The first hard frosts turn the maidenhair fern almost black and bring them to their knees. But, leave them in place for the contrast they provide if your clump is next to a plant that's still green or has white variegated foliage. Or if you have them next to something that goes down in shades of gold. The fronds go over, exposing the polished ebony stems. The stems are this color all season, but you have to get down on your knees to see them while the stand is upright. So, enjoy them while they are in plain view. Hardy to USDA zone 3, this most graceful of native ferns belongs in every shady garden. It really prefers shade, although my main clump got exposed to considerable sun when a large oak was felled by lightening. The fronds will burn in too much sun, I can testify. Give it a cool, moist (not soggy) soil and it will slowly spread to make a exquisite colony.
Deep Purple
Japanese (or Chinese) dogwood has many fine attributes, not the least that it holds its leaves longer than its cousin, Cornus florida. The leaves on all my flowering dogwoods were down when I collected the leaves for this series. Fall leaf color is also different from my flowering dogwoods who tend toward reds and wine colors. My Kousa is more somber in its dress, but no less lovely. My tree is young yet and only about eight or ten feet (2.43 - 3.04m) tall. Mature size is generally between twenty and thirty feet (6.09 - 9.14m). It's still relatively vase-shaped, but I know it will broaden out with age since the mature spread is about the same as the height, depending on what part of the world you're in. If you're in USDA zones 4 or 5 to 8 and looking for a smallish tree - sometimes a multi-stemmed shrub - for sun or light shade, consider this species of dogwood. It flowers in summer (June for me), extending the dogwood season. The flowers (really showy bracts as the true flower is the rather inconspicuous yellowish bit in the center) are quite similar to C. florida. The fruit is quite different from flowering dogwood's shiny drupe. It's more like a mulberry in shape, and, I have read, edible but a tad on the pithy side.
Bletilla is the only hardy orchid I grow. Once upon a time, before I knew that they were endangered and seldom throve in gardens, I had a small group of yellow Lady's Slipper and loved them. They didn't return my affection, lasting only four or five years before fading away. But, Bletilla is quite easy to grow in the garden, withstanding even the winters in Utah, according to the Suite's own Orchid Lady, Linda Fortner. Mine grow in a large raised planter receiving sun in the morning and full shade the rest of the day. I've had people tell me they grow theirs in anything from full sun to shade, in rich soil that stays moist and in nearly pure gravel. From what I've read, good drainage seems to be important to these terrestrial orchids. Mine is actually Bletilla striata variegata, sporting a fine white line down the leaf, but otherwise identical to the species. The leaf scan doesn't really do the leaf justice; the color seemed to deaden out in the scan and lose the almost iridescent quality created by the fine green and purple striping in the purple-brown leaf color.
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