Question
Hi, Live in Ft. Worth and love my garden.  How can I get my Lenten rose plants to grow and spread?  About 5 years ago I planted 5 qt size lenten rose plants in a shady area. They have grown very slow to about 2ftx 2ft but have not spread however they bloomed ALOT this spring more ever.  I tried separating one bunch and they just lay down but remain green. This is my favorite evergreen plant that blooms.
2. I have a Fountain pond with perennial 'oro day lillies planted around it for the spring and summer I would like to plant a perennial winter plant there too.  It gets some morning and afternoon sun.

Answer
Hi Kay,
Thanx for your question.  There are several things you can do to enhance a winter look around your pond. You can use yellow or red twig dogwood to bring some color into the pond area as well as ornamental grasses.  They won't be green but they will add interest to your garden.  Wintergreen and cotoneaster are both interesting, low-growing plants that remain green even in the winter.  Mums, asters, scabiosa and yarrow should stay green in the winter but there's not going to be much blooming after frost.  Christmas fern is nice.  Daphne odora will bloom in late January and February.  There's not a lot that blooms in the winter in DFW so look for plants that stay green all year as I showed above, plants that produce berries such as mentioned above, also holly, plants that give an architectural interest such as ornamental grasses, hardy bamboos and the dogwoods I mentioned.  As far as the hellebrores/Lenten or Christmas roses go, here is a cool site dedicated to hellebores that I think you will find interesting and useful.

http://www.hellebores.org/growing/propagating.html

I hope this helps.
Tom