized
these durable wonders for their remarkable variety of leaf sizes,
shapes, textures and colors.
Foliage plants make wonderful gifts. They blend very well with
traditional flowering potted plants such as African violets,
Gloxinias and many others.
In coordinated groupings, small foliage plants present delightful
displays in dish gardens, offering an instant miniature
garden.
Many Plants Available
Today, many species and cultivars of foliage plants are
available. And new ones are introduced every year.
Foliage plant breeders have focused their efforts on improving
plants’ appearance and performance in interior environments. Each
year they select plants for qualities such as repeat flowering,
increased disease resistance and tolerance to low light levels
and temperatures.
The motto for the foliage plant breeders this year seems to have
been “More color!” Indeed, some of the new plants show a
spectacular display of leaf colors that are hard to pass by.
A Few of the New
Here are some of the exciting, new foliage plants you should look
for in the garden center.
- Aglaonema ‘Red Gold’ features green and yellow
speckled leaves with very characteristic and unusual pink
petioles. As with all Chinese evergreens, it can perform
excellently indoors. - Anthurium ‘Tropic Fire’ features bright
fiery-red spathe and white spadix. This new cultivar produces a
full pot of rich, medium green, shiny foliage. - Calathea ‘Silver Plate’ features silver-green,
glossy foliage, and long-lasting lighter pink flowers. One of the
few flowering calatheas in culture. - Carludovica ‘Jungle Drums’ is a new plant
species for the foliage trade. It’s stemless, with rounded,
fan-shaped, rich green leaves, usually cut in two parts. They
resemble corrugated palm leaves but are much softer. Panama hats
are traditionally made of a close relative of this plant. - Chlorophytum ‘Fire Flash’ has glossy-green,
lance-head-shaped leaves with distinct, parallel veins and a
bright coral petiole. The coral veins and petioles make a strong
contrast with the leaves, while the small flowers are white in a
dense, cylindric panicle partly hidden in the foliage. This plant
is a close relative of the spider plant (Chlorophytum
comosum) but has much larger leaves. - Dracaena ‘Rikki’ has foliage that produces
graceful arcs of deep green, glossy leaves, with highlighted
yellow bands in the center running the length of the leaf. It is
a wonderful companion to all other dracaenas and does a credit to
this genus of old favorites. - Homalomena ‘Purple Sword’ has spectacularly
colored dark green and silver-marked leaves with contrasting dark
purple on the undersides. - Polypodium ‘Green Wave’ has distinctive
upright, dark green fronds. This new tropical fern grows as
vigorously as a Boston fern. - Spathiphyllum ‘Hi Ho Silver’ is a variant of
“Ceres,” the European variety that blooms with a symmetrical
shape. The leaf veins are lighter, compared to the rest of the
lamina, giving the leaf a unique look of a subtle white web on a
green background. This beautiful new cultivar resembles a
gray-green Aglaonema. - Syngonium podophyllum ‘Neon’ has bright, new
hot-pink foliage. This small plant branches freely and is perfect
in large assortments or dish gardens.
