I recently visited the garden of Behnkes’ perennials buyer Larry Hurley, shown in this blog story.  But there’s another whole group of great shade plants that I admired in Larry’s garden – ferns! – so asked him to share with me and blog readers some of his photos of them, with his own notes on their characteristics and care.   Indeed, among all types of native plants, in our region ferns offer an especially large selection of great choices for the garden.  Larry says these are all generally available in garden centers and easy to grow.

Christmas Fern, (L) in Hurley Garden; (R) at Mt. Cuba, DE

Christmas Fern (Polystichum acrostichoides)

• Evergreen, looks like a Boston Fern; that is, it looks “ferny”
• Tolerates dry spells.  In the wild it does fine on steep hillsides in the woods during droughty summers
• Clumper

Ostrich Fern, Brookside Gardens

Ostrich Fern (Matteuccia struthiopteris)

• Another lowland plant, can get waist high if moist.
• Spreader with thick underground stems. Could probably be a nuisance in rich, moist soil
• Very delicate fronds look like ostrich feathers
• Does not like drying out; will turn brown in summer droughts, and in late summer turns brown (even when watered) and goes dormant early in my garden. Gorgeous in the spring.
• I think this is the one that people gather for fiddleheads to eat.  You have to be careful eating ferns, though.  They have a lot of nasty chemicals, even the edible one.

(L) Cinnamon in Hurley Garden and (R) Lady Fern at National Arboretum

Cinnamon Fern (Osmunda cinnamomea)

• Found in wet lowlands, but adapts to normal garden soils without problems
• Good for rain gardens, tolerates occasional flooding
• Called CF because spore leaf resembles a cinnamon stick if you really, really need glasses.  Cinnamon comes from tree bark, not ferns.
• Height  varies with moisture,  18” to waist high if gets a lot of water
• Not evergreen
• Clumper

Lady Fern (Athryium filix-femina)

• Upright, fine textured
• Not evergreen
• Clumper
• Reddish stems
• Seems to tolerate drier soils well in my garden

Hayscented Fern, Hurley Garden, Bethesda

Hayscented Fern (Dennstaedtia punctilobula)

• Ground cover; aggressive spreader in good soils
• Considered to be one of those few natives, like Black Locust, that is invasive in the right situations—that is, if the deer eat everything else, it spreads like a weed
• Called hayscented because of the foliage, smells like new mown hay when broken (I guess)
• Short, brittle stems, easily broken
• Likes moist woods
• New York Fern is very similar, but less available for sale

Intermediate Shield Fern; Fern Valley; National Arboretum

Woodferns, Shield Ferns (Dryopteris spp.)

• A bunch that all look alike
• Average soils, dryish to wettish
• Very ferny, fine textured
• Some are evergreen but it’s nothing to write home about
• About knee high
• Clumper

Royal fern (L) in Hurley Garden and (R) Mt. Cuba, DE

Royal Fern (Osmunda regalis)

• Like Cinnamon Fern, but the spores are borne in clusters at top of fertile leaves, looking like little crowns of gold
• The least “ferny”, very upright,  resembles a honeylocust leaf

Sensitive Fern; Hurley Garden, Bethesda

Sensitive Fern (Onoclea sensibilis)

• River edge/ditch plant, takes a lot of sun if it’s kept wet
• Sensitive because if it gets too dry, or, at the first frost, it’s done for the year
• Decent yellowish fall color
• Spreader, can be very aggressive
• Tolerates poor soils and very happy in rich soils
• Good for rain gardens
• Up to about knee high, shorter if drier

Maidenhair Fern (L) at Montreal Botanic Garden and (R) Mt. Cuba, DE

Maidenhair Fern (Apedatum)

• Very delicate, slower to establish; beautiful
• Seldom in stock for very long, often looks “scrawny” in the pot and expensive for what you get
• It ‘s a slow creeper
• Slugs can be an issue
• Moist, rich soils
• Most challenging to grow of those on this list, the rest are pretty easy

With a brand new-to-me garden to fill up,  I need plant ideas, especially shade-loving perennials, so where better to look than the garden of our perennials buyer Larry Hurley?  So I paid a visit to his Bethesda garden this past weekend and saw lots to love, and learned a thing or two.

 

Epimediums and hostas prove they can take dry shade.

