Forget the flowers, at least until the next circle around the garden (in fifteen minutes). On every stroll in late July, there are plants with foliage that must not be overlooked. Yes, it is the flowers, bees, and butterflies that are the main attractions in summer, but with brilliantly colored leaves just a step behind. I would not be without them.

My obsession with planting redbuds (Cercis canadensis) in recent years has been rewarded by their vigorous growth and colors that refuse to fade through heat and drought. Each has a story that makes it more dear, and while there is little variation in color in redbuds’ early spring flowers, there are considerable differences in foliage colors (above and below).

On visits to the koi pond, I must regularly check the progress of the rice paper plant (Tetrapanax papyifera ‘Steroidial Giant’) that dies to the ground each winter. With only a few hours of direct sunlight, it starts slowly, but by early August, it has reached six feet with leaves two feet across. A year ago, a castor bean skyrocketed past it in summer’s heat, but this year’s dark leafed castor bean is unlikely to reach sixteen feet. Tetrapanax might tip close to ten feet by summer’s end, and while it is stationed well off the patio, its presence is substantial.

Trees and shrubs were my priority from the start of planting this garden, and decades later, the dividends are paid with cooling shade surrounding the house and shelter for wildlife. Rather than visiting only for nectar, birds and other beasts reside in the garden and the neighboring sliver of forest.

Here, there are fewer summer flowers than in many smaller gardens, but large areas of mountain mint (Pycnanthemum muticum) and Joe Pye weed (Eutrochium fistulosum and E. dubium) satisfy abundant pollinators. On occasion, I’ll plug a perennial into a gap between trees and shrubs, but if the gap is just large enough, it could be filled with a redbud or another Japanese maple.