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 possible. Despite our skepticism, we christened it, Dryopteris x tokiana ‘Fusion’.
Several years ago, we hosted fern guru Judith Jones, who, while wandering around the garden, saw our plant and exclaimed, “This looks like a hybrid between Dryopteris tokyoensis and Dryopteris ludoviciana“…just the confirmation we were looking for. We subsequently divided our single clump, and replanted it into two large rows, which have filled in nicely, as you can see in the image below. The hybrid has incredible vigor, forming a dense 3′ tall x 4′ wide, superbly evergreen clump. We’re finally ready to chop the clumps for sharing, since we’ve confirmed that it’s quite sterile, so spores aren’t an option. If all goes well, you’ll see this gem in an upcoming Plant Delights catalog.
Presumably supposed to be “Tokyo Fusion”
correct