Everybody has this plant

Everybody has this plant - it's called "lost the tag". How often have you been to a garden and the host will say, "I'm not sure what this is - I lost the tag." So I'm calling this plant Epimedium 'lost the tag'. Sooner or later, I'll remember or look it up but for now, I like 'lost the tag'.

Epimediums are wonderful little ground cover plants for the shade. The flowers will never blow you away with colour or size but they are dainty and refined.

If you water this plant to get it established, it will slowly colonize even fairly dry shade. It does best of course with a decent woodland soil but it will survive (not thrive) in dry shade. And this makes it worth a few lost tags to be sure.

The foliage goes a nice rusty red in the fall so you're getting several shows - green spring leaves and small flowers. Green ground cover all summer and fall foliage colour on a hardy ground cover plant.

And you know - given that I'm not going to be selling this plant or doing anything other than enjoying it -I really don't give a darn what the name is. I like it just the way it is and I don't have to impress anybody else with the name. (although given I'm a garden writer I should want to remember the names of plants in my garden) :-)

Just this once. Epimedium 'lost that tag'.