For sure! Heucheras and hosta come to mind immediately. In most cases, I don't care for the flowers and remove them when they appear. I even grow some hellebores specifically for their foliage although I certainly enjoy them when they bloom as well.

Others I grow primarily for foliar appearance are Saxifraga cuspidata, London Pride (Saxifraga x urbium 'Aureopunctata' and 'Primuloides'), Farfugium japonicum 'Aureomaculata', Sempervivums and Jovibarbas and stonecrops like 'Angelina' and 'Blue Spruce'. Well, pretty much any hardy succulents :-)) And ferns and ornamental grasses if you count them as perennials.

One perennial I like as much for its foliage as its flowers is bowman's root or Gillenia trifoliata - it turns a rich rusty red in fall. Same with Amsonia hubrichtii - great fall color.

Astilboides is always the first one that comes to mind in this regard for me. Fabulous foliage; flowers not needed and usually cut off soon after they appear.

All the ferns, too.

If you'd asked me this 25 year ago the answer would have been no. Over time I've come to realize, though, that when I visit gardens and look at garden photos, I am at least as attracted to gardens with a rich pallet of foliage as those with lots of flowers.

In my garden now I have lots of foliage classics - Hosta, new-fangled Heuchera, Hakonechloa grass, various Sedums, Sempervirens (hens and chicks), ferns

Some less common ones - Amsonia hubrichtii, Cimicifuga/Actea 'Brunette', Leucosceptrum japonicum 'Gold Angel', Alchemilla erythropoda, Penstemon 'Dark Towers', Dianthus 'Greystone', Polygonatum variegata (Solomon's seal), Mukdenia rossii AKA Aceriphyllum rossii

There are also some that I enjoy the foliage and flowers equally - Baptisia, Siberian iris, Thalictrum, peonies, Astilbe, Pulmonaria, Geraniums

A few culinary plants that I grow for the foliage as much as for the edibility - cranberry, rhubarb, redbor kale (not a perennial for me, and I am not sure about in warm areas), parsley (biennial), thyme, blueberries.

I also grow quite a number of shrubs for foliage as much as or more than for bloom.

Rodgersia, ligularia ('Britt Marie Crawford' and 'Osirus Fantasie' - I take their flowers off but leave them on 'The Rocket'), persicaria 'Painter's pallette'. dicentra 'Gold Heart' (yes it flowers, but I grow it for the foliage), hostas, grasses and sedges...and probably a lot more that I'll think of when it's not dark out!

Pulmonaria and Brunnera come first to mind, also Solomon's Seal. I'm sure there are others, but I can't think of them right now.

Sedum varieties mostly,.... spectabile 'Autumn Joy' and 'Matrona'... love the foliage on these, right now actually, and the flower heads seem inconsequential when they appear later, nice though they are..... 'Matrona' will shortly get the Chelsea Chop as it's in rich ground and will flop later otherwise, but 'Autumn Joy' is in impoverished ground and doesn't need that...

...I grow a sedge/grass Uncinia rubra all over the place... flowers are insignificant... I find the foliage colour outstanding...

...I don't grow these now, but plants like Filipendula and some Astilbe's I could have quite happily without the flowers....

I continue to garden very much for flower colour, which, with perennials, takes sun and maybe more labour.

Re variegated foliage: I'd chose a cultivar with variegated foliage over a cultivar of the same plant which lacks variegation.

Re Brunnera: I take 'Dawson's White' to be even more preferable than the other cultivars.

Normally I want the bloom to be just as nice in a variegated form as in a non-variegated one, though I'd make a few exceptions; namely if the variegated form is strongly preferable on the basis of other criteria. Phlox paniculata 'Nora Liegh' immediately comes to mind.

foliage is. for me , with plant shape and growth habits, at least as important as flowers. i'm with sunny borders on variegation, love it despite my best gardening pal's disapproval. on that subject sunny, here's phlox goldmine, new to me last year, with nora peeking around the edge.

All of them. My first priority is always how the form and leaves of a plant looks. I avoid what I see as leafy plants-- heavily green foliaged plants which are boring out of bloom and I pretty much avoid big flowers which scream for attention and overwhelm other plants. I have flowers at all times and its not that I don't like them but I can't think of a single plant chosen for the flowers which are just an extra perk. Most of mine have scores of smaller single flowers as opposed to plants like roses or peony's which are grown for flowers.

