Wednesday 14 May 2014

Ferns unfurling

There's a rather scruffy little corner in my garden where I once used to have a compost bin, which I tried to conceal with some ferns.


The compost bin has gone now, but the ferns remain. In fact they self-seed quite readily so the patch of ferns has grown a fair bit. Right now they are just coming into leaf - or should I say "into frond"?




I also have a couple of ferns in pots. One of them is the parent of the ones over by the old compost bin. It's looking a bit mature and "gnarled" now, but it still puts up loads of fresh fronds every year:-




The other one is a plant I bought in March 2011. It is called "Dryopteris Erythrosora". Its dramatic russet-red new fronds are beginning to poke up through the old foliage:


Normally the foliage of this fern dies right back in the Winter, but this past Winter it didn't, presumably because the weather was so mild. Some of the fronds are a bit tatty, but the overall look of the plant is not too bad.


I have got quite keen on ferns. They are very tolerant and undemanding, and provide interest in the garden over a long period of time. There are ferns for every type of site - ones which like moist, cool conditions; ones that like dry shade, and ones that thrive in full sun. I may decide to get some more of them...

7 comments:

  1. We put in a couple of types of ferns too. One is even edible. Fiddleheads are a New England old fashioned spring vegetable. Though I've never had them. Maybe one day I'll try our edible one.

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    1. I have eaten ferns - when on jungle training in my Army days. They were unexciting!

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  2. I do believe you can eat ferns, not sure if all varieties but there is something in The New Revolution book by James Wong, perhaps you have a few delicacies there?

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  3. They're fascinating plants, the way they unfurl their fronds.

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  4. They are a unusual subject along with mosses. They do add something to what would otherwise be a problem area I presume

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  5. The ferns are rather ornamental, and reliable. Great little plants.

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