"Lowcountry represents Charleston/ Beaufort/ Summerville/ Hilton Head and surrounding areas. Between the Upcountry and Lowcountry you have the Midlands." That is exactly it, at least in its usage in SC. Why the coastal Georgetown/Myrtle Beach area is not usually called "Low Country" I'm not quite sure, but it usually is not. Myrtle Beach is too new to have an old colonial-era designation but Georgetown is plenty old enough. Big sprawling live oaks are probably the archetypical view of old-time low country.

Here's a few more that I like....... Spring Beauty - Claytonia virginica, C. caroliniana Columbine - Aquilegia canadensis, A. chrysantha, A. vulgaris (Introduced) Twin leaf - Jeffersonia diphylla May Apple - Podophyllum peltatum Atanasco lily - Zephyranthes atamasca Moss phlox - Phlox subulata Lady-slipper Orchids And the Iris..... Iris cristata - Dwarf crested verna - Dwarf violet versicolor - Harlequin blue flag hexagona - Dixie (wish mine would bloom, just once!) pseudacorus - Pale yellow (Introduced, but I still like it!) Rb

What you say about "end(ing) up with something that looks like the surrounding countryside that you didn't do anything to . . .pretty futile" is an interesting comment. I visited a show on the history of land use at the Museum of New Hampshire History on Wed. One of the points made was that the white settlers felt they were within their rights in taking much of the land the Indians (Native Americans)claimed because the Indians had not changed the land enough to make it theirs. Had not cut down the forests, farmed the land, made roads, and so on. Their European ethic was that to "own" the land, you must change it appreciably. Not so different, on a deep level, from what we do today. Planting all natives may feel like we are not changing the land appreciably; it doesn't look enough like we have "done" enough to make it ours.. I remember seeing a slide show several years ago that accompanied a lecture by a developer who had designed suburban cluster homes leaving nearly all of the trees, dividing up the lots and laying out the driveways to maximize privacy and minimize damage to the land. I agreed with the design principles, but the outcome was unsettling; the road through the development looked like a lonely road thru the woods; the houses were dark and in deep shadows as they were surrounded by tall trees, small holes having been cut out of the forest to put the houses down on. It seemed rather gloomy and isolated. I think a great many of us need to see evidence that the land has been changed by our hands in order to feel comfortable aesthetically. I plant natives and encourage others to do so to for many reasons. Also plant and love introduced plants. G.

Not many trees/shrubs have clear bright orange fall color. Sugar maple is one and from my description it definately ain't sugar maple. Not fothergilla either the leaf shape is wrong. Leaf shape looked smallish and narrow oval kind of like a sourwood. If you put a sourwood in miniture made the leaves smaller and gave it bright, clear orange fall color. That is how I would describe it. I assume native because I saw many of them and several locations. Roadside and in the woods. Not planted in peoples yards. Could be wrong. They are off the road so unless I park and walk out into the field so I'm not going to get a close look. The feel of the small tree/shrub is light and airy.