a few weeks ago we hired a plumber to do some work under the house. prior to the work he turned off the water at that main valve at the end of the driveway, about 10 feet from our beloved "hodge podge" area; our biggest shade garden. in order for him to turn off the valve he had to clear all kinds of muck and debris from around the valve. gravel mixed with mud, dead leaves, twigs, and what not... come to find out he tossed several handfuls of this crap over his shoulder directly into our shade garden! he probably didn't realize what he was doing and we didn't realize what had taken place it until a few days later. one of the globs of muck landed directly on our one and only painted fern! not to mention several hostas and bugbanes! crushed our fern into smithereens. we tried to remove as much of the muck as we could while still saving the delicate sprouts. but to no avail... it was hopeless. my question: if we leave our painted fern the way it is will it resprout- none the worse for wear? if not, will it sprout again next spring? or should we cut our losses and simply replace it with a new one?
