Colorful flowers can make your yard more beautiful but you can also try foliage plants (plants grown primarily for their foliage) which can  boast a reliabilty that is not to be scoffed at.

Of course you can elongate the blooming period of your plants by deadheading them. However it will take extra time and work.

It is obvious that a combination of foliage plants and flowering beauties creates an amazing look but you will also like the diversity of options offered by foliage plants. Here you will read several interesting ideas and can notice how different in its characteristics each of these plants is from the rest:

Foliage Plants for Ground Covers
Pachysandra is a plant which is mostly used for ground cover. It is  spreading to fill in an area via underground runners. Having the approximate height of 6 inches, pachysandra bears insignificant white flowers in spring but is a fine foliage plant. Pachysandra likes shade, which makes it an ideal choice for those problem areas in your garden that don’t receive much sunlight.

Liriope is another ground cover plant. However it grows a bit taller than pachysandra and its height in maturity can reach about 1 foot. And while pachysandra exhibits fleshy, oblong leaves, liriope can resembles only  grass. Liriope puts out a spikey flower, but its major benefit is as a versatile foliage plant, amenable to a sunny location or to partial shade.

Green Foliage at an Intermediate Size
In spite of that the hostas are blooming plants they are mostly grown as foliage plants. Classified as perennials, many hostas are often used as if they were small shrubs (note, however, that hostas vary greatly in size, depending on the type). These shade-loving foliage plants can be for example used in border plantings as  "leafy edging" for a planting bed.

Elephant Ear Plants
If you want to have in your garden green foliage with a tropical feel you follow the idea of Northern homeowners which often include elephant ear plants in their landscapes treating them as annual plants. IT should be mentioned that these plants will look especially attractive if planted near the water feature.

Small Shrubs: Green Foliage With Greater Height
Boxwood shrubs are broadleaf evergreens, they don't bear needles. These plants have beautiful densely packed light-green leaves and rounded, compact growth habit; they are very small in size, their maximum height is only 3 feet. There are numerous types of boxwood plants and some of them can attain to greater heights. These elegant foliage plants have traditionally been used for formal garden hedges in areas with full sun to partial shade.

Yews as well as boxwoods are evergreen shrubs. However their main difference is that they are needle-bearing shrubs. The maximum height of English yews reaches about 4 feet tall, but they are "small shrubs" in terms of height, only. They are spreading much greater (12-15 feet) and are not compact plants. There are other yews from which to choose, some of which attain to greater heights. Yew shrubs are often used as hedges or foundation plants, especially in shaded areas (where many other shrubs wouldn't perform well).