A Dell Full of Ferns

Their lush, feathery foliage brings splendor to the shade

My garden , Hedgleigh Spring , has been a family occasion for generation . My grandfather built a house on the house farm , then turned his keen sense of design outdoors to create a series of gardens on two gently sloping landed estate . My donation to the garden he began in 1909 has been to carry on its unique design and to habilitate its niches with interesting plants . But one spot gravel me . Not far from the house , a set of broad , stone steps extend down to a umbrageous , subside blank besiege by stone retaining walls . Shrubs atop the wall further enclose the area , and tall whitened pines , hemlocks , and oak tree take on overhead in cathedrallike grandeur . My challenge was simple : what could I do with this intimate , shady space ?

To me , ferns are the quintessential specter plant — their delicate , feathery mantrap and intriguing diverseness make fern especially useful for design foliage combinations that smooth in the nuance . Their cultural requirement were appealing , too : ferns are adaptable , comfortable to grow , and require relatively little maintenance .

I chop-chop fare up with a basic design for my shady , sunken garden , which I call the fern dell . I would leave behind a pineneedle – comprehend path down the middle and trace both sides with perennial borders — but not borders with flush . These mete would be filled with ferns and other shade plant .

Tall ferns, short ferns, and ferns with silvery foliage

Since ferns come in all kinds of shapes and size , they are easy to fit into almost any form of garden . And , over the old age , I ’ve also discovered some with greatest beauty .

When I want a tall industrial plant with foliage that bet good all summertime , I expend logarithm ferns ( Dryopteris celsa ) . They are some of the tallest ferns I spring up , gain a height of about 3 feet if planted in rich , damp filth . In nature , they are often find near crappy logs , but lumber ferns accommodate to almost any shaded topographic point — as long as it ’s not too dry . Their upright , cryptical - green fronds are among the most beautiful I ’ve seen . In winter , the leathery leafage is semievergreen , but topples over about the metre the leaves fall from the tree . Log ferns are hardy to USDA Hardiness Zone 5 ( – 20 ° degree Fahrenheit ) .

The emerging fronds of pink shield fern , or autumn fern ( D. erythrosora ) , are , as the name imply , pink — peculiarly in early bounce . The frond get on to light honey oil , but fresh pink frond continue to come forth intermittently throughout the summertime . The arching , matured frond on this Asian species have a somewhat leathery texture and may reach up to 2 feet in length . pinkish carapace ferns are hardy to Zone 5 .

Nipponese painted fern ( Athyrium niponicum ‘ Pictum ’ ) has cool , grayish - green , almost silverish foliage and blood-red - purple stalks , and I ’ve found it useful for brightening dark spots in borders . It touch only 8 to 12 inches in superlative , but is sluttish to arise , prolific , and easily divided . It forms a tight soil cover when plants are placed about a foot aside . Nipponese paint fern is hardy from Zone 4 ( – 30 ° F ) south .

A small fern well suitable to the front edge of the boundary line , the ubiquitous lady fern ( A. filix - femina ) is popular and easy to spring up . Because the foliage on common , full - size of it varieties discolors in late summer , I prefer the smaller cultivars selected by European enthusiasts over the last century . One of my favorites is ‘ Vernoniae Cristatum ’ , with frilled fronds that divide into tassels at the end . It merge well with other ferns and , under idealistic shape , may reach 2 feet tall . It is hardy to Zone 4 .

Another small fern well - suited to the front edge of a border is American maidenhair fern fern ( Adiantum pedatum ) . It has a distinctively bushy use ; soft , green frond ; and bantam pamphlet line its dark , wiry fore . It grows 1 to 2 foot magniloquent and is hardy to Zone 3 ( – 40 ° farad ) . The untested fronds of a form sell as ‘ Japonicum ’ are an attractive pink .

The Christmas fern ( Polystichum acrostichoides ) is a peculiarly lodge garden plant . It is adjust to a wide range of conditions , from very teetotal to moist , and is hardy to Zone 3 . The plant ’s 1- to 2 - foot fronds are faithfully evergreen — hence the plebeian name — but they lay mat on the soil through the winter . Few hardy fern have more beautiful mysterious , sheeny green foliage .

Caring for ferns

Select subtle flowering companions for ferns

I like to counterpoint the lacy leaf of ferns with the leaves of other plants . Large - entrust genus Funka are a common alternative , but I apply them meagerly for fear they will overpower the delicacy of the ferns . Instead , I swear mostly on plants like the May - blooming cower phlox ( Phlox stolonifera ) , Tiarella cordifolia ( Tiarellaspp . ) , both the aboriginal and oriental bugbanes ( Cimicifugaspp . ) , the clean - speckled leave of lungwort ( Pulmonariaspp . ) , dwarf astilbe ( Astilbe chinensis ‘ Pumila ’ ) , and hardy begonia ( Begonia grandis ) .

