Delighted to see so many responses and pictures. One of the things I love about ferns is their agelesness but also their longevity. In my parents garden there is a fern that is at least 50 years old. They (ferns, not my parents) live at a slow pace needing neither cosseting nor hacking back or renewal by cuttings.
@Wibble the natural fern breeding ground sounds fabulous, as does in fact a dark damp bit in the garden. Would love to see more.
@strelitzia32 lovely picture of that unfurling stage, reminiscent of sea horses.
@amancalledgeorge I bought Coniogramme emeiensis last year during a heatwave, first and last time I saw it in the garden centre. I think it was severely underwatered when I bought it. I thoroughly soaked it, planted it, cared for it for two days, forgot about it three days, and then it was dead! Bad timing I think, I aim to have another go. Hope it does well for you and perhaps photos for us next year.
@B3 that's a stunning fern. I'm not good at indoor plants, so no ferns for me indoors, only the very resilient types of plants.
@Rubytoo thanks for bringing up that possibility, that's good to know. After seeing the pictures by @Silver surfer I think it's actually not that bad. I've taken some pictures today, which I aim to post later. They might be slightly on the yellow side of green, but not worryingy so after all. I have an Eared Lady (!) Fern - Athyrium otophorum - that I'm very fond of, with sublime colour and form of new foliage.
@Silver surfer indeed after planting I looked up Sieboldii in greater detail (wrong way around obviously) and realised it will grow larger than I had realised. A lovely fern, and a good thing about ferns in general is that I find them quite easy to move around. Wonderful pictures of Wallichiana, very much why I fell in love with it.
That is a wonderfully verdant part of your garden @edhelka, such a restful look with the ferns mingling with other plants (I think I see Hosta, Fatsia (polycarpa?), Digitalis? and many others), not to mentiont the moss. Would be interested to know what your favourite minglers for ferns are. What are the strappy leaves under what looks to be a fatsia, and what is the plant/fern in the fifth picture? I have it myself actually but lost the label. I can also see a rose peeking in, not a surprise after seeing all those brilliant roses in the rose thread.
@micearguers The ferns are polystichum munitum (under the fatsia), dryopteris wallichiana (in a big pot right next to the shed, with polygonatum and creeping euonomus), native self-seeded ferns (not sure if it is the male or female type, it is somewhat hard to control it wants to take over the bed), asplenium scolopendrium. The fancy ferns: athyrium niponicum var pictum, athyrium 'Dre's Dagger', athyrium filix-femina 'Frizelliae'. These are all from one plantsforshade order, copying from there (I can't remember them all). There should also be arachniodes simplicior variegata but I think it either died or somehow disappeared Companions: hostas, hakonechloa, ajuga, foxgloves (self-seeded, moved from other parts of the garden), tricyrtis, polygonatum, Japanese anemones (I wanted to remove them but left some smaller ones), weeds (welsh poppies... hard to get rid of). The area stores pots of various inherited or surplus plants... there's azalea, hesperantha, gladioli, pieris... Clematis montana on the fence. And some spring bulbs are also there - daffodils and frittilarias. I am not sure about the leaves under the fatsia (maybe a weedy crocosmia?) The fern in the fifth photo is a. filix-femina 'Frizelliae'. It is a north-facing fence, shady. The area with the rose is a bit more open and gets some sun. Here it is at the back of the photo, between the two sheds. Almost invisible but I enjoy making it as green as possible. And this is May 2019 work in progress photo (with soil and stones from other parts of the garden temporarily dumped there). The ferns were planted in spring 2019 (the large brown wooden trough in spring 2020). I expect much more greenery next year.
@edhelka your green sanctum is wonderful, amazing how established it looks already given that it was created so recently. In your first post the way the ferns catch the light is another of those fern moments. I hope for updates given that you expect this to be only the beginning! That's a good list of plants you gave. Hakonechloa has been in the back of my mind for a few years now. A wonderful plant, but I think I would need to make changes to make it work for me. The little turquoise (? not very good with colour names) shed is very well integrated into the garden. Is it for storage, green house, shelter, all of that?
P. munitum is a wonderful fern, I have it too. I have bought online at plantsforshade as well (it's the same as Long Acre plants I think, looking at my e-mails), found quite a few nice ferns at my local Scottsdale garden center, and Beeches in Ashdon usually have interesting types.
