Garden Tip 129:

It is a good gardening practice to incorporate plants that have vibrant, colorful foliage into the garden to help maintain late summer color in the landscape. Annuals and perennials can fade away in the August garden, but foliage can be a season long attraction.

One of the winning plants in this category is Hakonechloa, Japanese Forest Grass. These perennial clump-forming grasses grow to be two feet tall and three feet wide. Varieties include shades of golds and greens and variegated forms come with white, green or gold stripes. Most varieties acquire orange and red hues in the fall.

Best of all, these plants prefer partial to full shade adding mounds of contrasting colors and textures to the shady garden. Some of the gold varieties will also do well in sunny locations. These plants have no serious insect or disease problems and are deer and rabbit resistant.