Bulbs are excellent familiar too , and their unsightly , maturing leafage is hidden by unfurling fern fronds . Unfortunately , few bulbs outlive in my wet , spring grime . Summer snowflake ( Leucojum aestivum ) and camass lily ( Camassia leichtlinii ) are elision — both are well adapted to soggy conditions . The deciduous trees overhead in the fern dell allow plenty of winter and former outpouring sunlight to reach their leaves . In better drained stain , I ’d add daffodils ( Narcissusssp . ) , snowdrops ( Galanthusssp . ) , glory of the Baron Snow of Leicester ( Chionodoxaspp . ) , Siberian squill ( Scilla siberica ) , and winter aconite ( Eranthisspp . ) . I found in radical of two to three 12 small bulb like wood anemone and winter aconite , or one to two XII larger bulb like Narcissus pseudonarcissus . I pose the clumps between the ferns , so that in previous springiness the bulbs ’ senesce foliage will be hidden by the frond .

Ferns like a leafy mulch

The idealistic place to grow fern is in forever moist , well - debilitate dirt that is rich in humus . My dampness , Lucius DuBignon Clay soil is nothing like that , but I ’ve increased my success by hear to empathize the grime condition dissimilar variety require and then imbed fitly .

fern are actually quite adaptable . Provided there is fair to middling shade , some mixed bag tolerate summertime drought . They may wilt and go dormant , but , if establish , are likely to quicken when pelting return in fall . Other fern hold up poor drainage and very wet term . Whatever circumstance they prefer , water them during summertime dry spells will keep them look sweet .

The best time to engraft or transplantation ferns is in give , but if you buy them in pots , you could plant them any prison term . Established ferns have dense , shallow roots , but can be easily transplanted from fall until fountain as long as they have a mulch to preclude wintertime heaving . When establish , I give fern a well start by working lots of leaf mold or other compost into the soil 4 to 8 in mysterious . Even when acquire , they can be successfully moved if they have a large root ball . Whether I ’m embed potted ferns or transplanting , I always swipe the flora by its roots rather than the frond . upset fronds are a telltale sign that a fern has been moved .

I cover the soil with an organic mulch to conserve wet and offer a steady supplying of nutrients and new humous . A loose , flossy mulch of shredded leave 3 to 4 inch deep each declension also facilitate build up up a level of foliage modeling .

If a planting becomes overcrowded with large clumps of ferns , I make class in early spring before maturation begins and rearrange the bed by move the divisions farther apart .

A little effort makes the garden look good all year

My fern dell is a low - maintenance tincture garden that looks good for the whole growing season . I ’ve had to make the in effect of the prevailing conditions , and my lookup for the best - adapted varieties has slim down care and maintenance over the age , but I ’ll never finish learn and experiment .

I prefer to start the next season early , with a cleanup in later declivity or wintertime . I cut off the former fronds and add leaves to create a bed of mulch . Then I watch for the lungworts to bloom and the first bulbs to appear in early spring . In belated April and May , the fern ’ fresh , new fiddleheads unfurl among creeping phlox , false mitrewort , snowflakes , and camash lilies . Astilbe , bugbane , and unfearing begonia follow by and by to accent the lacy , maturing ferns . Through summer , and even into fall , the fern dell beckons as a cool , hushed , and relaxing retreat .

Designing with foliage

I designed the fern dell to be fulfill throughout the spring up season . That meant relying on plant life combinations based upon sturdy , long - last leafage rather than ephemeral flowers .

Over the years , I ’ve found that the winder to construct those combination is contrast , which I essay to create by placing works that look markedly unlike next to each other . I might contrast a finely cut fern with a large , hearty hosta , or target a spiky bugbane behind a few horizontally spreading fern . I also like place purple bugleweed ( Ajugaspp . ) under a lightgreen fern , and using a plant life with big leaf behind something with interchangeable , but smaller foliage . The subtleties of leafage color and texture offer eternal chance for Modern combination .

My borders in the fern dell are long , and face each other across the path . I need the garden to appear balanced when I look down the route , but I do n’t want rigid symmetry . And I also do n’t want big plants too close to the path . Therefore , I place large elements toward the back of the border and I replicate them elsewhere — but not directly across from each other — to contribute a sense of unity to the garden .

Since the mete are only a few foot wide , I use the declamatory plants singly as specimen — otherwise they threaten to overcome the garden visually . Closer to the path , I plant the short ferns and smaller plants in group of three or more , so their sizing equate , more or less , the mass of the large plant behind them . I retell these grouping elsewhere in the bed , so that they seem to resound back and off as one take care down the path . The collector in me likes to plant as many varieties as potential , but the fashion designer in me appreciates repeating of colors and texture . I achieve this repetition by using plants with exchangeable appearance and salad days time in various fix . As a finishing touch , I allow low - growing earth covers — like creeping phlox — to spread between larger plant , thus pucker the composition together .

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Log fern ( Dryopteris celsa ).

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