Athyrium filix-femina 'Frizelliae' (thank you!) is interesting as it looks quite dramatically different to the species plant. My Arachniodes simplicior variegata wasn't doing so well similar to your experience. Other posters have mentioned struggling with it as well. I was in time to yank it out and stick it in a pot with highly humus-enriched soil. It is still surviving and sulking a bit.
This reminds me that Cyrtomium fortunei looked awful yellow for me, it was severely affected by presumed nutrient deficiency, probably caused by the chalky clay I'm on. Most of my soil is well enriched and mulched, but fortunei is choosy perhaps. I then had it on the compost heap for two years, where it completely transformed and obtained a deep healthy green look.
@micearguers I have Cyrtomium fortunei elsewhere in the garden but can't find any decent photo, this is the best I have. Yellow, too, but it grows well and fills the space. Maybe I should sprinkle some slow release food or BFB around it. P. munitum is probably my favourite fern, for both its visual impact and being evergreen. I inherited a good base of the garden, including the shed (storage only) and the gate to it with mature climbers and shrubs around. The shed colour is Cuprinol seagrass, I can't decide if I like it or if it is too manmade looking colour but I am sticking with it for now and painted a new wooden obelisk the same colour to go with a red rose. @amancalledgeorge I absolutely love your variegated bamboo fern, I hope it survives the winter for you. I wonder if it would be hardy here too if protected from winds, it's very tempting.
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@Wibble the natural fern breeding ground sounds fabulous, as does in fact a dark damp bit in the garden. Would love to see more.
@strelitzia32 lovely picture of that unfurling stage, reminiscent of sea horses.
@amancalledgeorge I bought Coniogramme emeiensis last year during a heatwave, first and last time I saw it in the garden centre. I think it was severely underwatered when I bought it. I thoroughly soaked it, planted it, cared for it for two days, forgot about it three days, and then it was dead! Bad timing I think, I aim to have another go. Hope it does well for you and perhaps photos for us next year.
@B3 that's a stunning fern. I'm not good at indoor plants, so no ferns for me indoors, only the very resilient types of plants.
@Rubytoo thanks for bringing up that possibility, that's good to know. After seeing the pictures by @Silver surfer I think it's actually not that bad. I've taken some pictures today, which I aim to post later. They might be slightly on the yellow side of green, but not worryingy so after all. I have an Eared Lady (!) Fern - Athyrium otophorum - that I'm very fond of, with sublime colour and form of new foliage.
@Silver surfer indeed after planting I looked up Sieboldii in greater detail (wrong way around obviously) and realised it will grow larger than I had realised. A lovely fern, and a good thing about ferns in general is that I find them quite easy to move around. Wonderful pictures of Wallichiana, very much why I fell in love with it.
Hopefully I'll have pics to post next year.
The fancy ferns: athyrium niponicum var pictum, athyrium 'Dre's Dagger', athyrium filix-femina 'Frizelliae'. These are all from one plantsforshade order, copying from there (I can't remember them all). There should also be arachniodes simplicior variegata but I think it either died or somehow disappeared
Companions: hostas, hakonechloa, ajuga, foxgloves (self-seeded, moved from other parts of the garden), tricyrtis, polygonatum, Japanese anemones (I wanted to remove them but left some smaller ones), weeds (welsh poppies... hard to get rid of).
The area stores pots of various inherited or surplus plants... there's azalea, hesperantha, gladioli, pieris... Clematis montana on the fence. And some spring bulbs are also there - daffodils and frittilarias.
I am not sure about the leaves under the fatsia
It is a north-facing fence, shady. The area with the rose is a bit more open and gets some sun.
Here it is at the back of the photo, between the two sheds. Almost invisible but I enjoy making it as green as possible.
And this is May 2019 work in progress photo (with soil and stones from other parts of the garden temporarily dumped there). The ferns were planted in spring 2019 (the large brown wooden trough in spring 2020). I expect much more greenery next year.
P. munitum is probably my favourite fern, for both its visual impact and being evergreen.
I inherited a good base of the garden, including the shed (storage only) and the gate to it with mature climbers and shrubs around. The shed colour is Cuprinol seagrass, I can't decide if I like it or if it is too manmade looking colour but I am sticking with it for now and painted a new wooden obelisk the same colour to go with a red rose.
@amancalledgeorge I absolutely love your variegated bamboo fern, I hope it survives the winter for you. I wonder if it would be hardy here too if protected from winds, it's very tempting.