If, for a very long time, gardeners were mainly interested in flowering plants, today, foliage has become an important element in their selection criteria. This is fortunate for ferns, which are among the plants with the most decorative foliage.
Ferns are multiple
There are many ferns that grow naturally in our forests, but there are other perennial species that are also well adapted to our climate.
There are many varieties of ferns. If Gino VANDEKINDEREN cultivates about fifty of them that can be installed outside, there are also many non-hardy species that can be used inside our houses.
Among the rustic ferns to be placed in the gardens, there are very small subjects, such as the Dryopteris affinis fern 'Crispa Congesta' which is a persistent fern that does not exceed 10 cm high, and ferns that can exceed 1 meter high, such as, for example, Osmunda regalis, the Royal Osmunda, which reaches 1.30 meters high.
Which soil for the ferns?
While ferns of the genera Osmunda and Athyrium need a lot of moisture, this is not the case for all ferns. Dryopteris are ferns that make do with normal soil.
All of them, however, need a shady exposure.
Deciduous or evergreen foliage?
There are evergreens and deciduous ferns. Osmunda regalis is a deciduous fern, which loses its leaves in winter and starts again in spring.
Dryopteris affinis 'Crispa Congesta' is an evergreen fern that should not, in principle, be pruned. However, if the winter is very harsh, with snow and a lot of frost, the foliage may be damaged. In this case, cut back the foliage in the spring. New shoots will replace it.
Favourite
- Polystichum polyblepharum, an evergreen fern with very shiny foliage, 40 cm high, very easy to grow and withstands drought very well.
- Dryopteris 'Linearis polydactyla', a fern with very cut and fine foliage, which is one of the rare fern to withstand full sun. It grows up to 80 cm high.