The garden looks good in bloom or not all 4 seasons since I don't depend on flowers. I like some plants best when they aren't in bloom.

Even so, I have a mass of various flower colors spring through fall and a couple bloom in winter, its more of an over-all effect rather than an up close and personal thing with flowers.

Wow, thanks for the ideas, everyone! I have lots to research!

Its about the spirit of the place. I like that compact, shrubby-scrubby-natural-native-dry-climate look over the green lush look, especially in late summer when my garden used to look like an over grown mess by that time and I wanted to cut it all down. Certain ideas just follow. It has nothing to do with maturity, gee Camps what a horrid idea.

I imagine the length of a persons growing season comes into this. In my zone a plant that blooms for me in May still has to be looked at from June to November. In May, that same plant is only just emerging up north. The spring/early summer blooming season is nice but then you still have July, August and September to think about so foliage becomes a garden real estate thing meaning space taken up by boring foliage gets very old and depressing, especially when it looks singed from the sun or is flopping from too much early season rain and you are sick of watering the stuff that now looks dull and is done for the year.

I came to appreciating variegated leaves through David Tomlinson's lectures at Merlin's Hollow, Daves10.

He pointed out that with the average perennial flowering for only two or three weeks, variegation really adds interest.

Thanks you for pointing out 'Goldmine'. Will look it up. I got 'Shockwave' (also has the yellowish-green variegation) from Rouge. Good garden phlox, but not as large and statuesque (so far) as 'Nora Leigh'. Also found one 'Harlequin' which never survived the winter.

Below variegated 'Praestans fustelier 'Unicum' (today) which I've been spreading around for a few years.

Foliage has become more and more important to me over the years. In our new house, I've decided it trumps almost everything. If I have to put up with ugly, fading, droopy, or shapeless foliage, I won't grow it, and the pictures in gardening magazines that really make me swoon are the combinations of boxwoods, ferns, pachysandra, hydrangea, hakone grass, hosta, Brunnera, and solomon's seal.

I've also grown more interested in structure, and layering, and so dwarf trees and bushes take up much more of my garden than they used to. Flowers are nice, but they're secondary.

Even in sun, where I could get more flowers, I've tended to choose things like grasses and sedum, because they're beautiful all summer and not just for a week or two when they bloom.

A week or 2 sounds just right to me seeing as I have a limited attention span. I certainly would not put up with months and months of dull foliage, whatever the colour, shape or form...which forces me to admit that flowers always have, and always will come first and foremost (even in the wood). Then again, I have a home pot garden (with many handy hideaways) and various other garden projects to amuse myself - when one is looking down at heel, I avert my eyes and ignore it - but fully understand this is not gardening as is done in most of the world but more a sort of permanently temporary sow and show spectacle which will never pass muster for a garden design of any merit. Literally thousands of plants have passed through my hands with a tiny minority surviving more than a few seasons. I do look, sometimes enviously, at other people's mature and elegant vistas - compared to my ramshackle collection of pots. tubs and trays - but....so many plants, so little time. I have perfected a sort of short-sighted squint which handily renders most of the picture vague and fuzzy, while focusing solely on each particular specimen - as far as possible from a fully integrated scenario which gives most people a headache but gives me profound delight. Which is also one of the reasons there are never any pics of my gardens on this forum (as they are mostly rubbish).
Cannot do variegation either.

I recently signed up for a botanical art course, thinking this would chime nicely with my preference for close observation of single specimens...but I swear it is the most boring thing ever. Hours and hours spent drawing every minuscule detail on a single leaf...am planning to subvert this at every opportunity with 2 inch paintbrushes and great sweeps of indian ink.

Variegation always looks artificial to me, I can't do that either.

When it comes to selecting plants for foliage I'm afraid I just hopelessly gone on native grasses. I've taken out several bloomers so I can mass grasses and I'm more interested to see the warm season ones coming around than I am with the spring/early summer flowers. For now I'm enjoying the cool season grass display. I have a very large area flanked by two echoing areas of Mexican Feather Grass swaying in the wind. An area of native sedge is coming around and I even massed in what I think is perennial rye grass I found growing wild because its shiny deep green, thick tussocks & forms tall stiff blooms in full shade (!!) that catch late afternoon sun peeking through the trees. Each Mexican Feather Grass leans in the same direction and its just gorgeous very light green and wispy-soft with the deep green contrasting behind it, the whole thing cost me zero dollars. I'm using seed to establish blue fescue drifts for yet another texture, even though its not native. Nothing else is small and blue like that. When it comes to grasses, massed areas work in a way individual plants never would so now the flowers are functioning as accents rather than the full show around here but it seems to make them stand out more.

