Why I Oughta...

Last Spring, I planted two pairs of new (to me) ferns in a little bed:  Two Shaggy Shield Ferns and two Tassel Ferns .  This post is looking at the Tassel Ferns.  They're different than what I have in other spots - Ostrich and Autumn Ferns - in a couple of ways:  they emerge a little different in that they don't unfurl the same way AND....they don't shed all their prior season foliage.   They're also - seemingly - this season the FIRST of the ferns to way up. See below for a photo of the tassels that have emerged along with last season's foliage that is still in place: The 'tassels' that you see in the photo are the reason for the fern's name.  They're quite lovely and a welcome sign of Spring in the yard.  The photo also is a reminder that I have a bunch of turf removal in the beds to continue to explore as well as finishing up the Spring cleanup to remove the dead foliage and the Oak leaves that are laying about.   The other ferns in this area - Sh

Earlier this Spring, I planted two pairs of two new ferns (at least they were new to me) in the backyard bed near where I transplanted a bunch of Ostrich Ferns last year.  They are in the shadow of the big Northern Red Oak tree (Tree Swing Tree).   The two different ferns were Shaggy Shield fern - Dryopteris cycadina  -   and Tassel fern - Polystichum polyblepharum.  They were small 4" containers with small ferns when I planted them in .  I applied a thick layer of mulch.  The Shaggy Shield (or sometimes called Shaggy Wood Fern) is doing fine.  But, that's not why I'm posting here.   I noticed some new growth on the Japanese Tassel Ferns - Polystichum polyblepharum - that helps me understand how they received their name.  Back in that post, I talked about how the new fronds kind of curl up to look like tassels.  T his screenshot below of the listing from Gardenia says it best , I think: Via Gardenia That's exactly the stage of some of the new growth on our first-year

I have a section of our backyard that calls for a bunch of Ferns.  Ostrich Ferns, to be precise.  Last year, I transplanted a bunch of them (10) to this area just to the West of the Large Northern Red Oak tree that has our swing on it.  You can see some of those in the photo below - the Ostrich ferns are the lime green ones that are vase-like.   But, with the newly expanded beds, I also needed to fill in the section in front.  I did that by transplanting three MORE Ostrich ferns in front.  But, then I had a little gap between those in the border and the ones from last year.  So, I when I came across a pair of ferns that I've never seen before (at a good price), I grabbed them and decided to use them here.   First up, a pair of Shaggy Shield Ferns.  I didn't know anything about them, but they caught my eye.  From the Missouri Botanic Garden comes this listing  that mentions they are native to Japan: Dryopteris cycadina, commonly called wood fern or shaggy wood fern, is native to