I have both. They came back pretty puny this year. I don't know if it was the location, the plant, of a combination of both.

I had much better luck with my Japanese Painted ferns and my Maiden Hair 5 Finger fern.

The fern I have high hopes for next year is my Ghost fern (a combination of the Japanese Painted and the Lady fern).

I was just at the nursery this morning and fell in love with the Japanese painted ferns but my DH thinks we should lean to native stuff, if possible.

I hadn't heard of the Ghost fern, so I will try to have a look at those, too. (Sounds like a good compromise, doesn't it?!!)

Very much appreciate your response!

hollandgirlt,

Besides the maidenhair fern, you might consider sensitive fern (onoclea sensibilis) and royal fern (osmunda regalis). If you have a moist or even wet area, the royal fern can reach a very impressive size, and it has nice fall color.

I have had leatherwood and Christmas ferns in my garden for several years. They really don't have much of an advantage over the deciduous ferns--their fronds get broken down and tattered over the winter, so being evergreen doesn't necessarily mean they'll look good for a longer period of time. They also have been very slow growers compared to the deciduous types.

Good luck establishing your new gardens.

Kate

hollandgirlt,

Bachmans has 40% off all ferns this week. They have some beautiful large Ghost and Lady in Red ferns in stock.

I had high hopes for Christmas Fern as well- but it just isn't impressive- a few scragely fronds is as good as mine get- I have some plants to share my sister swears are ferns- that others say are some kind of thilactrum- but any way- they are quite nice- something along the lines of a royal fern- I also have a surplus of rudebeckia(s)- come on over! Maybe even for the swap if you like-
Julie

I have both in my garden north of the Twin Cities, and both are doing very well indeed. In fact, the Christmas ferns have been with me for years and are lush and full creatures - yes, they become pancakes by spring, but they are standing proud and tall until the snow buries them and look amazing for a time in late fall-early winter when most everything else just looks dead. They've also begun to spread around naturally by spores, something the painted ferns have also become quite good at. One can never have too many of either plant - at least that's my perspective for now. The painted ferns also hybridize readily with the native lady ferns and create interesting progeny not entirely unlike 'Ghost'.

Stefan

Stefan, it sounds like your ferns are an exception. Are you doing anything special to get such good results? What is your soil like?

Rather unfit-looking sandy/gravelly yellowish clay, sometimes with a thin layer of leaf, stem, and acorn debris from the oak/maple/hophornbeam forest and often moss (which is where all manner of fern sporelings tend to make their nursery). The pH is a bit on the acid side of neutral, somewhere in the 6.5-6.8 range.

The ferns do all seem rather productively happy there... :-)

Stefan

That's interesting as up here my fern experience has been poor at best. My Christmas fern experience has been like most. The fronds get broken or flattened to the ground by the snow. Some stay green, some don't. It doesn't grow very aggressively in spring either. Moist soil, clay content, but I have tried to add peat moss, compost, etc.

The fronds of my Japanese painted fern die back to the ground and re-emerge in spring. ItÂs a nice looking fern, but tiny.

My hartÂs tongue fern is pretty well the same, nice when itÂs up, but puny. I guess I just look at too many catalogue pictures.

I also tried the cinnamon fern which basically survived, just survived, a few years before dying.

Then on the other side of the spectrum we have some native fern. Not sure what type, itÂs attractive but spreads rapidly and overtakes everything.

Glen