I read last night that native grasses are the hottest selling plants now. Oklahoma has run out of available Buffalo Grass for sod and the bluestem's sell out faster than any other grass. I'm waiting anxiously to see the 'Blonde Ambition' blue grama plants I bought last fall put out seed heads and a mass of muhly grass I planted in another area fill in.

Great shared perspectives thanks all!

Tex, despite my mild last Winter, none of the mail order grasses I planted last Fall have yet to show any signs of life. I can barely think about it. One was Blonde Ambition. I was so looking forward to them! So sad. Not sure if there's any hope left at this point, though.

catkin, I have had a slow start on a couple carex that I thought were dead until a week or soa ago and two Little Bluestem plants that only have a couple weak blades showing. Indian Grass is just now coming around.

All mine were from SRG but the worst I fear for is a Blue Arrows rush plant that was to be the solution to the spot where the air conditioner drains, its shown no signs at all. The other 2 rush plants I bought, a different variety -- Javelin I think -- are both going strong. I am considering trying to get a replacement on the Blue Arrows (not sure if I have that name right) but its supposed to be very tall, blue and vertical.

I moved some LBS 'Blue Heaven' seedlings last fall, some made it some didn't. I'm wondering if I should have watered them some, we had a very dry winter. In the past I've just left grasses I dug up sitting in pots with a bit of soil around the exposed roots and those made it. Small plants have less roots and those are shallow at that, so I now think more care was necessary, ya know treat them like babies in future.

Thanks for the encouragement, Tex! I'm not giving up yet. It's not just the grasses I'm waiting for. It's difficult when other plants are going gangbusters and others haven't come up yet! LOL. Does SRG give replacements on sale plants?

I'll let you know about SRG's policy on that. I'm still giving the rush plant some time but it doesn't look promising.

The ground has to be very warm consistently for the warm season grasses to wake up and really get going. As my sun changes I notice the ones in full sun early on are up and the native type blue grama is starting to put out some blooms while the ones with a different exposure in back on the north side where the ground is cool are way behind, they are in full sun now and waking up. We've been in the 70's and 80's but the nights are still cool in the 50's so maybe your ground needs to get warmer, I'm not familiar with your temperatures where you live. The slowest to wake up seems to be the Indian Grass. The bluestem is coming along and volunteer seedlings are just coming up, I will have to start thinning those soon.

The switch grasses I have that are established and in full sun are a good 3 ft tall already. The new ones are still looking about the same size they did when I first got them but they are growing, I moved one and saw new roots. Switch grass is supposed to be a late summer/fall bloomer but mine always start blooming in early June and keep the blooms until I cut them back in late winter. I love it for that.

Here's a weird one for the books. I bought a deep purple, almost black unknown variety of Autumn Sedum last year at Farmer's Mkt. Its getting ready to bloom, can you beat that? Here it is early May and its got tall stems with flower buds getting ready to open. This is definitely a plant I like more for the foliage than the blooms. I like those tight mounds and always dread the blooms.

I love the tiarellas and heucherellas as well as all the colors of heuchera. The epimediums flower but the foliage is wonderful. In my water garden, I grow darmeras, rodgersias, astilboides and variegated iris, all of which have fabulous foliage.

Yes to all of the above, love them! Foliage plays a big role in my planning. Not everybody has to be a star but we need great foliage to back up those lesser players.

Kirengeshoma is a wonderful plant with its maple-like leaves. Aruncus aethusifolius for its ferny foliage and European ginger for that wonderful shine and roundness of leaf. Thalictrum foliage is so nice too. I am sure I will think of more!

Ah, thanks Tex! Weird about the Sedum! Saw a Matrona for sale today for 12 bucks--no thanks, I'm too cheap to pay that much LOL

Casey that sounds lovely! I have what I think is an Astilboides tabularis but have always gotten it confused with another plant whose name I don't recall. Is the new growth glossy? Do you have pictures of your great choices? Thanks for chiming in!

Peren, thanks! I had a Kirengeshoma but it's disappeared over the years (gotta check for it). It was too dry where I had it--lots of root competition. Should have moved it long ago but only did it last Fall, now I'm not sure if it came back or not. Off to look up European Ginger!