Juniper Level Botanic Garden has an extensive hardy fern collection, and looking quite amazing for mid-January is Adiantum poiretii ‘Argentine Lace’. This maidenhair fern was grown from our 2002 Argentine spore collection of a little-known and rarely-grown species, native to South America, South Africa, and the Arabian peninsula. It has thrived for us at JLBG since 2003. The dainty foliage is held atop shiny black stems that are several inches taller than the circumboreal Adiantum capillus-veneris. It will eventually become deciduous, but so far, night temperatures of 25 degrees F haven’t caused it to die back.
With next week’s arctic blast, curious if the leaves will hold. Please post an update.
And has this been hybridized with other maiden fair ferns?
It will eventually go deciduous when we get colder. We have not tackled any adiantum breeding yet.