Not all perennials are created equal

We have all heard about the importance of foliage in the perennial border. The saying goes, “Flowers are fleeting, but foliage is forever.” So we heed the advice and choose perennials with attractive leaves, but are borders are still lackluster. What went wrong?

The problem may lie in the texture of the foliage. Many perennials have small, fine-textured leaves, such as coreopsis, yarrow, baptisia, catmint, geranium, bee balm, lavender, Russian sage, astilbe and salvia. Another large group features strappy foliage: sedges, day lilies and the entire family of grasses.

Gardens designed with a majority of these plants lack pizazz or appear chaotic. As the eye moves across the border, it yearns for contrast and a place of respite from all the same size or type of leaves.

However, perennials with substantial foliage invigorate the border with their bold, architectural leaves and statuesque style.

Aralia Sun King has large compound leaves (made up of leaflets) up to 3 feet long. Large spikes of white flowers begin blooming in late summer. Faded flowers turn to reddish-purple berries in fall. The foliage emerges bright gold in spring and retains its color if given a few hours of direct sunshine; in shade it turns chartreuse.

Crambe cordifolia forms a giant mound — up to 4 feet wide — of enormous, deeply lobed, puckered leaves. In early summer, a multitude of white flowers resembling baby's breath appear on stems up to 6 feet tall. Plant Crambe cordifolia in full sun to light shade in soil amended with a lot of organic matter. It has a tap root and resents being moved once established.

There are several hostas with huge leaves. The most commonly found are Blue Angel, Elatior and Sum and Substance. Blue Angel grows into a mound of blue foliage more than 3 feet tall and much wider. Elatior is a vase-shaped hosta growing 3 feet tall and 5 feet wide with glossy, green leaves, and Sum and Substance is similar in size, but sports yellow foliage.

Ligularia is an ideal choice if you have a shady spot with moist soil. My favorite cultivar is Britt Marie Crawford. Impressive, sensual, chocolate-colored leaves with burgundy undersides are attractive all season and serve as a lovely backdrop for the golden yellow, daisylike flowers in midsummer. It grows about 3 feet tall and wide.

Rodgersia aesculifolia, commonly called fingerleaf rodgersia, grown in consistently moist, rich soil, is a sight to behold. Architectural and dramatic, it can reach as tall as 6 feet and 3 feet wide. In ordinary garden soil, fingerleaf rodgersia requires more shade and will rarely reach those grand proportions. In either situation, the heavily textured, bronze tinted, compound leaves extend more than a foot wide. Fragrant, creamy white flowers are held on tall stems above the foliage from June to August.

Sometimes called cabbage leaf coneflower because of the large, powder blue foliage at the base of the plant, rudbeckia maxima is an easy-to-grow coneflower that makes a bold statement in the garden. Golden flowers are held high on stems as tall as 7 feet in summer. Rudbeckia maxima is not fussy about the soil in which it grows, but prefers full sun.

• Diana Stoll is a horticulturist and the garden center manager at The Planter's Palette, 28W571 Roosevelt Road, Winfield. Call (630) 293-1040, Ext. 2, or visit planterspalette.com.