Friday, March 25

Unseasonal greenery in the fernery

Normally by this time most of our ferns have died back and are crying out to be tidied but this year the greenery appears to have decided to hang on until the last minute.

At the beginning of this week the fernery bed looked like this.


There was still lots of greenery but last year's growth was dying back and in some smaller more delicate specimens had died back completely. I thought that I had better cut off the old fronds before the new growth started to appear and mingle with the dying fronds. It's much easier to cut back ferns without the fear of removing new growth along with the old.

As well as in the fernery we have ferns dotted around the garden and so I ended up with a couple of compost bags full of debris.

I couldn't have left things much longer as some of the plants already were sporting new growth.

It won't be long before the new growth or croziers begin to spring up. At the moment there are just some vague signs of activity in the centre of some plants.
Not quite at the stage where they remind me of sleeping tarantulas.

The fernery now looks like this.
I also trimmed the passion flower - in fact I was very tempted to cut it back more harshly - any advice on whether I should do this? As it was the passion flower shoots were emerging in between the ferns and had to be pulled out.

One problem when cutting back the ferns is that it exposes the black box containing all the electrics for the pond. Happily this will soon be hidden again.


Copyright: Original post from Our Plot at Green Lane Allotments http://glallotments.blogspot.co.uk/ author S Garrett

16 comments:

  1. I prefer leaving old growth on over the winter for wildlife but then I find myself in a race against time in the spring to cut everything back before the new growth starts.

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    1. It's all down to timing isn't it, Margaret.

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  2. I dug up several of my ferns last Autumn. They had spread quite a lot and were in danger of taking over. They seem to self-seed readily. Have you got yours in any special type of soil?

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    1. We have self seeders too, Mark. They are planted in garden soil that has had used growbag compost added and a bark mulch applied. The mulch has decomposed and will need topping up.

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  3. I seldom tidy up before the winter, for the wildlife, but am in the same race as Margaret to get it tidy now. All of mine are native of one sort or another and have arrived in the garden of their own volition.

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    1. I leave most perennial plants until early spring before cutting back, Deborah.

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  4. Oh I must have a look at my ferns tomorrow Sue that is if it's not too wet. I'm sure that black box will soon disappear.

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    1. Maybe you will have to dodge showers, Anna.

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  5. What a lovely corner:-}

    I have ferns in more than one place and hopefully this Spring I can get them all dug up and put together in the Coppice where they will do better, and I think, look better too. Your fern bed has confirmed how lovely they look en masse

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    1. The top photo doesn't show it at its best Jayne.

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  6. The fernery should be beautiful in a few weeks.

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  7. You will have a great fern bed soon! I don't have special patch for the ferns. My backyard wall is so cool and shady, so... we can find some wild ferns grow healthy there.

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    1. We get the occasional wild fern sprouting up too, Endah

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  8. That is a great pruning session! They'll be back before you can blink! Mine held onto their greenery all winter too.xxx

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    1. Looking forward to the curly croziers, Dina which I find fascinating,

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