The following plants are especially valuable for their foliage effect. The notation (B) signifies a bold texture, (M) a medium texture, and (F) a fine texture.
The notation (G) indicates gray or silvery foliage, and (E) indicates that the plant is evergreen. Many plants that generally are evergreen may be only semi-evergreen if grown farther north.
| Common Name | Botanical Name |
| Basket-of-gold | Aurinia (G) |
| Bear’s breech | Acanthus (B) |
| Bergenia | Bergenia (B, E) |
| Blue star | Amsonia (F) |
| Christmas rose | Helleborus (E) |
| Coralbells | Heuchera (E) |
| Daylily | Hemerocallis (E, some varieties) |
| False indigo | Baptisia (M) |
| Goatsbeard | Aruncus (B) |
| Groundsel | Ligularia (B) |
| Heartleaf crambe | Crambe cordifolia (B) |
| Japanese iris | Iris kaempferi (M) |
| Lady’s mantle | Alchemilla (M) |
| Lamb’s ears | Stachys byzantina (G) |
| Lungwort | Pulmonaria (M) |
| Meadowrue | Thalictrum (F) |
| Olympic mullein | Verbascum olympicum (G) |
| Peony | Paeonia (M) |
| Perennial salvia | Salvia x superba (G) |
| Pink | Dianthus (F) |
| Plantain lily | Hosta (B) |
| Red-hot poker | Kniphofia (M) |
| Sea pink | Armeria (F, E) |
| Siberian iris | Iris sibiric a (M) |
| Solomon’s seal | Polygonatum (M) |
| Spurge | Euphorbia (M) |
| Stonecrop | Sedum (M) |
| Threadleaf coreopsis | Coreopsis verticillata (F) |
| Wormwood | Artemisia (E, G) |
| Yellow archangel | Lamiastrum galeobdolon (G, E) |
| Grasses | All |