Ferns 2017

[shelagh]

I am going to make a daring suggestion.  There are sections on the Forum for all sorts of interest groups but there isn't one for Ferns.  Surely Brian and I are not alone in our love of Ferns. So I am hoping this catches on.

Here are a selection from our garden and also the ones in pots we use on the show bench.

Asplenium trichomanes a British native.

Blachnum penna marina one without and one with sporing fronds.

Blechnum spicant another British native and Cryptogramma crispa the Parsley fern with both sporing and non sporing fronds.

[shelagh]

The Japanese painted fern, Athyrium niponicum var. pictum really stands out amongst the green.

Pellea rotundifolia often comes in baskets of  mixed plants and the judges didn't seem to think it was hardy but it has survived many winters at the bottom of the garden.

Polystichum lemmoni is one of several of our ferns I have grown from spores it is a diminiative specimen from the U.S.A.

Polystichum setiferum divislobum plumosum is another beauty.

[shelagh]

Lastly, for today at least a particular favourite of Brian's. Another one grown from spores Pteris gallinopes, it comes from Limestone caves in China.  the second picture shows how it is beginning to split at the ends which will make it even more attractive.

[Maggi Young]

Fair enough , Shelagh, I'll ask Fred to oblige with a Fern Section - mind you, most fern threads  that have appeared in the forum have  been ID queries  so the level of knowledge may not be great!  We'll hope for the best!   When Fred has made the section I'll move a few threads into it. to get it started.
 Cheers,
 M 

[Maggi Young]

Fearlessly Fast Fred has been at work - we're in business with a fern section!

[shelagh]

Thank you Maggi and Fred.  We shall see just how many Pteridologists we have

[annew]

That Polystichum lemmonii is superb, a difficult and super rare plant that as usual was completely ignored by show judges last year. Well done Shelagh!

[annew]

I'll try and remember to take some pics of our ferns tomorrow. Make a break from doing stuff with bulbs and spreadsheets!

[fredg]

A few of my ferns.

[shelagh]

Looks like the perfect spot Fred.

[Maggi Young]

from Tim Ingram


There is a really interesting and updated article by Jennifer Deegan in the Pteridologist (2017, Vol. 6, Part 4). The intricate, and electronic, detail of photographing fern gametophytes using digital 'focus stacking'......

http://theitinerantbotanist.blogspot.co.uk/2015/01/

[annew]

That was an interesting article, also the one about the fern weevil that has been plaguing people's polypodium collections.
Here are some of our ferns:
Apleniums on the shady cliff of my mini-crevice bed

A finely divided lady fern, Athyrium filix-femina Divaricatum

A patch of beech fern asking for a drink! Phegopteris connectilis

A favourite lacy Polystichum setiferum

Contrasting foliage of Athyrium nipponicum 'Silver Falls' and Asplenium scolopendrium crispum Nobile ) another great article on the wavy 'scollies' in the same issue.

[annew]

A few more:
Two very old cultivars of the lady fern. Athyrium filix-femina Frizelliae and Victoriae



The oak fern. Gymnocarpium dryopteris

A beautiful and easy fern for the garden. Adiantum venustum (Foreground)

The Rusty Back fern, on of the few ferns to survive being built into the wall of my new raised daffy bed (named HS2 because of the railway ballast anti-cat top dressing)

[shelagh]

Anne your first pic shows what I have always known as the tatting fern.  Trouble is you either know the botanical name or the common name and can't always put the two together.

Lovely pics though.

Will the Pterodactyls have a stand at Tatton because I would like to get some more spores?  Sorry we always call them the Pterodactyls

[Stan da Prato]

Some snaps of the fernery  we -NBIB - have created in North Berwick's public park as an extension to  the rockery . Over 20 types most forms  of British  natives. Male fern D filix mas and two  of its forms: Crispa Congesta and Linearis Polydactyla