Ferns

This post is about ferns, simply because I like taking photos of ferns! There is something about their very regularity that appeals to my sense of order (OCD?).

I don't know much about Ferns - just that there are hundreds of different types, so there is bound to be one suitable for just about every different type of soil. I have a clump of Ferns that seems to be enjoying my dry sandy ("free-draining") soil. It's certainly expanding quite rapidly.

The fronds of lots of varieties of fern are edible. I wonder if these ones are?

These Ferns of mine are all descended from a volunteer that just appeared in my garden a few years ago. I'm glad it did.

In my ignorance, I used to think that ferns only grew well in damp shady conditions (e.g. forests), but I now know that is not true, and many types of fern love dry, sunny conditions. My self-seeded ferns are growing in what is probably the least "attractive" part of my garden - a place which seldom gets either sun or rain, but they seem to be quite happy.

Other than these self-seeded ferns, I do have one other that I actually bought. It is called "Dryopteris Erythrosora". It is a very handsome fern when it gets going, but this year it is (like most plants) way behind its normal schedule. By this time last year it was full of foliage, but this is what it looks like now - just a few tiny fronds:

Hopefully, in a few weeks time I will be able to show you this same plant exhibiting a mass of beautiful golden leaves...