Fond of Fronds

9 years in this was 1998 to 2007

 

Here's an Asplenium and a Dryopteris sieboldii as payment for the diversion :D

 

Thank you for posting your photos @Banana Man. That is a remarkable transformation

Are you in the south of the country and how much protection do you provide for your plants over winter?

 

In Essex

This when I bought my first trachy.... and almost 20 years later I can't see the top now when I sit on the sofa

 

More fronds by way of apology

 

Apologies? For what @Banana Man ? Your pics are stunning!

 

Thanks @Banana Man, your Trachy is really impressive, kept very neat and tidy!

 

I leave a decent step ladder when I cut the old leaves as the birds like to land and the squirrels like to climb

 

This summer has been mostly survival for my ferns. Nearly all of them are fairly well established and the majority have not been watered, so that's something of a positive. Some that I moved last year or the year before did need a bit of watering. Accordingly, this has not been a year of glorious fronds, but one of ferns subsisting. As a sign of things, today a Jersey tiger moth landed on the Polystichum setiferum / soft shield fern. Apparently they do well with the warming climate.

 

I managed to buy adiantum venustum recently (I had it in a previous garden and loved it). After planting out, local foxes or badgers started digging around it. Arghhh!

 

Oh no @CarolineL . Do you have some left? Protect with spikes? Adiantum venustum is pretty tough once settled, hopefully that extends to good recovery if messed with.

 

@micearguers They have dug in so many places, my garden would look like a porcupine convention! I've put a couple of broken tiles around the plant to dissuade them. Same with a recently planted asarum...
For some strange reason, the adiantum seems out of fashion, and isn't much stocked. So I had to buy a very small plant from Edulis. Let's hope it gets going despite all this.

 

I use bits of plastic trellis on the ground to discourage digging. It is easy to cut to any size, stays in place well, and is almost invisible. Cheap and effective.

 

Dried up holly leaves work well - on squirrels and cats, too. No badgers here so I don't know if that would discourage them.
Maybe the compost that it came in had animal product fertiliser.

 

And humans too! I have been stabbed by random holly leaves a fair few times. Surprisingly painful ... though better than stabbing yourself in the eye with a random stick poking out of the ground, of course.

Plastic trellis is pretty benign in the injuries-potential department.