Winter is the time when all the evergreen ferns shine, and there are few fern genera that look better in winter than the holly ferns. A favorite that’s rarely offered is the spear-leaf holly fern, Cyrtomium lonchitoides, which hails from Japan, China, and Vietnam. This has the smallest pinnae of the hardy holly ferns, which
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Cyrtomium falcatum ssp. littorale is a dwarf, cold hardy, rock garden-sized form of the common holly fern. Our oldest specimens of this evergreen gem, have topped out at 8″ tall x 15″ wide. While it grows fine in regular soil, it also thrives in rock crevices, where it tolerates several hours of full sun. It’s
A Festive Little Holly Fern Read More »
In 2014, we spotted a unique holly fern sporeling in the garden, which appeared to be a hybrid of Cyrtomium falcatum ‘Butterfieldii’, and the typical species. After watching it for several years, we christened it Cyrtomium ‘One Off’, and introduced it in 2023. In form, it’s much more compact than both parents, and has continued
We’re always excited when a new fern finds our garden to it’s liking, and such is the case with Cyrtomium tsinglingense ‘Li Ping’, which is now heading into it’s fifth year in the ground. This previously uncultivated species of holly fern is from a Mark Weathington collection in Shaanxi, China.
Sing-a-long Holly Fern Read More »
Most people wander through life so fast, they miss many of the small joys, like appreciating the diversity of fern spore patterns. As you can see in the photos below, each genus of fern has its own unique spore arrangement, which are used by taxonomists to determine who is related to who. Some spores form
Preceding Pre-seeding Read More »
Fern spores are notoriously tiny, which is how these plants easily spread worldwide. Some fern species are now circumpolar in their distribution as ferns continue their conquest to colonize the entire world. In our garden, we occasionally find new ferns growing thanks to a stray spore. Most of these, we remove, but occasionally one lands
Looking great in the JLBG gardens is the amazing Cyrtomium fortunei ‘China Ruffles’. This superb spore strain is from an original introduction by Michigan plantsman, Hans Hansen, who made the spore collection in 2003 in Sichuan, China. Hardiness is Zone 6-9.
We always love it when unexpected garden hookups yield unexpected results, and such was the case recently when, under the cover of darkness, two of our holly ferns took a liking to each other. The result of this conjugal interlude is our first hybrid of Cyrtomium fortunei x Cyrtomium falcatum, that we’ve named Cyrtomium x
Cyrtomium macrophyllum is looking particularly fabulous this year. This is a little-grown holly fern with a wide range from India to Southeastern China that can be found at elevations from 2,500-8,000′. The bold textured fronds arch outward to make a 2′ tall x 2′ wide clump that is semi-evergreen in most winters. It seems as
Holy Giant Holly Fern Read More »
We live in an age where many plastic products are vilified, but every now and then, we find a reason to embrace the texture of plastic. Such was the case in 2008, when we visited The Missouri Botanic Garden. Walking through one of their greenhouse, I spotted an odd holly fern, planted in the middle
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