Re: ferns
Hello Barb,
At this time of the year I would wait until fall to plant ferns... or just about
any other perennial in the open garden. Hottest and dries part of the year is
about upon us and usually stays that way until mid August or September. Anything
of any size is going to have trouble in shipment, then have a struggle trying to
adapt during the hot dry weather. You could be out there every day watering and
still loose some of them to stress. I would wait until the ferns are beginning to
go dormant and them plant this fall. Water in well, mulch and forget until next
spring after they have had time to settle in and come up with ample spring
moisture.
There is an article on fall planting and on ferns under Garden Clippin's
newsletter on my web site if you think that may help.
If you have a creek bank you must plant some big ferns that enjoy the extra
moisture such as the Royal Fern or Cinnamon Fern, or Ostrich fern (which does not
have to have the extra moisture... just does better and gets larger if it does).
Good fast growing ferns for all round use would be the Northern Beech fern or New
York fern. Smaller in size for a ground cover type would be the Bulblit fern.
Sensitive fern forms large patches in good soil with mulch.
Gene Bush Southern Indiana Zone 6a Munchkin Nursery
around the woods - around the world
genebush@otherside.com http://www.munchkinnursery.com
----- Original Message -----
From: James N. Tilton <tilton44@erols.com>
Subject: ferns
> Hi all-
> I want to get a large number of ferns to go in our recently cleared
> woodland area and don't know where to start, beyond the few lady ferns I
> got this spring. Can anyone recommend a good website to learn about
> ferns or recommend specific ferns? Those that grow rapidly will be
> greatly appreciated - the sooner we have something to discourage weeds,
> the better. The area has full sun to dappled and total shade, good soil
> and is moist in areas (there's a stream at the bottom). Also, when is
> the best time to plant ferns?
> I'd also appreciate any inexpensive resources.
> TIA!
> Barb (southeastern PA, zone 6/7)
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