Joe and Kathy Lamb place a plaque honoring Joe’s mother, Winnie Lamb, at Triangle Garden for the Garden Club of Lake Placid. (Provided photo)

At the Garden Club of Lake Placid’s recent meeting and annual plant swap, guest speaker John Winkler shared the focus of Lake Placid’s Dark Sky Initiative. He described this as an ongoing coordinated effort to address light pollution in the Adirondacks.

While the Adirondack Park has generally a low level of light pollution, the town of North Elba is the brightest spot in the park at night. The members and guests learned of the human health benefits, as well as environmental and economic benefits of dark night skies. Dark sky principles include using light only where needed; using shielding to avoid light spill; using the lowest light level possible; shutting lights off when not needed; and using warmer light, of 2709K or lower.

The club’s latest Triangle Garden work session included the addition of a plaque in memory of Winnie Lamb, past president and supporter of the Garden Club of Lake Placid. Joe Lamb and wife Kathy, a current member and regular participant in the Triangle Garden work, placed the plaque near the hydrangeas, a favorite of Winnie. The family’s generous donation will continue to support adding perennials to the Triangle Garden. The Cottage restaurant sponsored this month’s after work drinks and appetizers.

Where are we in the garden season?

Learn to love foliage is good advice for now to perennial gardeners in the North Country. For certain, it is a challenge to have a cottage garden and bridge early summer blooms to the all-out color splurge of later season perennials. Where’s the color after peonies, iris, rhododendrons and lupines fade? The wait for echinaceas, asters and brown-eyed susans seems endless unless you are enjoying color from your garden annuals or container plantings.

John Winkler, of the Dark Sky Initiative, gives a presentation to the Garden Club of Lake Placid. (Provided photo)

Step away from expecting interest only from flower heads, and take notice of the colors and structures of foliage. Heucheras (coral bells) are a good example of a perennial that has large colorful leaves all season. Newer varieties offer a range of orange, red and purple tones. Ajugas combined with creeping jenny creates a striking contrast of chartreuse and purple as a ground cover. Creeping thyme is another ground cover with airy texture and bonus of its fragrance. Astilbe’s lacy foliage stands tall enough in your garden to compete with other perennials before and after its flower needs to be cut back.

The gray green foliage of lamb’s ears has a soft, hairy texture, which also can be found in using mullein, most often considered a weed. Mullein’s foliage leans toward a light sage green color. The spike towers over many other plants, drawing attention away from the dying foliage of bulbs and oriental poppies. Silver white tones in the many artemisias are dramatic against blue flowering perennials and when lining stone paths. The same color is pronounced in Russian sage well before the blue petals appear.

Hostas make a big statement in any shade garden. While they do flower, most gardeners choose them for the large variety in shape, size, color and texture of the leaves. Ferns and sedums are other examples where so many available varieties can give you choices to pair well with your flowering perennials. You might also consider allowing a few green plants that most would classify as weeds. Yarrow, chamomile, and Queen Anne’s lace are three that will give you tall, lacy foliage all season and a bonus of creamy white blooms.

Foliage focused plants will not distract from the blooms of your showy, colorful perennials when they have their moments, and they will carry the color and interest load during gap periods. When your flowering perennials do appear, these foliage plants become fillers in your bouquets.

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(Patricia Hofbauer is a member of the Garden Club of Lake Placid.)