Ten favourite: ferns
Ferns are a gorgeous plant to have in the garden. Their arching fronds, tiny delicate leaflets and rich green colour help to create a verdant and lush vibe wherever they’re planted. Typically thriving in shaded and damp locations, they’re perfect for spots with low light. We love to use them growing out of stone walls, in damp corners or as underplanting for taller trees and shrubs.
There are a huge variety of different ferns available, so you can find the perfect one to match most spots. These are some of our favourites for different locations.
Evergreen
Polystichum setiferum
Polystichum setiferum, the soft shield fern, is a relatively large fern (growing up to about a metre) with delicate leaflets.
It’s a British native that looks great alongside a huge range of plants. It’s one of our absolute favourites for its glorious green colour and tactile leaves.
It looks great growing on its own against a dramatic dark backdrop, like this photo here, but also pairs really well with other plants - we have plenty in our garden growing with geraniums and astrantia. The delicate fronds look especially good with their colourful flower heads.
Read more about growing and caring for this fern in our Polystichum setiferum plant guide.
2. Dryopteris wallichiana
This is a large, semi-evergreen fern that makes a good statement plant. Though it might lose some fronds in a cold Winter, it tends to hold onto at least a few, and can be cut back in Spring before the new growth appears to keep it looking its best.
Like most ferns, it does best in damp and shady conditions, but it can tolerate drier soil as long as it’s not in too much sunlight.
It’s one of the larger ferns, and can reach around a metre tall in optimum conditions. The distinctive dark brown stripe at the centre of the fronds, contrasted with lime green leaves, makes for a really distinctive plant.
3. Asplenium scolopendrium
Asplenium scolopendrium, the hart’s tongue fern, is a small growing, glossy-leaved fern, that has strap like leaves that (vaguely!) resemble tongues.
Reaching a maximum height of around 50cm, this is the perfect glossy fern for the front of a bed or border, or to grow in pots.
It looks amazing growing in stone walls (as in the picture at the top of the post) or tucked among paving and it is a perfect choice to give a slightly wild, natural look to a garden.
4. Adiantum venustum
The hardy maidenhair fern
This a relative of the tender maidenhair fern (Adiantum radianum), which has long been a popular houseplant. Adiantum venustum is becoming more and more popular in the garden too.
Tiny fan-shaped leaves (similar to the ginkgo, or maidenhair, tree, hence the name) are held on almost invisibly thin wiry stems, that seem to shimmer in breezes.
It’s a really delicate plant than can work as groundcover in a moist, shaded area, or look great in a pot on its own. Just don’t allow it to dry out.
5. Blechnum spicant
Known as the “hard fern, ” Blechnum spicant has glossy evergreen leaves, with thicker serrations than many ferns.
It’s relatively low growing, reaching around 50cm tall when mature, and growing in attractive clumps.
It does best in shady and damp conditions, so is perfect for growing under shrubs or bushes, such as roses, where it will provide a lush and glossy foil.
This is a fern that really needs water in any dry spells.
Deciduous
6. Osmunda regalis
Osmunda regalis — the royal fern — is one of our current fern obsessions! A tall, deciduous fern, the thick green leaves are an amazing green colour in the growing months, turning to coppery brown in Autumn.
It’s really unusual as the spores grow on the end of long stalks, held above the plant, which look like rusty coloured flowers.
Growing to around 2.5m, Osmunda regalis does well in very moist conditions - we often use it in rain gardens.
7. Athyrium nipponicum var pictum
Athyrium nipponicum var pictum, is also known as the painted lady fern, for its delicate ombre coloured leaves that fade from green to silver and purple at the centres.
This is a fern that has really grown in popularity recently, and is often grown in pots, where it can be placed at eye level, or used as foliage in bouquets.
It’s a small-growing plant (reaching only around 30cm) so is good for the front of a border as well as containers.
8. Dryopteris erythrosa
A really distinctive deciduous fern, this Dryopteris has coppery leaves when they first appear, which slowly change to deep green as they mature.
Its perfect growing conditions are there typical fern favourites: partial to deep shade in moist soil. Water well when first planted to help it establish easily.
With its unusual leaf colour, this is ideal to grow as a contrast alongside greener more “leathery” fern (such as Asplenium scolopendrium or Blechnum spicant)
9. Onoclea sensibilis
This fern is a new discovery for us - we recently spotted it growing in the botanical gardens near to our house and immediately fell for its lush green colour and the unusual shape of its fronds.
It’s another fern that needs constantly moist soil, so is best grown near to a pond, or in boggy and damp earth. Take care in smaller gardens, as it does have a tendency to take over, if the conditions are right…
Tree ferns
10. Dicksonia antarctica
Oh, we love tree ferns! Such an amazing statement plant that look great in so many different types of gardens and can even be grown in (large) pots.
There is only really one type of tree fern that is reliably hardy in the UK, which is Dicksonia antarctica. It’s an absolute beauty, with huge fronds (more than a metre long) coming from the top of the thick “trunk”. (Not actually a trunk at all, but a mat of aerial roots.) If you invest in a tree fern (and they do tend to be fairly expensive to buy), make sure to keep it moist and wrap the top for any freezing weather in the Winter months.
Read more in our Dicksonia antarctica plant guide.
