GARDENER'S READING ROOM
Perennials

New Ferns for Woodland Gardens

Lady in Red...no, it’s not this year’s blockbuster film! It’s this year’s blockbuster FERN, a deciduous variety with lush green fronds and unbelievably vibrant burgundy stems. Plant this beauty in that bare spot where shade rules. It will grow 20-36" high; its brightest color comes after its second season. Avoid nitrogen fertilizers for best color.

Burgundy again appears in the Perennial Plant Association’s 2004 "Plant of the Year", the elegant Japanese Painted Fern. Its fine, ornate foliage is splashed with burgundy, gray and green. But watch out for too much sun-the color is best when growing in a lightly shaded area.

A fern new to Sky this spring is the Crested Lady Fern. Fronds of this shade lover grow flat from its central stem and splay jauntily upward like a cockatoo’s crown. Incredible texture! Luscious green color! This is fabulous grouped with other ferns, poking up through a blanket of cyclamen, or accenting heucheras, hellebores, sarcococcas, or skimmias.

Most ferns grow best with well cultivated, rich, moist soil. We recommend adding Whitney Farm Planting Compost or Mushroom Compost when planting. Be sure to pick up a bag when planting your new fern friends.

Sky is always looking for new and different plants. There will be other new ferns, and plenty of other shade lovers to go with them! Be sure to come in and enjoy our new stock.

By Ken Plante
Skylights Spring 2004, Vol 18, No. 2

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