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ID and care, please

Sam 37Sam 37 Posts: 1,271
in Plants
Hello Everyone

I found these 3 little ferns growing out of the very base of a wall right next to a concrete path at the end of my garden, where there was no visible soil (!) and where there's never direct sunlight; however, it's not dark, just sunless.

I should be most grateful for any help you might offer in relation to the type of fern and how it should be looked after.

Very many thanks.
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Posts

  • ButtercupdaysButtercupdays Posts: 4,546
    I find little ferns like that popping up all over my garden, most probably Dryopteris of some sort, not all the same.
    They all however turn into quite large ferns fairly quickly. They are happy in shade, prefer some dampness, but can cope with some dryness if not too sun scorched, or some sun if they have damp feet.
  • Sam 37Sam 37 Posts: 1,271
    Thank you, Buttercupdays.  I will place them in a semi-shady spot and keep my fingers crossed! 
  • DimWitDimWit Posts: 553
    They look like the bracken that grows everywhere around here (specially in wall crevices).
  • Sam 37Sam 37 Posts: 1,271
    Hi, DW, and thank you for your reply.  I've just looked up "bracken" which is, apparently, another word for fern.  (You live and learn!)

    I do have a fairly wild spot in my garden, full of bamboo and small conifers; I think I'll put them there, away from everyone's cattle.  ( They're toxic to them, apparently.)  However, I once saw a famous Canadian chef cooking the fronds, so we're in luck.  I hope!
  • LynLyn Posts: 23,190
    I won’t have it in my garden as we join on to fields and the spores blow everywhere when they explode.
    I made sure every bit was out of the garden when my grand children came along.
    its taken over along the lanes in some places here and the wild flowers are now dead.
    i don’t like it at all! 
    RHS says.......

    Bracken Toxicity

    Bracken should not be eaten, either by humans or livestock, since it contains carcinogens linked with oesophageal and stomach cancer. Eating the young fronds, considered a delicacy in Japan and parts of North America, is not recommended. 

    The encroachment of bracken into grazing land reduces the area of useful farmland year by year since livestock cannot be allowed to eat it. 

    People who have spent all their lives living amongst bracken and breathing in the spores may be at higher risk of getting some cancers, but the danger to the general population and to casual visitors in bracken-infested areas is negligible. 

    People gathering bracken for composting or eradication purposes are advised not to do so in late summer when the spores are released, particularly in dry weather.

    Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor. 

  • Silver surferSilver surfer Posts: 4,719
    I don't think it looks right for Bracken...it is far too petite and dainty.

    Bracken has one main stem with side branches coming of it.

    This link shows what I mean.

    http://wildflowerfinder.org.uk/Flowers/B/Bracken/Bracken.htm

    I am sure it is a harmless fern.
    Ferns are really hard to id unless you are an expert...it involves looking at the sori on the back of the leaves.

    https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b&biw=1920&bih=943&tbm=isch&sa=1&ei=B1QeW4TPCcbSwQK84K64CQ&q=sori+ferns&oq=sori+ferns&gs_l=img.1.0.0.3377.5149.0.6852.6.6.0.0.0.0.95.511.6.6.0....0...1c.1.64.img..0.6.506...0i67k1j0i30k1j0i5i30k1j0i8i30k1.0.OTFQAa3G3r4
    Perthshire. SCOTLAND .
  • hogweedhogweed Posts: 4,053
    One of my school day jobs in the summer was cutting bracken from around young conifer trees using a heuch (sickle)!! H&S wouldn't let 13 year olds loose with one nowadays!! It was hard work and I think I got 16 bob a day! 
    'Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement' - Helen Keller
  • DimWitDimWit Posts: 553
    Silver Surfer, I can't say exactly what species they mean by bracken in Britain, but after some research it seems that the (mild) pest in my garden is Pteris vittata (Chinese brake fern), but even that info I deem as doubtable. Anyway, these critters grow in the wall, so when it is sunny and dry their fronds get tough, whereas in mild and moist places they are light green and very soft. Anyway, as you said, hard to id ferns whatsoever!
    Hogweed, today we're reluctant if they want to pay us 16 quid an hour...
  • Silver surferSilver surfer Posts: 4,719
    edited June 2018
    DimWit said:
    Silver Surfer, I can't say exactly what species they mean by bracken in Britain, but after some research it seems that the (mild) pest in my garden is Pteris vittata (Chinese brake fern), but even that info I deem as doubtable. Anyway, these critters grow in the wall, so when it is sunny and dry their fronds get tough, whereas in mild and moist places they are light green and very soft. Anyway, as you said, hard to id ferns whatsoever!
    Hogweed, today we're reluctant if they want to pay us 16 quid an hour...
    It is called Pteridium sp.

    Quote....."Bracken fern is considered one of the most successful plant invasive species in the world (Taylor, 1990"

    https://www.google.com/search?q=pteridium+aquilinum+uk&client=firefox-b&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj2nYyOj8zbAhVmEJoKHVEfCRoQ_AUICigB&biw=1920&bih=943

    It grows from rhizomes and creeps to cover hillsides and woods all over UK.

    https://www.google.com/search?q=invasive+bracken&client=firefox-b&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjlzJHcj8zbAhVOKVAKHRFlBZkQ_AUICigB&biw=1920&bih=943

    The spores cause cancer.

    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1756650/pdf/v052p00812.pdf

    The only good thing is that they are now cutting it in the autumn and turning it into a garden mulch and selling under the name Strulch.It is by now harmless.

    https://www.google.com/search?q=strulch&client=firefox-b&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwir5-HGkMzbAhXGZ1AKHRE4C7cQ_AUIDCgD&biw=1920&bih=943
    Perthshire. SCOTLAND .
  • LiriodendronLiriodendron Posts: 8,328
    edited June 2018
    That's definitely not bracken - it's either male fern or lady fern, I reckon.  As Silver Surfer says, bracken has a main stem with fronds branching off it; your fern has single fronds emerging from the ground.  These ferns are not a health hazard.  However, if they like your garden they may try to take over - they have in mine, which is damp and shady.  I leave them in the wall and elsewhere when they're not in the way, otherwise they get hoiked out.
    Since 2019 I've lived in east Clare, in the west of Ireland.
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