Re: ferns

Well, if you want a rapid grower who will cover ground at a trot, try
the hayscented fern, Dennstaedtia punctilobula....but only if you
have ground to cover that you do not intend to plant with precious
children.

Ferns don't exactly discourage weeds, although when mature, they will
shade the ground around them which does inhibit weed seedlings from
sprouting.  Hayscented is a running fern, but most are clump formers.
 For moist spots, the ostrich fern, Matteuccia struthiopteris
pensylvanica would be good.  They will also travel and fill in an
area, the moister the better, tho' mine have survived for many years
in what is a rather dry border - they just never get as tall as they
might and often go dormant early when it gets too dry.  Another
moisture lover and a gorgeous plant is the royal fern, Osmunda
regalis.  It is a clump former, but gets, for me, nearly five feet
tall and then arches out, so it shades a lot of ground.

Tough as old boots and reliable is the christmas fern, Polystichum
acrostichoides, who will spore around in moist soil and shade to form
colonies over time, and tolerate and grow in dry shade and even some
sun.  It's great for covering north facing banks in moist
soil...evergreen and a mature clump will be two or three feet in
diameter.

There are two excellent mailorder sources devoted to ferns, both with
web sites:

One, Foliage Gardens, I featured this spring on my online nursery
2000 series:

http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/222/33943 is the article, with
links to the site.  Article tells you about them and has photos and
descriptions of several ferns on my lust list.

The other, Fancy Fronds, has finally come on line this spring and has
a lot of great photos up.  Judith Jones, whose nursery this is, is
very highly regarded in the fern world.

http://fancyfronds.com/

You can learn a great deal on both of the web sites and be confident
in ordering plants from either of them.

And, of course, our own Gene Bush also lists and describes quite a
number of ferns on his Munchkin Nursery Site:

http://www.munchkinnursery.com

Shade gardens can't have too many ferns, IMO, but you do need to
plant some contrasting plants like Hosta or something with a totally
different leaf form, so the lacy fern foliage isn't lost in the
shuffle.  Tricyrtis (toad lily) are good with ferns as they like the
same conditions and have different foliage.  Arisaema (jack in the
pulpit) and Arum are great with ferns - natural companions with
nicely contrasting foliage shapes.  Rodgersia would be good in your
moist shady to dappled shade spots and will spread to form a nice big
colony in time...plus they have huge leaves and shade the ground
under them so nothing else will grow.  Hellebores would also be good
and take quite a bit of shade, plus give you flowers in late winter /
early spring - many are evergreen.  If you try H. foetidus, you will
find lots of seedlings to spread around and can make a huge colony in
a few years.  My deer have never eaten my Rodgersia, Arum, Arisaema
or Hellebores tho' they have hit the Tricyrtis and of course love
Hosta, so if you have deer, keep this in mind.  Have never found them
to even sample a fern.  Have read that they will eat Arisaema in some
locals, however.

There are some ferns that prefer sun, but most want dappled shade to
quite a bit of shade.  Both the ostrich and royal ferns will take sun
if the soil is very moist, as in boggy.  Most ferns want good
drainage with lots of organic material in the soil and soil that
doesn't dry out, although some, like the christmas fern, will
tolerate clay and drought once established.  

There are some ferns who prefer gritty alkaline soil, but most are
woodland creatures and like acid, humus rich soil.

If you find you really want to get into ferns, there is a mailing
list devoted to them....fernet.  Lots of nice people who know a lot
about ferns tho' traffic is often light.  But, every time I've asked
a question, I've had many good responses.

If you want to subscribe send a message with the following in the
body:

subscribe fernet first_name last_name

to the address:

     macjordomo@koning.ecsu.ctstateu.edu


Marge Talt, zone 7 Maryland
mtalt@clark.net
Editor:  Gardening in Shade
-----------------------------------------------
Current Article: Deciduous Flowering Shrubs - Part 3
http://www.suite101.com/welcome.cfm/222
------------------------------------------------
Complete Index of Articles by Category and Date
http://mtalt.hort.net/article-index.html
------------------------------------------------
All Suite101.com garden topics :
http://www.suite101.com/category.cfm/gardening

----------
> From: James N. Tilton <tilton44@erols.com>
> Date: Friday, July 21, 2000 9:36 AM
> 
> 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)

---------------------------------------------------------------------
To sign-off this list, send email to majordomo@mallorn.com with the
message text UNSUBSCRIBE PERENNIALS
Other Mailing lists | Author Index | Date Index | Subject Index | Thread Index