The Blechnum spicant sounds like it is worth trying here, especially for the prolonged greenery. I knew that the sensitive fern would die back when the frost came, but I didn’t know it would succumb when it was only sweater weather. I don’t think I’d plant more than one in such a short growing season, since it was gone at the very beginning of September.

Thanks for the information on other perennials that keep their leaves. As the dried leaves are being blown away by the strong winds today, I appreciate the ones that have hung around even more.

As usual, your wonderful pictures outshine what I can see in my garden and make me wish I were less of a plant collector and more of a gardener. In any case, after reading your post this morning (I was in Winnipeg most of the last week – they got caught by the deep freeze too), I wandered around in the cold drizzle and 60 km gusts to see what bits of cheer were still on offer. As you note the Campanula and Heuchera are still looking good, including the very modest Heuchera sanguinea that I put in this last spring. The Pulmonaria saccharata ‘Roy Davidson’ looks a little limp, but still entertaining, and is densely surrounded by still green forget-me-nots and green-turing-red bunchberry. My Helleborus ‘Red Lady’ would be a tawdry escort for your Ivory Prince, but this was its first summer: maybe next year it will put on a better show.

Only one fern is left, the semi-evergreen deer fern (Blechnum spicant), which has prospered since 2004 and usually has a few fronds still alive after the snow melts (although these died back this last nasty spring). This is a West Coast species (California to Alaska – but inland to Idaho) and supposedly only hardy to Zone 5. Could be a lucky microclimate – the nearby cowslips are still green – but I’ve lost a few hardier plants from this bed. The Hepatica nobilis still looks good – a mound of light green liver-lobed leaves. The Pink Panda (Fragaria ‘Frel’) run here and there, pleasant even without the flowers. Nepal Cinquefoil (Potentilla fulgens) still has ladders of silvery green pinnately compound leaves. The Bergenia cordifolia ‘Winterglut’ are a spectacular mix of red, green, and red-green leaves (the species bergenia, however, look ragged) and the Wintergreen (Pyrola asarifolia) are living up to their name.

The Garden Ms. S mentions her thymes are doing well and to me one surprise of this morning’s ramble was how may herbs are looking more than presentable. The only thyme I’ve ever had any success overwintering, Thymus x citrodorus ‘Aureus’, is almost always attractive. More or less evergreen, usually more red than golden-green in the spring, and always with a strong lemon-thyme scent. This Zone 4 woody subshrub usually looks marginal in the spring, but has survived since 2006. At the moment, the rosemarie, garden sage, parsley, tarragon, and hyssop all add a range of green shades and forms to the mostly buggered potager garden. I suppose I should take advantage of them and the last of the garden veggies and start cooking.

PS – My Geranium macrorrhizum can be more or less semi-evergreen, at least in a sheltered location along the west wall of the house (where it is – believe it or not – shading out and out-competing lily-of-the-valley). In exposed areas it looks pretty sad even now, but for most of the year it is an attractive groundcover and effective weed suppressor.

My Vinca minor ‘Alba’, the Heuchera ‘Plum Royale’ and assorted thymes, particularly the Woolly thyme, all came through most impressively. My Adiantum pedatum hung in there for days before finally succumbing – much longer than the Athyrium Otophorum. As this is my first year with these plants it will be interesting to see how they get through the winter. I am always hopeful :)

Rebecca, most of the ferns gave up, and of course the iris collapse early too, so I’m glad that there are some hardy perennials to keep the green flag flying. Most of my dwarf bellflowers have kept the odd flower, with the C. poscharskyana and C. rotundifolia having the most. It wouldn’t be considered a splashy show in the summer, but after the prolonged cold, even a few are very cheery.

Anna, the Pulmonaria ‘Samourai’ really stand out in the garden. They reflect a lot of light, so they are easily seen from across the garden, or when viewed from a window. I like them a bit better than my P. ‘Majeste’, since the leaves are longer.

Joanne, I have been adding more perennials over the last few years that keep some green, since I don’t like to see the garden disappear so quickly in fall. Without these, the garden season seems even shorter. Plus in spring, I eagerly look for the semi-evergreen leaves as the snow melts, which is usually in April here.