O Henry was a famous American writer of the late 1880's (Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O._Henry) known for his short stories, "The Last Leaf" being one of them.
The story revolves around a young lady who was unwell and had her mind set on this wrong notion that as the last leaf of the ivy vine growing on the fence of her house (that she could see from the window, laying on her bed) would fall in autumn, her life would come to an end. An old painter used to rent the basement of the same house. He came to know of this silly association of the lady's well-being to the 'last leaf'. On a cold, rainy night went out there and drew an ivy leaf (the last leaf) on the fence as if it were part of the ivy vine. Finding the leaf never fell, this lady got inspired, got better with time and one day ventured out into her yard for a walk, only to find that the ivy leaf was a fake drawing. Soon she realized, went down to ask about the old painter. The chambermaid of the house informed that the old painter was found frozen to death the next morning of the night he was out painting his 'masterpiece'.
This decorative plant, with all fallen maple leaves around, standing proudly green out there in the cold, reminds me of this short story!
