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Ferns

Click here to see photos of ferns in our garden

The fern craze
Another species of plant generally associated with moist, shady places is the fern. Interest in ferns reached fever pitch from the 1850’s up to the early 1900’s when incredible numbers of variants in species were identified and propagated. A significant number of these were subsequently lost when the interest in ferns subsided. In those early days, many larger gardens boasted a “fernery”.

Native ferns
Alhough we don't have a fernery as such, we are gathering a collection of ferns. It will immediately be apparent to any visitor that our ground in the woods and in the Millennium garden is suited to ferns.
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Osmunda regalis

In fact, Broad Buckler fern (Dryopteris dilatata) almost reaches weed status as its spores germinate freely. The royal fern (Osmunda regalis) is our largest native fern and several clumps existed when we came here ane they continue to appear spontaneously throughout the woods. We planted Osmunda regalis purpurescens which has purple juvenile stems, as a variant of this species.

Most of the ferns other than the common Male fern and the more delicate Lady fern (Athyrium filix-femina) are labelled. The Lady fern is spreading notably along the banks of the ditch that separates our property from that of the Geldersch Landschap on the western boundary of the wood. It is readily identifiable by its lighter green and more finely structure fronds.

Dryopteris felix-mas linearis polydactylia	Polystichum setiferum plumoso densum

                                                                        

Many varieties

Appreciating ferns requires a bit of patience and ideally a magnifying glass to appreciate the variations in the frond structures. In general terms we haven’t set out to plant ferns as in a botanical garden but concentrations are to be found in various locations in the gardens. For example, I have grouped various Polystichum setiferum variants in close proximity so they are relatively easy to compare with each other, - or not in some cases!

One of the prettiest varieties is the Athyrium nipponicum metallicum, which as its name suggests comes from Japan and has a metalic leaf colouration

Athyrium nipponicum metallicum

Tender ferns

Dicksonia antarctica

When only two people are looking after a large garden, every plant which is put into a pot represents a small but collectively extra burden in terms of the daily attention required etc. Accordingly, we don’t have hanging baskets and you won’t find many annuals in our borders. However, pots of plants, which need greenhouse protection in winter, are distributed around the house and these include some spectacular but tender ferns.

Osmunda claytoniania

On the northern side of the house by our front door are two Dicksonia antartica tree ferns. These are frost tolerant but they do need special protection to avoid rotting in the crowns in the winter months so it is easiest to put them under cover.

Coming around the south side of the house, you will find a lovely specimen of Blechnum tabulare – or is it Blechnum chilense? It is probably the latter and time will confirm this if it starts to form a small trunk on its older parts. It started life as far as I am concerned as a matchbox-sized plant which was clearly trodden upon in the famous Dereen woodland garden in the south of Ireland and it looked “interesting” to my eye. Also in this area you will find Woodwardia unigemmata from the Himalayas – I found this as a tiny plant in Spinner’s Garden near Bournemouth (UK) in 2003. Both the blechnum and woodwardia are candidates for planting in a protected position in the woods with winter protection, but I won’t chance this until I have propagated from them.

Additional Information

I am more than aware that this brief summary hardly does justice to the ferns and we will expand it in the future. However, for the "Internet" gardener, a comprehansive series of links to fern topics and international nurseries is given on the excellent website for "My Garden". Please enjoy the whole of the site (www.mygarden.me.uk) before clicking through to fern links. See also http://hardyfernlibrary.com/ferns/home.cfm

A "must visit" nursery in the UK is Rickards Hardy Ferns now run by Dick Haywood in Sling in N. Wales and only 10minutes from Crûg Farm. A long promised website, although still short of its intended final picture content, has finally appeared under www.rickardshardyferns.co.uk . Then if you want to read the details, Martin Rickard himself is present in the form of two books: 

Finally just a note to say that we do not get any commission for this hero worship either!