green mountain maiden hair fern

For those of you who are intrigued by maidenhair ferns, here's an esoteric one for you; Adiantum veridemontanum, the Green Mountain Maiden Hair Fern. It is a natural, fertile, tetraploid hybrid between the western A aleuticum and the eastern A pedatum. It occurs exclusively on exposed serpentine substrate in northern Vermont and nearby southeastern Quebec. The odd thing is that the west coast parent, A aleuticum occurs only on serpentine when it appears on the east coast, in Northern Vermont, SE Quebec, on Mt Albert in the Gaspe Penninsula and on the serpentine tablelands in New Foundland. Both A aleuticum and A veridemontanum grow on nearly pure mineral soil and most often in full sun. I have been growing A veridemontanum from spore with good success. When grown next to other adiantums, this natural cross definitely shows hybrid vigor. I am optimistic about its use in the sunny rock garden and indeed, for the last 4 years, our original plants have performed well in our south facing garden. In the wild, and in the garden the plants brown off in late summer/ early fall. Next year, I plan to experiment with cutting them back as soon as this begins, to see of the plants initiate clean new growth that may carry them through the fall.
regards, Don Avery, Morrisville, Vermont

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