Many dwarf ferns seem to have been fashioned especially for rock pockets. They are the loveliest of choice plants in size and their ability to serve so appealingly in softening the abrupt meeting of earth and rock and blurring the outlines of sharp-edged stones.
Some, like the bladder fern, will gracefully drape over a rock and cling closely, like cobwebby green lace.
The little oak fern, Dryopteris disjuncta, entirely different in appearance, holds its little, 6-inch fronds erect on sturdy, short stems like triangular, bright green flags.
Most Adaptable Pocket-Size Ferns
The most adaptable among pocket-size ferns are the woodsias, particularly the delightful rusty woodsia (W. ilvensis), maidenhair spleenwort (Asplenium trichomanes), brittle fern (Cystopteris fragilis), ebony spleenwort (Asplenium platyneuron), and Polypodium virginianum, whose leathery dark green fronds spring so abundantly from the surface rhizomes that it must often be cut not torn from its tangled root-mat.
Rusty Woodsia
Rusty woodsia makes tiny mats of wooly-looking 6-inch foliage covered on the underside with fine hairs that turn brown in midsummer.
The maid is at home in clefts and crevices where their dainty foliage sprays are displayed to full advantage. They are graceful companions for the sharp-lobed hepatica foliage.
Soil Requirements
Except for certain lime-loving varieties, in the soil pockets, use equal parts of good garden loam, leaf humus, coarse sand, and peat moss, or, lacking peat moss, two parts leaf humus.
Half an inch of sand or leaf humus about the base of the plants will aid in retaining the necessary moisture.
Setting ferns too deeply is a common mistake. The crowns should never be buried; underground rhizomes need only an inch or two of covering. If the dwarf fern selected is a lime-loving variety, use less peat and a fifth of lime.
It’s difficult and unwise to attempt any surface cultivation of ferns, for most have either fine roots or rhizomes almost on the surface.
Transplanting
Ferns will endure transplanting at almost any period between early spring and midsummer.
Cold, wet soil in early spring prevents possible drying out of roots and early summer establishment.
By employing forethought, positions for dwarf ferns may often be chosen, whereby midsummer, the overhang of larger plants can furnish shade for otherwise too-exposed spots.
Division and Propagation
Ferns of a tufted habit like the spleenworts and woodsias are easily divided because their dense little mats of wiry rootlets will separate with a gentle pull.
The polypody forms such carpets of tangled creeping rootstocks, and surface stems that large sections of them may be cut like sod for new positions.
Growing Conditions
Keep ferns healthy and happy by offering them a reasonable facsimile of their native environment. Give them shallow crown planting in nicely porous soil.
Supply a loose but protective mulch, a position that is shaded for a greater part of the day, and ample moisture.
In addition, throw on an extra blanket of mulch for winter and leave it in place until all frost danger has passed. In spring, new fern growth is easily damaged by the late frosts.
Beauty and Charm of Pocket-Sized Ferns
All ferns are beautiful, but in pocket sizes, there is an added charm. They add grace notes to any rock garden and will establish quickly and easily if given the treatment they deserve.
And ferns so elegantly unadorned need only to display the quiet charm of their greenness to inspire restful suggestions of that lovely world of Thoreau, all “summer-shade, mossy rocks, cool brooks, and quiet, woodland paths.”
44659 by Marguerite P. Kunkel