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Ferns For The Waterside |
 The range of hardy ferns is much wider than is often
realised. They will grow under greatly varying conditions, and some are quite happy on open land. Very many
prefer dappled shade and some of our most beautiful ferns are
found in the swamps or on the margins of streams that flow
through woodlands where there is plenty of leaf mould.
Provided they have an abundant supply of moisture at the
roots the following species and varieties can be recommended
for successful cultivation beside ponds, lakes and streams.
Very often they will flourish where little else will grow, while
there are some which can be planted in the water so long as
their crowns remain above the surface.
Adiantum pedatum is the hardy Maidenhair Fern. Of handsome appearance, it originates from North America and parts
of Asia. It has shiny black stems up to two feet high, with
delicate soft green fronds. Preferring a rather sheltered posi-
tion, it thrives where there is an abundance of leaf mould and
peat. There is a taller variety known as 'Klondyke' of which
the foliage is of a pretty lacy texture.
Asplenium thelypteroides with graceful green fronds grows
about two and a half feet high and seems particularly at home
in a spongy, peaty soil.
Athyrium filixfemina, the Lady Fern, is one of the prettiest
of our native ferns. Growing at lease three feet high it has
finely-cut, bright green dainty fronds. It likes a shady moist
position. There are various forms of the Lady Fern, some
with extra finely-cut fronds, others being crested or having
conspicuously coloured midribs.
Blechnum penna marina is often listed as Lomaria alpina
and forms close-growing carpets of evergreen foliage, the
fronds growing up to six inches high and being of erect habit
and rather bristly.
B. spicant is the Hard or Deer Fern and most useful for
damp shady positions where the soil has a high humus content,
although it dislikes lime. The evergreen fronds vary from
fifteen inches to three feet in height, the female or seed
producing ones being taller, while the sterile fronds are of a
low spreading habit.
Cystopteris is the name of the Bladder Fern of which there
are several types. C. bulbifera produces narrow, slender' pale
green fronds with many inflated buds on the under-surfaces.
These can, if required, be detached and planted separately.
Growing up to eighteen inches high the fronds have a showy
red midrib. C. fragilis grows from four to eight inches and
is known as the Brittle Bladder Fern and does well in shady,
well-drained, but moist places.
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