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
After six failures to launch, we’ve finally succeeded in growing one of the most fascinating of our native ferns, Asplenium rhizophyllum (formerly Camptosorous rhizophyllus). Known by the common name of walking fern, the long frond tip of this tiny fern, roots into the organic debris or moss everywhere it touches, forming a new plant. If
Walkin’ Man’s Fern Read More »
The amazing glade fern, Diplaziopsis pycnocarpa has long been one of our favorite native ferns, but it’s a bit of a loner. This fern, whose native range is from Maine to Louisiana, also has a bit of an identity crisis, formerly being known as Homolasorus pycnocarpus, Diplazium pycnocarpon, Athyrium pycnocarpon, and before that, several other
From the Glade to your Shade Read More »
I’ve spent the last 60+ years tromping through woodlands across the Eastern US, from Maine to Florida, and west to Texas, and have looked at more Christmas ferns (Polystichum acrostichoides) than you can imagine. Being a diversity freak, I am always looking for odd forms, which are surprisingly rare for this species. I could count
All I want for Christmas is a new Christmas Fern Read More »
Putting on its version of a flowering show now, is our native rattlesnake fern, Botrypus virginianus. This widespread fern is native to all continental states except New Mexico. Not to be confined to a single country, it’s also native throughout South American, Central Europe, and throughout Asia. The rattlesnake fern has has dimorphic fronds, where
Rattlesnake Ferns in flower Read More »
Emerging beautifully from its winter slumber is the elegant native fern, Dryopteris x australis. The 4′ tall clumps look superb all through the heat of summer. Despite the “down under” sounding specific epithet, “australis” actually means “from the south”, referring to its’ natural range from from Virginia to Arkansas, where it is found in moist
One of the most amazing ferns in our collection is the little-known Chinese Adiantum fimbriatum. Closely allied to the hugely popular Adiantum venustum, the fimbriate maidenhair fern is actually a far better grower in our hot, humid climate, despite coming from elevations from 9,000-12,000′.
We always get excited when the Osmunda regalis fronds begin to unfurl in the bog garden at JLBG. Here are some images from this week, showing the new fronds. The rosy emerging growth is the sterile part of the fern frond, while the green growth at the top is the fertile part, which will produce
Although the native Ostrich fern, Matteuccia struthiopteris ‘The King’, goes winter dormant, the fertile fronds remain upright and attractive all winter. Here, we have it growing among the evergreen Solomon’s Seal, Disporopsis pernyi. This site is quite dry, compared to it’s normal habitat of wet swamps.
Ostrich Feathers in Winter Read More »
