Ferns For Your Shade Garden

Keen to add some ferns for your shade garden? When environmental factors such as too much shade limit the success of flowering plants, opt for tough ferns and remember that green is a colour too!

The delicate appearance of most fern types with their variety of frond shapes and shades can be very deceptive. They can be unbelievably resilient and tough.

These vascular plants, which reproduce by means of spores and not flowers and seeds, have been around for millions of years. They grow in a wide variety of habitats ranging from high mountains, dense forests, dry desert rock faces, bodies of water and open fields. The fact that they can be terrestrial, aquatic, or epiphytic is a further indication of their vast scope of habitat.

We introduce you to a few tough ferns which will do very well in the shade of trees and large shrubs in the garden where other plants battle to grow.

Growing Your Ferns

• The right spot can have a little gentle sunlight in the morning, but should be mostly shaded and protected during the day.
• Dig over the soil to about 30cm deep and work in lots of organic matter like leaf mould, compost and palm peat. Also add a generous dusting of bone meal to strengthen the shallow-rooting rhizomes.
• If you can lay your hands on well-rotted pine needles, add it too, or mix in milled bark chips, as ferns like acidic soil.
• The ideal is to create a rich, but light and well-draining medium – ferns love moist soil and not heavy waterlogged soil.

Watering

Although some ferns like the leather leaf fern, will tolerate short dry periods, most will do better with regular watering as they prefer moist soil and humidity around them. It is therefore a good idea to install an irrigation system with fine mist sprayers between them. The main thing is not to over-water ferns just because they like a moist substrate. Watering can be toned down in winter but do not allow the soil to dry out completely for too long.

Feeding

Ferns are sensitive to chemicals and overfeeding. They can be left to their own devices in the winter months, especially if lightly mulched with organic material like leaf mould or compost. You can however give your fern garden a spring boost with a slow releasing organic granular fertiliser and top it up with a foliar feed mixed at half-strength now and again during the growing season in summer.

Maintenance

They need occasional grooming which means removing old fronds. Although quite cold-hardy, it is best to protect your ferns against heavy frost damage. Use frost protection material to protect them from frost when expected, and to keep them warm during icy nights.

READ MORE: All you need to know about garden ferns!

Mother Fern

Asplenium bulbiferum is also called the hen-and-chicken fern, as this robust fern’s fronds resembling carrot leaves and sometimes features little plantlets (bulbils) at the edges of each frond. Where they fall, they root. This fern from New Zealand is semi-deciduous and can tolerate short dry periods. Size 120cm x 90cm.

Japanese Painted Fern

Athyrium niponicum is half-hardy and deciduous with deeply cut, spreading, grey-green fronds marked in burgundy, silver and green. This is a perfect one for showy woodland borders. Size 25cm x 1m.

Shaggy Shield Fern

Dryopteris is a large genus of ferns to be found in the wooded areas of the northern hemisphere. Dryopteris cycadina has a vase-shaped growth habit with stiff, slightly arching, leathery fronds. Semi-evergreen in cold climates but evergreen in mild winters. Size 60cm x 45cm.

Blue Star Fern

Phlebodium aureum is an epiphyte that loves to grow on trees using its creeping rhizomes covered in ‘fur’ to cling to the bark. It will grow equally happy in garden soil. The fronds are blue-green with robust pinnae resembling fingers. Height up to 1m.

Please Note: Phlebodium aureum, also known as Polypodium aureum, is a listed as a category 3 invasive species in Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo and Mpumalanga. 

Leather Leaf Fern

Rumohra adiantiformis is indigenous and a well-known fern grown for the floristry trade. The fronds are large, glossy and leathery in a deep green colour. It is fast-growing and will tolerate light frost. Size 50cm x 1m.

Japanese Holly Fern

Cyrtomium falcatum has long fronds (sometimes exceeding 50cm in length) with pairs of shiny and lush, deep green leaflets with sharp points and wavy or serrated margins. This fern is hardier than most others and will thrive in very deep shade. Height 0.5m.

Lace Fern

Microlepia strigosa hails from the Hawaiian Islands, India and Malaysia. Arching fronds start off with downy, light green hues, aging to dark green with a coarse texture. It is quite water thrifty when well established, and friendly to coastal gardens. Size 60 – 90cm x 60 – 90cm.

Southern Maidenhair Fern

Adiantum capillus-veneris is a fast-growing, mounding and dainty fern with flat, heart-shaped leaves on black wiry stems. It loves water and the soil around it should never dry out completely. If damaged by drought or frost, it soon sprouts again with renewed vigour. Size 30cm x 30cm.

Ribbon Fern

Pteris cretica var. albolineata also named the cretan brake fern, is an evergreen fern with very interesting fronds. They are uniquely shaped and grey-green with a thick stripe of creamy variegation. Size 30cm x 60m.

READ MORE: How about checking out these potted ferns?