Fab Foliage Friday

The beauty of backlighting shines through, so to speak, in this picture of an elephant ear's innards illuminated by the sun. Who would have guessed the leaf of 'Black Magic' elephant (Colocasia esculenta 'Black Magic') would look like an aerial view of a river valley. But seeing this taught me a lesson: when using interesting foliage plants in pots or elsewhere, it's often a good idea to position them so the rising or setting sun can shine though the leaves, revealing, in some cases, an intriguing inner landscape. The same approach also works well with some other dark foliaged plants--particularly tropical smokebush (Euphorbia cotinifolia)--bringing a whole new glow to the plant.