While I like all ferns—they remind me of cool, shady woodland dells—I think my favorites are the two strange ferns – the showy hart’s-tongue and the staghorn.
Hart’s-Tongue Fern
Hart’s-tongue (Phyllitis scolopendriurn) is found frequently in Europe, and it is a favorite wherever grown. The name comes from the shape of the fronds, which are a thick, dark glossy green.
They are from one to 2 ft tall and 5” or more across. The top of each frond is ruffled and pointed. The lighter green of the young fronds with the dark green of old ones creates a picture of gleaming greens. It is hardy down to 25° degrees.
I have it planted in a sheltered place with hardy cyclamen which blooms daintily at its feet. Because this fern makes a striking pot plant, I have several pots on the south window ledges, others are in the cool part of my greenhouse in the winter.
Soil of Hart’s-Tongue Fern
The soil for this fern should be light and porous: two parts leaf mold, one part each of peat and coarse sand. The fronds are sometimes so heavy with their rooster-comb tops that it is well to stake them with slender bamboo stakes and tie them loosely with green raffia.
Ample drainage should always be provided for all ferns. They should be watered when they are dry, but should not stand in a saucer of water or become water-logged. I occasionally water mine with soluble fertilizer.
Growing of Ferns
Ferns grow best in filtered sunlight or where the cast sun shines on them. In the warm season, my pots sit in the shade near a pool where they are much admired.
A frond in water lasts for weeks, furnishing a green fan background for bright colored flowers in an arrangement. Propagate the hart’s-tongue fern by division of an old plant.
Staghorn Fern
The staghorn fern (Platycerium bifurcaturn) grows best in baskets made of redwood or cypress laths, about 12” inches square and 5” inches deep. I like to put a plant on each side so that when they are hung, both sides are pretty.
Sterile Leaves
The sterile leaves are fresh, pale green, round in shape, and ruffled at the edges, delicately veined with darker green.
From the center of these emerge the fertile fronds, shaped like stags horns. These are a deeper grayish green and in old ferns reach a length of 3 ft.
The center round leaf clings closely to the basket and when the brown velvet spores appear on the back tips of the long fronds, the round leaves then dry to a leathery, coppery brown.
Round Leaves
Since the round leaves appear about once a year, it is easy to count these to tell the age of the plant. I suppose the spores could be grown, but numerous babies appear from the parent.
When the round leaf is about 2” inches across I cut these out with a plug of osmunda, potting them in three-inch pots until they are transferred to baskets. Osmunda, either fresh or the old saved when I repot orchids, is used as a potting medium.
Using of Sphagnum Moss
A small amount of peat or sphagnum moss can be used and I have used small wads of Spanish moss. The round leaves make a little pouch where a small amount of sheep manure or old cow manure (if it has been sterilized) can be put.
Every 3 weeks, I spray them with foliar fertilizer. In the summer I spray them with water every day. In the winter when they are in the greenhouse, spraying every other day suffices.
Lizard Babies for Gardens
In the summer they swing gaily from the low limbs of trees and around the eaves of the garden shelter where they are decorated by lively, bright green lizards who lay their wee parchment-covered eggs in the osmunda.
Presently tiny lizard babies come forth. One is the home of a small, beautiful scrap of moist jade in the form of a tree frog who comes out at the witching hour of twilight to make merry all night long.
Native Ferns
This fern is native to faraway places – Africa, Malaya, and Polynesia – where it grows in the crotches of trees. here, provide it with these conditions: no direct sunlight, food, plenty of humidity, and temperature not below 50° degrees.
44659 by Kitty Simpson