PUSHING THE BORDERS

I took some photos of my fern borders this afternoon. The ferns have really come on this year with all the heat we've had (though they need a lot of watering!)

The first pic shows Woodwardia radicans and W. unigemmata


In the second, there is Asplenium oblongifolium (has to be over wintered in a cold greenhouse), Dryopteris wallachiana and others :


The third shows Pteris umbrosa and the fourth the Pteris and various hardy Pyrrosias (P. hastata, P. drakeana, P. polydacytyla, P. porosa)



And finally we have Drynaria sinica (aka D.baroni), Pleopeltis guttatum and Pyrrosia lingua.

Good to see a W. radicans doing well, I've only recently planted my tiddler so hopefully good things to come.
Your Pteris umbrosa is a very handsome plant, not one I've considered before. My wandering scruffy Blechnum chilense needs replacing :idea:
Thanks for posting.

Beautiful Valdy. I love the Woodwardias. Need to get my hands on unigemmata with its lovely coloured new fronds. Keep meaning to and never got around to it.

My two suffered by being buried under a thick canopy of other plants. I’ve now cleared the area. Most of the fronds were shrivelled on the one I left in place but it has sent up a couple of new ones so I’m hopeful:



The other was nothing more than a bare crown so I potted it and it has made a few new fronds, albeit slow and they are small:



Today I found a fern I’d forgotten about, this time buried under a Fuchsia magellanica, Adiantum mairisii. It’s always nice when you come across a plant you thought you’d lost or had forgotten about. Again it is hampered by other things smothering it so I might move it:



As a fern expert here are some questions for you! I’ve always loved the look of Arachnoides aristata variegata and have tried it a few times and have it in my present garden, as does my neighbour. For neither of us does it flourish. It’s in the same borders as our other ferns which grow with no issues. Does it need very specific growing conditions? I’m getting bored of trying and am frustrated with it. It’s a pity because it looks a lovely fern on images on the net, almost tropical looking. Mine will probably end up in the bin unless someone shares the secret!



I’ve got this lovely Pteris tremula in the greenhouse but it’s too big and gets terribly knocked about as I have to bash past it. What are the chances of it surviving outdoors? If there is no chance or very little, I will leave it:



Whilst on the subject of ferns, I was at the Percy Thrower Garden Centre (Blue Diamond now) in Shrewsbury yesterday and was impressed with their immense living wall entrance:



They had some lovely plants as well, especially Agapanthus:





Andy, Blechnum chilense is one of my favourite plants. Got mine years ago from Hardy Exotics (RIP) and has done really well even up here in the cold Midlands. Given loads away and I love the unfurling fronds on this fern. Never understood why you never see it for sale up here as it can clearly cope with the climate.

Re. Arachnoides, here’s my three, the other three died after a few years. They’ve been planted for 8 years and they survive rather than thrive. The first is in shade in a raised bed and gets watered maybe every fortnight although it does better with more - when the drip feed watering system for the palms is on it does grow more. The second is in the ground less than two feet away but in drier and deeper shade and doesn’t have such bright colouring. The third is in sun, gets the most water of the three and hardly grows at all although it does have the glossiest and most colourful fronds. The first two are in chalky soil and the third is in soil that’s been amended with garden compost for the last few decades. I would also like to know how to get them to grow better!

MartinNicklin wrote: ↑Sun Jun 22, 2025 9:07 pm Andy, Blechnum chilense is one of my favourite plants. Got mine years ago from Hardy Exotics (RIP) and has done really well even up here in the cold Midlands. Given loads away and I love the unfurling fronds on this fern. Never understood why you never see it for sale up here as it can clearly cope with the climate.

Perhaps I don't look after it properly. I find that the rhizomes creep a few inches from where I originally put the plant and the resulting new plant will look fine while the original will turn brown and scruffy. After a few years it covers a large area where the most recent growth is nowhere near where I planted it and the older material looks dead. I don't think it is the soil as the other ferns are doing ok.

It does like to move about and I often remove a lot of the older leaves and just keep the new ones. every few years a cold winter will knock it back but it usually recovers fine (but not necessarily in the same place!)

Hi Martin, Andy, Ian and Charlie

Thanks for the comments. Lots of watering taking place now with this heat wave!

The W. radicans is a bit iffy in a UK winter. Last few winters have been fairly mild. I do heavily mulch the crown. If it's going to be really cold I may dig out the while plant. Otherwise I always take the apical buds and grow them on in the greenhouse to ensure some continuity! W unigemmata is much more reliable in the UK.

Martin, I think you would lose the Pteris tremula is you left it outside in the winter.

Regarding the Arachnoides aristata variegata, I have the same problem with this fern. It always looks a bit scruffy, apart from the odd new frond it puts up, some distance from the parent plant.

Thanks Valdy for this useful info. I expected unigemmata to be less hardy than radicans so I will definitely try to get one. They come up for sale now and again.

I will leave the Pteris tremula where it is following your advice. It’s a nice fern, just a bit in the way where I planted it because I didn’t expect it to grow so big.

As for the Arachnoides, if you can’t grow a nice one, I’ve got no chance. I will turf it out and put something else there.