Me too, epimediums and helebore. I just added a couple of fragrant pinks this fall. Lungworts seem to hold up to our winters too.

Annette

I love my Hellebore/Lenten roses this time of year. Some already have buds on them too. I bought some for my daughter this year since she had none and she's worked so hard filling her garden beds the past few years. Lungwort doesn't like it here for some reason; altho' they don't die, they just don't thrive. A few of my hardy geranium seem to be evergreen and the Lychnis coronaria/rose campion remains silver right through the year.

One of the best is Arum Italicum pictum--what the Brits call lords and ladies. Sorry, no picture to post.

One of the best is Arum Italicum pictum--what the Brits call lords and ladies. Sorry, no picture to post.

How is the term perennial defined on this forum? I was curious, so looked it up. I see there are both botanical and popular notions of perennial. The popular usage of the word perrenial seems very fuzzy; botanically, seems a bit more defined. I am new to this forum, so excuse my beginners question. Are hollies, everygreen magnolias, Osmanthus, Aucuba, Nandina, Rosemary, etc. considered perennials? All seem to develop some woody tissue.

Merry Christmas!

P.S., Camellia in bloom for Cristmas. I also like Christmas Rose (I think my Hellebore is sending out a floral bud).

Ha, speak for yourselves, rouge & aftermidnight. :-(
My epimedium is totally brown and crisp. Only Helleborus and some bulb shoots are green.

My true evergreens are Yucca filamentosa, boxwood, yew and conifers. It is too cold for Camelia in Chicago, njoasis. Yours is beautiful.

I have lived in Chicago for so long and have gotten used to bare branches and brown soil in winter. I just came back from Mexico. It was disconcerted for me to come back to this bare landscape after a month in the jungle of the Yucatan.

Autumn ferns (Dryopteris) still look fantastic, they usually look good until tattered by snow.

I have found that Phlox stolonifera is an evergreen ground cover for me. It is buried under snow all winter, but come spring I am always amazed at how green it is.
Phlox s. 'Bruces White' and 'Home Fires' are terrific.

My "Citronelle" coral bells also look fantastic right now - I don't know why, but these don't get all ratty as soon as the other coral bells do in my yard.

I grow Epimedium 'Frohnleiten' and I have a Camellia similar to the one above called 'St Ewe'...which is in flower right now..

..for perennial ground cover I love this one called Lithodora 'Grace Ward'... it seems to flower almost all year and is about 3 foot wide... currently have about 40 little flowers on it...

I agree at being impressed with evergreens especially in cold
snowy weather. I think that, every time I see
my Arum Italicum come to life in winter. It is warm today (50F),
but we had 15F earlier this winter.
It is fun to see popping out of the snow.

For some it seems to be invasive, but I started with 3 plants
in 2003 and here it is today.

I think most folk here use perennial for herbaceous perennial; namely having no persistent living woody parts above ground through winter.

I'm not so sure how the term "evergreen" is being used. Many hellebores really are evergreen, but are spring perennials that are "green-under-the-snow" (e.g. primulas, lungworts, brunnera, some dianthus, etc.) evergreen? Many of these die back some time after they flower in the spring.

I can see why such plants want to catch as much light as possible at the end of the last growing season and at the very beginning of the next.

I don't know how our various summer blooming shastra daisies, which currently have green leaves, could fit into such a pattern.

PS. just read shastra daisies described as "nearly evergreen"!

This post was edited by SunnyBorders on Sat, Dec 27, 14 at 23:53

I remember last epic winter that when the snow finally melted our Chiastophyllum oppositifolium was as green as all get out and today doing a stroll around I see both plants looking quite evergreen.

(PS: I really enjoy this compact well behaved plant with its ease of care and very unique flowers).

A bit shriveled but still green in my garden are: pachysandra, Autumn fern, lamium and sedum ternatum. There may be more but it's too cold to look :) Three degrees here today.

I also have a few proper woody evergreen groundcovers like thyme and vinca.

Rouge-I think that Chiastophyllum oppositifolium is a very fine looking plant.
When I checked it out I saw it listed as zone 5 by some and zone 6 by others
I am in the upper reaches of Zone 5a.
Wondering if anyone in zone 4 is growing this?

I just popped out to have a look: here's a list of a few evergreen herbaceous perennials in my microscopic garden: Dianthus, Geraniums, Penstemons, Cyclamen hederifolium, Primulas, wild strawberries, wallflowers, Meconopsis cambrica, Francoa, Hellebores, various ferns, Japanese Anemones, Epimediums, Irises, Ophiopogon, Liriope, Pulmonarias, Erigerons and a whole lot more. The temperature out there this morning is 54f and it's drizzling. Perfect weather for hardy perennials.

It will get less green in January and February which is when we get our coldest weather but by that time the bulbs and other early flowerers will be starting to cheer us up. Some are starting now....

Love that pic 'flora'.

Peren.all, the Chiastophyllum oppositifolium pictured above had its first winter last year...the year of the too oft said polar vortex. It came through that experience with ease. With you and I in more or less the same hardiness zone I predict you would have no trouble with this plant.

This thread got me thinking, where did I move my little clump of Haberlea rodopensis to? I was redoing a bed behind a little stacked stone fall last summer and moved it. I can uncross my fingers, all is well... so far. Although not planted in the ideal spot it seems to be flourishing.

Another plant I've had for years and still looks exceptionally nice is the clump forming, slow growing Hedera helix 'Erecta'. I pruned it back slightly for the first time last summer.

Annette

Greenhearted listed it, but I was shocked that my lamium plants were still so green in January. Couldn't tell you today since they're buried under a snow bank.

But of all the evergreen perennials or shrubs, nothing in my garden can beat the box shrubs (the tiny compact ones and the larger ones); unlike the rhodos whose leaves shrivel up in the cold, the box are a consistently healthy emerald green and look magnificent after a fresh winter snowfall.

-Dina

Aucuba Japonica is the star of the show here although y sword ferns are pretty impressive year round, too. The bright red berries have just ripened and add a real pop.

Any hint of green is a flag for the curious digging puppy ..I am frankly hoping for a delayed spring this year so I get a chance to inculcate some doggy discipline before the entire lot is chewed, mauled or simply yanked from the soil (one of the perils of nice friable soil instead of glutinous heavy clay). What has managed to avoid being destroyed is generally lying, crushed and snapped- - have decided to ignore the devastation since I found I was shrieking 'No' around 80 times an hour (with rapidly diminishing returns). This may be a year of emergency bedding plants and cheap annuals..

Right now we have a "cold spell", temperatures just below freezing, a powder of snow, and most of the plants keep going.

I picked those Hellebores and ivy today, gratefull to find anything, tomorrow is my aunt's burial, and I wanted to bring flowers but not just any greenhouse stuff or heavily sprayed flowers flown in from Africa or southern America.

She gardened as well, different style, but we could talk plant stuff hours for ages. So, a thanks to all tough winter flowering plants ( and our mild climate...),
Have a nice weekend, bye, Lin

Lin, I'm so sorry for your loss. What a beautiful tribute you have collected for her. I absolutely love it!