Green in the Garden

Each winter about this time I re-discover the color green. Much of the year it
pretty much gets taken for granted unless there are one or two dramatic contrasts
somewhere in the garden that seem to "pop" out as you walk by.
    Our weather here locally has pretty much returned to normal after 3 years of
above normal temps. Several deep dips into the teens at night... then a warm-up
into the 50's during the day and another drop like a rock back to the teens. Sure
hard on the plants. Thanks goodness there are some great performers out there that
take anything our weather can throw at them and remain fresh.
    Right now hellebore foetidus is performing like a champion. Older foliage has
turned olive-black-green and the new foliage with the bloom stalk is almost
chartreuse. Buds are heavy this year on all my foetidus in the garden. The
cultivar H.f. "Wesker Fisk" has all of the above with the added bonus of beet-red
stems and up into the beginning of each leaf.
   The fern Dryopteris erythrosora, or Autumn fern, is almost as fresh and shinny
as in the spring when the fresh fronds emerged. Christmas fern is still a backbone
plant for winter green.
    Arum italicum is great after our freezing rain-snow mix of last week. Looks
like little fairies went out and polished each leaf during the night.
    Partridge berry (Mitchella repens) is the best ground cover I have. Flatter
than a pancake, bright shinny, lustrous, green with a few remaining red berries
the birds have not found as yet.
    Thank the gods for all the Primula with evergreen foliage... P. vulgaris and
all the hybrids, P. veris in particular.
    Can you tell I was out in the garden taking a walk yesterday afternoon?


Gene Bush     Southern Indiana    Zone 6a     Munchkin Nursery
          around the woods - around the world
genebush@otherside.com     http://www.munchkinnursery.com
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