Ferns

[Lori S.]

A very odd fern, Trond - very different from those I am used to... what do the individual fronds look like?  Could you post a picture?

[Hoy]

I am now in Oslo but if I find one tomorrow I'll post a picture. Or else you have to wait some weeks!
Maybe Stephen has a picture.

Or you can take a look here while waiting:
http://floragutt.com/Smaaburknefamilien.htm

[Lori S.]

Wow, really  unusual!  Thanks for the link.

[cohan]

Trond, that looks like a very nice one to grow--by its surroundings, seems maybe it would work with Semps, and obviously Sedum 
I'm certainly interested in growing ferns outdoors, though its quite a separate issue from looking for tender (anything less than -40 is tender xerics for indoors...

Tim, maybe I will try begging on SRGC.. There must be easily a dozen or more societies for various sorts of plants I grow and or love, indoors and out, that I already can't afford to join ..nonetheless, I will check to see if BPS is online..lol

[Plummer]

On a garden tour last year, I remarked to the owners that I used ferns like they used Hostas. There were a half dozen species on our lot or in the surrounding woods when we bought it almost 50 years ago. I started out modestly adding to the collection a few ferns at a time planting them around the house foundation and randomly along the paths.  I had access to Polystichum acrostichoides, Osmunda claytonia and Adiantum pedatum. Many of these have been undisturbed for 40 years and form impressive stands. Then several years ago I started collecting ferns in earnest and to accommodate them I cut a new trail through my back woods with Dryopteris along one side and Polystichum and Athyrium  along the other, naming it my Pteridophyte Ptrail.
What are my favorites: Adiantum pedata, A. venustum, Osmunda cinnamonea, O. regalis, Dryopteris marginalis, D. goldiana, Polystichun acrostichoides, P. braunii, Asplenium trichomanes and Diplazium pycnocarpum.

[cohan]

your fernery sounds wonderful, Plummer! We'd love to see photos

[Lis Allison]

..... I will check to see if BPS is online..lol

Yes, they are, but you have to be a member to get spores.

I'd love to see more fern spores in the seed exchange. I'm hoping to send some this year, maybe others will to. Most spores keep very well so it should be feasible.

[RickR]

Just a reminder to whom it may concern,

Special instructions for fern spore donations to the seed exchange:

Fern spores (and other dust-like seed) should be packaged into individual envelopes by the donor. The spores are so small that they are impossible to repackage. Spore packets should be small enough to fit inside the glassines used for distribution, about 1 inch or 2 cm square; folded foil or waxed paper work well.

[Lis Allison]

Just a reminder to whom it may concern,

Special instructions for fern spore donations to the seed exchange.....

Good point, thanks for reminding me!

[McDonough]

Browsing the late summer nursery benches at a large chain Garden Center in our area, I came across this colorful and delicate looking fern, Adiantum hispidulum.  The labels gives the common name as Rosy Australian Maidenhair Fern.  It is also written "Key Benefits - Insignficant flowers" (too funny ).  I was tempted to buy one, but wasn't sure of it's hardiness, even though it is being sold among supposedly hardy perennials for our Zone 5 area, there was no hardiness rating on the label.  

Looking it up, I see that this is a widespread tropical species, rated on a couple sites as Zone 7. Nurseries sometimes pass plants off as hardy when they are clearly not suitable to be grown in the zone being sold in.  Does any one have experience with this pretty fern with rosy frond tips, in terms of its winter hardiness?

[Hoy]

Mark, I have never tried it. However, with a hardiness rating from 7-10 I would have tried it here without hesitation but I'm not sure how it tolerates your climate. It looks very nice and if it is on sale - 

[Geo F-W]

Hi Mark,

I tried it here, in zone 8, and I can tell you that it is a little bit sensitive to the cold. It survives through a large garden protection (temperatures never fall below -12 °C here) but it will never be as beautiful as in a warmer site. It would be better in pot, protected from the cold in winter.
For cons, I think that hardiness depends of the clone you buy, if it comes from an area of ​​low  or high altitude etc..
A friend of mine is interested particularly in contrast to hardiness of plants harvested at different altitudes, he is botanizing in Tasmania at the moment. (for example, he collected seeds from a Schefflera taiwaniana that grew at high altitude and its seedlings have passed -18 ° c, which is far from true of all S.taiwaniana)
However, it is well resistant to a relative drought, as A.venustum.

[McDonough]

Hi Geoffrey, welcome to our forum on this side of the pond 

I saw your registration request and recognized it instantly, glad you made it over to NARGS, hope to see you on the Epimedium pages, the season should be getting into gear in a couple months.

That's very interesting about what you recount about your friend finding high elevation forms of Schefflera, such exercises might prove useful with many plants having both lowland and mountain distributions.  Well, I don't regret not buying Adiantum hispidulum; I don't have a greenhouse, or even much windowsill space.  I have experimented with Zone 6 ferns which didn't survive our winters, so one rated as Zone 7 or 8 would have probably been a lost cause.  I too read that this fern species is relatively drought resistant.

[Geo F-W]

Thank you Mark! Very kind of you.

Well, I'm quite shy but I would try to post as I can, with my average English level!
I would have a lot of selections of Epimediums to show if you're interested, including many hybrids of 'The Giant'.

On ferns, which I love as much as epimediums, I would say you have to experiment, why not if the rates of the plant is not too high? I tried lots of ferns renowned for their sensitivity to cold in zone 8 and I had some pleasant surprises as some Blechnum, Woodwardia, Pteris wallichiana, Hypolepis, Lophosoria etc.

Nevertheless, there are so many beautiful ferns easily acclimatables and with very pretty colors, as Dryopteris labordei, Dryopteris koidzumiana, Dryopteris decipiens, Dryopteris lepidopoda, Cheilanthes tomentosa or lanosa, Adiantum aleuticum 'japonicum' or 'Miss Sharples' etc.. , or with dark scales that produce a very decorative effect as Dryopteris wallichiana which is very close to Dryopteris affinis ssp. affinis, Dryopteris polylepis or some Polystichum.

The world of ferns is so vast.

We had an extraordinary fern's nursery in Europe, created by Martin Rickard, 'World of Ferns', in Devon (UK). They closed in 2011 following the winter of 2010 that caused too much damages. A tragedy...

[RickR]

Nice to see you here as well, Georffrey. 

Welcome!