Around a large tree in the front yard, sweeps of epimediums and hostas sure look better than mulch, and more interesting than the common groundcovers for shade (I’m looking at you, ivy and pachysandra).

Above, Larry can’t keep his hands off those Epimediums.  On the right in this photo is a big favorite of mine – Euphorbia amygdaloides or Wood Spurge.  It’s evergreen!

In all its glory is the stunning native vine Lonicera sempervirens ‘Cedar Lane’.

Above, another gorgeous native plant – Phlox stolonifera ‘Sherwood Purple’.  It does well in both moist and dry shade.

Above, two of Larry’s many varieties of Heuchera, both paired to great effect with Hakonechloa (also known as Japanese forest grass).  Larry prefers the Heuchera villosas because they’re so long-lived.

Above, newly emerging Hosta ‘Sagea’ and a bronze-colored Heuchera with ‘Evergold’ Carex.  It’s one of the evergreen Carexes, and can take sun or shade.

Here’s a groundcover I’ve never seen before – Wood Anemone or Anemone nemorosa.  Gotta get some!

Also evident in the photo above is Larry’s practice of leaving fallen leaves in place in his perennial borders.  I questioned this practice, having read warnings about dead leaves smothering perennials, but was assured that the perennials are safe and that the leaves decompose by mid-summer or so.  Larry says that smothering may be a problem with maple leaves because they become so tightly compacted, but the leaves of his oaks and tulip poplars are no problem.   Good to know!

Love the large pots on Larry’s deck, and the informal fieldstone paths.  That’s Japanese Painted Fern in the foreground.

Notice more interesting artsy elements – the metal cranes on the left and the large pot on the right.   And how about the stunning bark on the Stewartia in the foreground? A diehard do-it-yourselfer, Larry built the pond himself.

Thanks to Larry for the tour, but I haven’t finished with him yet.  Coming soon – his favorite native ferns and Echinaceas.

Lornicera photo by Larry Hurley.  All others by the author – Susan Harris.

Click here to read Larry Hurley’s fall tips for the perennial garden on our website.

Photo credit.

Calamint with lamb's ears

by Susan Harris

Calamint (Calamintha nepeta) ‘White Cloud’ is one of those plants that I’d never noticed – either at the nursery or in anyone’s garden – until I grew it myself, an experience that’s turned me into a HUGE fan of the plant.  I love it because this one plant has spread in a single season to cover a 2×3′ area, and the white, mint-scented flowers that first appeared in June are still going strong in October!  Four continuous months of flowers!

The butterflies and bees LOVE it.  AND it’s drought-tolerant.  And according to expert sources, it’s longer-lived and better smelling than the similar-looking baby’s breath.

I think the reason I never noticed it is that it’s a filler plant, not a show-stopper.   Like background plants, fillers sometimes get no respect.

Just give it full sun to light shade and wow, what a performer!  It reportedly self-seeds and I’m soooo hoping it does.

Thanks to Larry Hurley for turning me on to this under-appreciated plant.

by Larry Hurley, Behnke’s Perennial Buyer

We have a number of things on sale in perennials this week (starting July 14), including daylilies, the remaining Astilbes, and Heucheras.  Here’s a bit about Heucheras.

Heuchera – one of its common names is Coral Bells – is a North American native plant with several species native to Maryland.

Most of what are sold are hybrids combining the best traits of several species of Heuchera.  Some are grown for the small flowers, some for the bold foliage, and a lucky few for both. Pretty much what we have in stock at the moment are the hybrids featuring colorful foliage.  In the last several years, a number of hybrids with improved summer-heat tolerance have been released for sale, and I have found them to be robust both in pots and in the ground.

Great in containers in morning sun with afternoon shade, they are a good specimen plant or filler plant. The foliage comes in chartreuse, gold, brown, purple or silver tones with the color being strongest in the cooler weather of spring and fall.

Depending on how sheltered they are and the severity of the winter, some of the Heucheras make a good foliage display year-round.

In the ground, they are best in bright shade, or with a few hours of morning sun and shade the rest of the day. They need good soil drainage.  That means no standing water after a rain storm; maybe planted on a bit of a slope.

Planting in the summer is always more challenging than planting in the fall or spring.  That said, if you water them every couple of days for the first two weeks or so, they should get established without any difficulty.