I cut off all the worst bits before I photographed it. It just wasn't thriving. I found the label buried in the foliage. It's a Japanese painted fern. @micearguers
I've had ferns that didn't quite assimilate (root) sufficiently well into the soil after purchase. The main symptom (after digging them up a year later) was that the core of the rootball still had this rather dry mass of roots with nursery compost. In those cases opening up the root ball a bit and forking out roots can help. I've also had ferns where the soil was not well enough prepared and the mix I planted them in was after all too clay-y. In those cases I replanted with a more humus-rich mix. Maybe lift the plant from its pot and inspect the roots, you could also look for unwanted creatures.
It was pot bound round the outside but the inside had pretty much untouched GC compost. . Don't know what was going on there. Anyway. I've divided it into two pots . It has been in the ground but I don't think I'd be able to keep them wet enough. Anyway, I like to grow ferns in the shadyish side of my patio. In a way, I prefer the subtle greens of ferny foliage to many flowers
Posts