Re: Hardy ferns

Dear Wendy and all Medit-planters,

Success might depend on what you can get to start with. Ferns that are hardy in my garden and get only an occasional squirt from the hose in our 5 month long hot, dry summer are either native Australian 'hard' ferns, or those exotic ferns which have leathery, shiny leaves. I also have fair success with the deciduous ferns of Europe - so long as their annual growth is completed and hardened off before the really hot weather gets here in mid-December. Naturally all the ferns grow in shade that varies from high overhead 'solid'shade to dappled shade. My favourite best performers are Doodia aspera - the Rasp Fern, Pellea rotundifolia, Rumohra adiantifolia, Dicksonia antarctica, Athyrium felix- femina in as many cvs as I can find in specialist ferneries, Polypodium australe 'Cambricum' - the Welsh Fern, and a half a dozen variants of the Harts Tongue fern, Polypodium scolopendrifolium (or whatever it is currently called by botanists this week). I think it would be worth trying to establish colonies of some of the hardy wall-growing ferns one sees in England and Europe but so far I haven't been able to get hold of any fresh spores. My reason for thinking these might do well is that the Harts Tongues I have are all self sprung sporlings from one original crested plant. The progeny of this plant have produced remarkably varied forms from wavy edged to multi-multi crested stag-horn types - a fascinating diversity.

regards

trevor n
Trevor Nottle
Garden Historian, Garden Writer, Designer, Consultant
WALNUT HILL, 5 Walker Street, Crafers, SA 5152 AUSTRALIA
Tel./ Fax. 61 8 83394210
















































   



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