Each Little World

Ferns in mid-November

There are no flowers still blooming in my November garden other than Helleborus niger. At the same time, there are a number of ferns that still look very good despite a number of nights dropping into the high 20°F temperatures. A few are completely brown, some are green and have fallen over, but the ferns below look almost as good as they did in September.

Polystichum ringens aka rigid fern was planted in 2022 and has made it through its first winter and a hot, droughty summer and still looks lovely. It is growing slowly but is a little more than one foot wide. 

Polystichum setiferum 'Divisilobum' is also a year old, but is only about 7 inches wide, despite how big it looks in this picture. 

Polystichum acrostichoides (Christmas fern) is evergreen until it's buried by snow. 

Like the Christmas fern, my Lady fern (Athyrium filix-femina) is still standing proud.

Asplenium scolopendrium (Hart's tongue fern, left) and Asplenium scollopendrium angustifolium (Ruffled Hart's Tongue Fern) are both still upright though their bright green summer color is fading. 

Parsley fern (Dryopteris felix mas 'Parsley') is as beautiful as it's been all season. 

I always find the name "Autumn fern" (Dryopteris erythrosora 'Brilliance') rather confusing as the autumn coloration appears on the new fronds in spring. It's solid green in autumn.  

Dryopteris wallichiana 'Jurassic Gold' supposedly emerges golden orange in the spring; but I don't really remember seeing that. But I am loving the color it is showing now.

Polystichum retroso-paleaceum (Narrow Tassel fern) is one of my favorites and is holding its own nicely.

With 4 Polystichum and 3 Dryopteris ferns in this group, it's clear which fern families can take cold weather in their stride.

Early November report

No shade, no shine, no butterflies, no bees,
No fruits, no flowers, no leaves, no birds! —
November!

— Thomas Hood

It's the beginning of the first full week of November in my Z5 garden in southern Wisconsin and that poem is all wrong this year. This morning it's 56°F as I am writing this at 8 a.m. Yesterday in the garden birds were flocking to the water bowl. The last stems of Aconitum (monkshood) and Chrysanthemum 'Sheffield' were still flowering despite some frosty nights.

There are colorful leaves on the ground and the roof but lots of green leaves still on ferns, assorted perennials and trees. Our Paperbark Maple hasn't even begun to turn color. Here's a sampling of what the garden looks like right now.

Hamamelis virginiana (Witch Haze) is in full bloom and has dropped its leaves so you can actually see the flowers.

Of course, it's not easy to see the flowers without a nice Yew hedge behind this shrub.

Dawn redwoods are deciduous. This one, 'Ogon', is a bright chartreuse all summer before it turns its needle-like foliage a gorgeous cinnamon. I love it when it's in the middle of that change-over and there are bright gold tips at the ends of many of the autumn toned branches. 

I have three varieties of Hackonechloa in multiple locations in the garden. H. macra is shrinking up without ever putting out their inflorescence.

H. 'All Gold' has "flowered" like crazy.

I always wait for a few frosts to put an end to the Hostas. Once that happens it's easy to just pull the foliage off the plant rather than having to cut all those stems.

Hellebores, Geranium macrorrhizum, Vancouver and many ferns, like this Dryopteris crassirhizoma, are still bright green. 

Winter lasts such a seemingly long time that I am not going to complain about this unusually lovely weather. A little rain would make it perfect.

IVOM: The goodbye bouquet

Last Wednesday, before the weather changed, I clipped a crazy assortment of foliage and flowers and made a giant bouquet. Partly it was a test to see what plants have the potential to last in an arrangement, but mostly it was just fun to grab a bit of everything. 

Toad lilies and Aconitum are the main flowers here, along with fading Agastache 'Blue Fortune' and Eupatorium 'Chocolate.'

I've never cut a stem of Podophyllum 'Spotty Dotty' for a vase as they make too important a statement in the garden to do that. But they were about to bite the bullet anyway, so I did it. And now I know it works well in a display. Here with Arum italicum and the underside of a yellowing Hosta leaf.

