Back in 2004, we noticed an odd fern in our spore pots of Dryopteris tokyoensis, so we set it aside for planting in the garden. After several years in the ground, we concluded that it seemed to be a hybrid of the Asian Dryopteris tokyoensis and the North American Dryopteris ludoviciana…something we really didn’t think
Looking fabulous as we head into the heat of summer, is the grey-haired Brazilian sword fern – Pleopeltis lepidopteris ‘Morro dos Conventos’. We introduced this amazing fern in 2018 from a 2012 Yucca Do spore collection from its native range along the sea coasts in Southern Brazil. This evergreen sun lover naturally grows among rocks
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Looking lovely in the dryland garden is the fascinating Wooly Lip Fern, Myriopteris tomentosa. This evergreen North American native, which can be found naturally growing with cactus, has an odd native distribution from Arizona east to Virginia. The foliage emerges a silvery green, that becomes more silver as the new fronds mature. It grows best
Looking great in the worst of winter is the amazing native fern, Pleopeltis michauxiana. This epiphytic fern, which only grows on trees and rocks, can be found in the wild in woodlands from Ohio south to Florida, and west to Oklahoma. We used Liquid Nails construction adhesive to attach a tiny piece to this oak
One of the easiest of the evergreen desert ferns we grow if the North American native, Astrolepis sinuata, better known as wavy cloak fern. This year, we’ve introduced spore grown plants of Astrolepis sinuata ‘Jeff Davis’, from our 2000 spore collection in the West Texas county by the same name. In that desolate region (population
Looking handsome in the winter woodland is Polystichum dracomontanum. While most garden polystichums are either American or Asian in origin, this gem hails from South Africa. The specific epithet “dracomontanum” translates to Dragon Mountain, and in this case indicates that the plant is from the Drakensburg Mountains in South Africa. Although I spent a bit
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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
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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 have long been fans of the Asian ferns in the genus, Woodwardia. Of the eleven species in the genus, five are North American, and the rest are Asian. Our particular infatuation are with the giant, evergreen species, including Woodwardia prolifera, Woodwardia unigemmata, and the hybrid, Woodwardia x izuensis. All of these have huge, tropical
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