Growing healthy plants in shady spots can often be a challenge for gardeners. The trick is finding the right plants, and ferns are the perfect choice. Here, Jerry Coleby-Williams reveals some of his favourites and shows how to use them in the garden.Think green when it comes to your garden. Perfect for shady spots and wonderfully low in maintenance, ferns are the ideal way to transform your outdoor space. Even if you don’t have a garden at all, there are at least a dozen ferns that will suit the area you do have. Green is a calming colour. You don’t have to be a gardener to appreciate the welcoming freshness the right type of greenery can impart to a home or garden.
And, after a hectic day out in the heat of the sun, coming home to sit in a cool, shady spot with a little home-grown fern therapy can be a huge relief – you may even be able to throw away the painkillers. My love affair with ferns began when I was a student. I had to look after a fern collection and, far from feeling I was working, I found myself thoroughly entranced by the beautiful and diverse world of ferns and the new possibilities they offered me. If you are willing to give ferns a try you might just share in the same sensational discovery – and become as hooked on ferns as I still am 25 years later.
All about ferns
There are about 10,000 species of ferns and, despite Australia being a dry continent, we have more native ferns than New Zealand, which sees a lot more rain. The majority of ferns are evergreen and easily cultivated, readily adapting to our diverse regional climates.
From towering tree ferns, diminutive ground ferns, clumpers, climbers, ferns that grow on trees or rocks, ferns that like perpetually damp soil or semi-arid soils that are seasonally baked dry, the range available to the Australian gardener is enormous and there’s one for nearly every spot in the garden. Many recent releases are Australian and are equally at home in the ground or in pots. Most require less water and therefore less effort than many of the more traditional foliage plants, making it easier to create a beautiful garden.
Getting started
You might imagine that steamy tropical regions or moist temperate forests are best suited to growing ferns. Like any plant, it’s important to match the type of fern with your local climate. Widely varying levels of humidity, rainfall and temperature test the best plants, not just ferns. But if you grow them indoors there’s not a single home or region in Australia where you can’t grow at least one of these magnificent plants.
Outdoors, the basics for fern growing include shelter from drying winds and a good quality potting mix, or lots of added compost and mulch. The amount of sunlight and the volume and frequency of water ne?eded depends on which ones you select, and where you plant them.
Caring for ferns
Soil enriched with compost retains moisture yet helps air and water flow, reducing the risk of waterlogging.
Fertilise during spring, summer and autumn, with an all-purpose, slow-release organic fertiliser. Feed potted ferns with seaweed tonic monthly.
Water regularly in dry, windy or hot weather. Many Australian ferns cope well with dry periods but watering helps them thrive.
If the fronds are wilted, give the fern a good, prompt soaking to help new fronds grow.
Mulch with homemade compost, chopped straw, sugarcane or lucerne. Don’t let mulch touch the fern’s base.
Grass can deprive tree ferns of food and water so keep the lawn half a metre away from their base.
Roots of ferns are disturbed by underplanting annuals and bulbs, so plant perennial ground covers instead.
Designing with ferns
Try blending ferns with well-behaved flowering plants such as hellebore, lily, iris, begonia or mondo grass to add an extra dimension to your design.
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