The view from the other side shows the beautiful red backs of the hardy Begonia foliage and the sori on the ferns.

I couldn't resist trying a big Rodgersia leaf which didn't last too long. Not surprising given how far gone it was when I cut it. The stems on Anemone 'September Charm' were so long they just wanted to keep flopping. So I let them.

When I brought the display into the house, Mark insisted on taking a photo with me to indicate what a large bouquet it was. I look like a woman who has spent a week fighting a cold and had to cancel her haircut appointment so she wouldn't pass on her germs. 

Ferns

I love ferns. Large or small, native or not, I can't get enough of them.

This is Cheilanthes lanosa 'Mighty Tidy' aka Hairy Lip fern. Eventually it's supposed to spread into a foot-wide clump. But that is going to take so long that I am not worried that these two are planted too close together. They're in my so-called rock garden which gets sun and great drainage as these ferns require. Almost every plant in this bed is a quirky dwarf and I need the tags to id them.

I have had terrific success with our native maidenhair ferns as well as the Himalayan variety. So I decided to try Adiantum aleuticum imbricaturm, the dwarf western maidenhair fern, which is also found in Wisconsin. The fern in the center left is a no id variety. What I really love is this mix of ferns with Carex morrow var. temnolepsis 'Silk Tassel.' This Carex is at the top of my "must get more" list.

The autumn fern, Dryopteris erythrosora 'Brilliance,' emerges latest of all the ferns I grow. I always leave last year's fronds in place so I know something is actually planted in that bare spot. 

When they are most autumnal looking I can see them in this view from inside the house. The yellow flag marks a newly planted shrub that needs watering. 

I just realized that the spores on the back of the fronds of the nearby Christmas ferns (Polystichum acrostichoides) are the same warm cinnamon color as the autumn ferns. A happy accident rather than planned planting. 

Now I'm thinking perhaps I should add a couple of these Digitalisferruginea into the mix.

Or perhaps the Digitalis should go by the Tea House where they'd nicely echo the 'Mrs. R.O. Backhouse' martagon lilies. 

I'm with Anna

"A garden that is all flowers

is like a cake that is all icing."

— Anna Pavord — 

Garden designer and writer

. . .

Since the design of our garden was greatly influenced by Japanese gardens, flowers were not a major factor. The most floriferous area of the garden is way in the back where it is hidden until you come upon it.

Even for the flowers I plant, foliage is often the determining characteristic for which varieties I pick. 

I like Trycirtis 'Lemon Twist' (above) and Tricyrtis 'Lightning Strike' (below) best before they've bloomed. They're perfect just as they are right now.

Carexes and Hakonechloa varieties are spread throughout the garden. But I grow Mellica uniflora f. albida in only two locations and pull out any seedlings. If it was all through the garden, I think it would lose its delicate charm.

I've had good luck with most of the ferns I've planted. I planted my first Christmas fern (Polystichum arcostichoides, foreground) in 1999. Dryopteris x australis (rear) stands up straight all season and is about 4' tall and growing.

I have big sweeps of Maidenhair ferns and Japanese painted ferns and am adding more unusual ones as I see them. Most of the ones that I planted last year all returned; some more strongly than others. They survived the winter, now they just have to make it through this early heat and drought.

I'm adding more ferns — and more shrubs — to the Tea House slope to reduce maintenance in this area. (Most of the ferns are out of view in this shot!)

The wonders of a warm day

The garden suddenly looks like a garden! More plants are appearing every time I ramble around. I'm still waiting to see what damage the frost may have done to those plants that were fully budded. But things look good for the most part. 

I piled leaves on Podophyllum 'Spotty Dotty' to protect it from the last frost. But she pushed through them immediately.

Syneilesis aconitifolia is extremely difficult to see when it first appears. I always leave the stems so I can find it in the spring. A garden friend aptly refers to this plant as "hairy thumbs." 

Its cousin — Syneilesis palmata 'Kikko' — in the front garden is much more obvious when it appears. It also comes up earlier.

I bought this one for its patterned foliage which disappears quickly. This is the brief moment when it looks the best.

