Tangled Branches: Cultivated
happenings in and around my zone 6b gardens in northern Virginia and in central Virginia
Saturday, May 05, 2007
Need Fern Expert!
Anybody know anything about ferns? I spent some time plant-scouting in central Virginia yesterday and I have several pictures with no IDs, several pictures with shaky IDs, and approximately One picture with a positive ID.
I know Christmas fern (Polystichum acrostichoides) because I planted some myself in my northern Virginia garden. These particular ones are at the country house, growing in the side of the streambank under a tree root.
I think I've correctly identified the Cinnamon Fern.
Not so sure about Bracken.
Then there are these. This one is a nice thick stand growing near the stream.
This one is a cute little fragile-looking thing, growing nearby the Uvularia I wrote about several days ago. The first picture in that post is the suspected Cinnamon fern, by the way.
So, while I'd love some help with IDs here, I'm really looking for a good field guide. The recently updated Peterson Field Guide appears to be a good one or at least this article thinks so. Any recommendations?
13 Comments:
I'm not a fern expert, but I love ferns. I try to plant as many variety in my garden as will grow!
My favorite is the maiden hair. When I would go horseback riding, my horse would always look for these because she loved to eat them. I loved the way they looked.
You don't make it easy, do you? We have several ferns planted in the yard all of which were bought except one which settled in probably from the nearby cache basin but I couldn't tell you one from another. I only know that bracken which I have eaten on occasion have a cancer causing agent so the recommendation is to not eat them. We have the Japanese painted ferns and the Cinnamon fern sounds familiar but that's the extent of my fern knowledge. Sorry couldn't help.
Sylvana: I love ferns too. I could never grow many in my dry woods in northern Virginia - I even killed Hay-scented fern, which is supposed to be the bamboo of the fern world. And now in central Virginia I have more ferns than I could previously imagine. Maybe I'll try a maidenhair - I wonder if deer like to eat them...
Ki: Fern ID is tricky, I think. I'm hoping a good field guide will set me straight. The Japanese Painted Ferns are one of my favorites, at least partly because they're among the few that will put up with the heavy clay, dry soil, etc. that I have in northern Virginia. It was such a happy surprise to find so many different kind of ferns growing on the lot in central Virginia. I'm not much of a Euell Gibbons type - I'll probably not sample the bracken. :-)
I have no idea on fern identification, but I love the pictures you posted. What is it about ferns that are so calming and restful, I wonder? Is it the grace combined with the lovely shade of green, or the dark and cool connotation that come with them, or... something else?
I need a fern expert too (or, I need to find where I put the plant tags). Some of yours look familiar to me - they're beautiful, aren't they?
Blackswamp Girl: I know what you mean about ferns, and I can't describe it. Maybe it's the primordial look - survivors from the distant past?
Pam: Oh, those lost tags! And it doesn't help that a lot of ferns are very similar. I was wondering if the one you posted a few days ago might be Royal Fern, but that was just a guess so I didn't post a comment. Just wait until I get a good field guide!
Ferns are so beautiful, but I don't know much about them, except to admire them.
I wondered why my Japanese Painted Fern was still alive ~ thanks for telling me it puts up with heavy clay and dry soil... yep, that would be my garden, Entangled!
Annie, I was surprised by the Japanese Painted Fern's durability. I've had it for years in various places (but all with heavy clay) and it seems happy in all of them.
Yea, ferns can be ID buggers...probably because so many look similar. You definately need a field guide, as do I for that matter. One fern that loves clay soil is Ostrich fern, but be careful-if it's really happy, it can take over! Great for the shady side of a building, mixed with hostas, but a bully in the garden with other perennials.
I'm not fern expert either but the ones after the bracken look a lot like Lady fern to me. I just photographed some Saturday and they are on my May 13th post, photos 3 and 6 in the body of the post.
I love the look of your site. This is my first time here, and I gather it's the new version?
Lisa: I was thinking once of planting some ostrich ferns on the north side of our house, but never got around to it. Sounds like they could fight it out with the lily of the valley that's already there.
I ordered the Peterson Field Guide from amazon - I'll let you know whether it works for me.
Anna Maria: Thanks for the tipoff about the lady fern. I think that might be it.
Thanks for the compliment on the site. I'm still tinkering with it - all I've done so far is to add the third column on the right and the blogroll. Oh, and I added the Picasa album link on the top left. I hope to do some more work on it when the weather gets too hot to garden.
Oh, I was hoping someone would be able to help you. Sorry, I only know a very few ferns. I'm going to Lewis Ginter next week and if I get there early enough, I will walk the shade gardens and take some pictures of some of their ferns...maybe that will be of some help.
Not helpful, but maybe interesting, I have a Ghost fern which came as this extremely tiny bit and it's done quite well...this year, it's a very good size...so must tolerate our clay as well.
Gotta Garden: I really needed an excuse to buy the field guide anyway :-) Thanks for the offer to look at Lewis Ginter for me - I haven't been there, but the country house is only about 45-50 minutes from Richmond. I just looked at their site and noticed they're currently running an exhibit I wanted to see - A Place to Take Root. I missed it when it was at the US Botanic Garden.
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