Welcome to Fern Gully!

For years ferns would come up all over like weeds and I'd painstakingly pull them up one at a time, nonstop. Then a few years ago I visited Lakewold, an historic estate with a huge garden that offered public tours. They LABELED their ferns! They treated them like royal, native plants deserving of honor and display not like nuisance weeds.

This got me thinking. Why am I going to all the trouble of pulling up ferns like they are weeds when I've been spending way too much money trying to get plants to grow under my trees? Ferns are low maintenance. Bugs and slugs don't eat them. They are perennials so I don't have to buy new plants every year. And they take over a space which keeps the real weeds controlled. What is not to love? So I decided I would intentionally grow ferns by purposefully transplanting each and every rogue fern baby.

I started with one little circular fern garden and called it Fern Gully. Every year I've added a garden of ferns somewhere to fill in holes, usually at the fence lines where there is little sun and lots of moss. They like damp and mossy environments and that's what we have here in Rathole. Here is what used to be Peter's Dr. Seuss landscape after all the grass died and so did Peter:

 

I started the Fern Gully at the side of the house when Peter was still hopping about. He use to make trails through the ferns. No more little bunny trails. It's a full-fledged jungle now!

 

 

Fern Gully at front yard fence line:

 



The newest project: the back yard. One fern at a time!

 

 

What I've been doing is also transplanting the cyclamen with the ferns. This is another plant that comes up everywhere, especially in places you don't want it.

 

 

Cyclamen die in the summer heat and bloom after the first fall rain. They have beautiful leaves and pretty pink flowers.

 

The ferns all die back in the winter and come back every spring. This way I have something green in the space year round so it doesn't look so bare. Low maintenance gardening is my goal!

Currently I'm attempting to identify what kinds of ferns I have. This is not easy because there are so many different kinds. All this time I thought a fern was just a fern! I think I've figured it out. If any of you know ferns, let me know if I'm wrong. These are LADY FERNS:

These are WESTERN SWORD FERNS:

And this one I discovered today!!!! It's very different, beautiful smooth, thick leaves and the new-growth leaves look like fringe. I think it's a LICORICE FERN, but I'm not sure. I am not willing to dig up the root to see if it tastes like licorice. UPDATE: IT'S A DEER FERN!!!! Not a licorice fern. WHOO HOO!

A closer view of the base leaves:

This is fun. I feel the desire to become a fern expert. I do need to take them in and get them truly identified so I don't have to guess.