The drama queen of ferns: Dryopteris crassirhizoma.

I believe this group is Polystichum retroso paleaceum.

I need to see if there is a tag buried near this fern as I am not at all sure of its identity. Though I am pleased at its early arrival.

My 'Arctic Alley' willow made it through its first winter and it starting to send out catkins.

Dutchman's britches (Dicentra cucullaria) is blooming throughout the garden. Nothing bothers this little beauty or slows it down.

Rain and cooler temps are forecast for the next three days. I'm good with that as I need to do some work indoors for a few days instead of exhausting myself in the garden. 

Petite perfection

Last summer we visited a new garden high above the shore of Lake Mendota. It was filled with striking rock work but that's another post. Amidst a lot of drama I was struck by this small contemplative planting.

It's outside the windows of the lower level of the house with the opposite side a step up to ground level. The easy and common solution would have been to just let the lawn slope gently to the windows.

This gives anyone inside an eye level treat while the outside is an unexpected garden in an unexpected location. A tiny feature in a wonderful large garden

Wordless Wednesday

January blahs

I think there was a sunny afternoon earlier this week, but I'm not really sure. It's been endlessly gray, though not as snowy as the garden needs. The latest storm dropped some rain that turned into about an inch of wet snow. Before that happened I wandered around the garden to see if any plants were pushing up, confused by the rain and warmer weather. 

No Hellebore buds or snowdrops were visible, but a disturbing amount of new Alliums had started growing. I think it means I did not plant them deep enough. Whether their flower buds will still be viable come summer is the big question. 

The ground was soft enough that I was able to push plastic plant tags right back in where they'd been disturbed, Not a good sign in mid-January. Some plants, like Autumn ferns (Dryopteris erythrosora 'Brilliance') are looking surprisingly good despite extremely cold temperatures and snow. 

I've been taking advantage of this down time to work on more Blurb books: One about the ducks who visited our garden each year, two using old family photos and one of garden columns from my newspaper days and the early blog. Working on them is keeping me from obsessing about the winter garden and ordering too many plants on-line.

End of November/early December views

I am loving all the green still visible in my garden, despite snowfalls and temperatures below freezing. I am especially fond of the contrast between the green Carexes and flopped over ferns at the top of the slope and the swath of golden Hakonechloa grass at the bottom. When the Hakonechloa blows in the wind, it's perfect.

Autumn ferns (Dryopteris erythrosora 'Brilliance') are still looking good and standing up compared to many of the other ferns. You can see these in the first picture at the top left of the hill, if you click to enlarge the photo. If you don't grow Autumn ferns, it is worth pointing out that the autumn coloration is on the new growth of the fronds when they emerge in the spring, not in the autumn despite the name.

On the left of the hill in the first photo, the Carex sidersticha 'Variegate' (above the Hakonechloa) is all flattened and brown from the snow and cold. Meanwhile Carex plantaginea in other garden areas, though not on the hill, looks as spiffy as ever.  

Luzula 'Solar Flare' with a noid Hellebore. The foliage on this emerges very yellow green though it's less obvious in December. 

Moss always gets center stage when there is not so much other greenery competing for attention.

OMG! You can see the exobitant price on the name tag of this small fern — Cheilanthes lanosa 'Mighty Tidy' — out in the Moon Garden. Hairy Lip fern has made it through two winters and is slowly increasing in spread. Though only 6" high, it's ultimate width is supposedly 1'. I like it because it likes full sun in rocky, well-drained soil. Not the usual location for a fern.

Another rock garden fern; this one likes shade however. Dryopteris affines crispa — Dwarf crisped golden-scaled male fern — is a Z5 plant and should do well for me. I've been growing the full size version of this fern for more than ten years. Here's hoping this miniature version will do as well.

Polystichum setiferum 'Divisilosum' is new this year from Fancy Fronds. It has settled in nicely and still looks lovely. I am hoping this one makes it through the winter as I am pushing the zone here. I took a chance as this was nicely priced. It arrived as a good sized healthy plant well-worth the money.