Planting hardy ferns

Here are some varieties of ferns. Make your choice !

• One of the best known, asplenium . It has evergreen foliage and grows well in humus soil without excess humidity in winter.
• The variety ‘Cristatum’ has leaves that look like salad!
• Polystichum setiferum ‘Congestum’ has evergreen or semi-evergreen foliage. The fronds can freeze and disappear in the winter when it is too cold. Cut them at the end of winter so that they start again. Height: 40 to 70 cm.
• Dryopteris lepidopoda grows to 70 cm in height. The fronds that grow in spring turn from yellow to red before finally turning green.
• Dryopteris erythrosora has a beautiful salmon color on young foliage.
• Polystichum polyblepharum (or bear’s paw) rises to 80 cm in height and has very chiseled foliage.
• Athyrium niponicum ‘Ursula’s Red’ has deciduous, purple and silvery decorative foliage. Height: 40 cm.

Plant them:

• Choose a location in a grove under trees.
• Lift the earth with a claw.
• Bring chippings and compost to poor soils .
• Place the fern in the ground.
• Bring back the existing soil to fill the hole.
• Tamp lightly.
• Return the existing foam to the foot.

Ferns can also be planted in an old stump or a low wall. For that :

• Make a mixture of soil with a little compost.
• Incorporate it into the stump and plant the fern (here an ox tongue / asplenium).

Whether deciduous or persistent, ferns bring freshness to the garden as long as it is exposed to partial shade.