Cast Iron Plants (Aspidistra elatior) are a Japanese native. They are extremely tough and well named. They are also ridiculously easy to grow, really well. Yes, really easy to grow! They do well with neglect, don’t need much water, they have a broad climatic range, do brilliantly indoors too and can be propagated simply by division. When the ‘gardeners’ (surely not) went out to find plants for this location, there must have been a glut of Aspidistras, they must have been giving them away that day. It’s the only reason I can think of as to why they were taken to their new home and then planted in the hard, hard, Western Sydney, western sun with a sun reflecting wall directly behind them. How many more times can I say ‘hard’ and ‘sun’? I could cry, because it’s not very complicated, Aspidistra elatior are shade lovers, at most part-sun, or preferably dappled light. Choosing a plant that thrives in a shady position can be difficult, choosing a plant that likes the sun less so, there are heaps of them, a glut even. My daughter sometimes tells me “it’s opposite day” and I can only think it must have been on the day they were deciding what to plant here.