Why I Oughta...

Last Fall, I tentatively stepped into the Ghost Ferns Dividing Business.  I had four original plants to start when I lifted one in the Fall of 2022 and created five Ghost Ferns.  I took a look at the five - the two divided segments returned this year - in Spring .  With that success under my belt, I took on dividing the rest of them. From five ferns, I now have eight ferns.   I left the two that resulted from 2022 divisions intact.  And divided up the remaining three - to create three new ferns.   Below is the 'after' showing seven Ghost Ferns in this section including one *behind* the Weeping Nootka Cypress tree.  Seven, you say?  Where's the last one?  I put it on the side of the house lining the new Boardwalk: Below are a few in-process Ghost Fern dividing photos: More Ghost Ferns is on my 2024 agenda.  Fern upgrade in process. I'm posting this in November 2023, but I did this dividing and transplanting in mid-October 2023.

That photo (above) shows the five Ghost Ferns (Athyrium 'Ghost') that I planted (as a set of four) in the Spring of 2021. They were from the Morton Arboretum Spring sale and they've thrived since they were added to our backyard shade garden.  Why are there five Ghost Ferns when I planted four?  No...they're not spreading ferns like the Ostrich Fern that sends out underground runners.   The reason that there are (now) five of these ferns is because last Fall, I divided one of them into two .   At that time, I only divided one because I was a little afraid.  I didn't want to kill all of them off. I did the same dividing with some Shaggy Shield ferns and my fears were well-placed as not all of the divisions made it this year.   But, the Ghost Fern division not only survived, but it appears to have had a good year and is a vigorous, healthy fern.   Why do I bring this up?  First...to remind myself and to help prioritize my Fall d...

Last Fall, I went around and divided some of the ferns that had been clump-growing in our backyard - including one of the Japanese Ghost Ferns.  I had four of them ( see this photo from last Summer ) and decided to divide just one of them (read: I was scared to divide all of them) and stick the new division in the ground adjacent to the other four.   How did that division go?  See below for (now) five Japanese Ghost Ferns: Pretty great to see this division take and has me thinking about dividing the other three this Fall.   However...there is another side to this fern-division story.  The Shaggy Shield Ferns that I similiarly divided last Fall?  Those divisions....didn't take.    I started with two Shaggy Shield Ferns that I split up into four ferns .  What do I have now?  Just two ferns.   Win some (Fall perennial divisions), lose some (Fall perennial divisions).

I've long talked about how my favorite garden plant family are ferns.  Hostas are a close second.  Why?  Because my Mom was a shade gardener who toiled in her garden over the years with hostas .  Our backyard is mostly shade, so like my mother...I, too, am a shade gardener.  That means finding things that work well in shade and/or part shade.  That has lead me to lists like this that talk about various things that work well in shade like heucheras , lungwort and...of course ferns and hostas.  Over the years, I've planted various ferns in our gardens, but my first fern love was the Ostrich Fern .  I've had them in our garden in Elmhurst, brought a couple to my sister & Equation Boy's house (when we lived there) and have them here in Downers .  And, while they're really great ferns, they start to look a little ragged as the growing season goes on.  But, on a recent walk around the garden, I've noticed that a couple of varieties of fer...

Just like yesterday's post showing the mid-Summer view of the three Waterslide hostas in our garden, I wanted to do a similar mid-Summer checkin on the three Crested Surf Japanese Painted Ferns back in a similar spot.  The last time I showed these was back in May when I was happy (and surprised) that all three of these came back for their second growing season .  How are they doing mid-Summer?  Pretty good, I think.  All three are green and doing well.  They're a little delicate and seem to be pretty needy (for now) in terms of water, but they've all put on growth and are filling in together. See below for the Crested Surf ferns with a hosta planted in the middle: I'm not sure the hosta belongs there, but for now...I'll leave it.   These are unique hostas (for me), so I'll keep a close eye on them as they continue to establish themselves.  I'm thinking that if we can get through this full growing season (year two), they'll be more hardy going forw...

Last year, I planted four Japanese Ghost Lady Ferns that I brought home from the Morton Arboretum Plant Sale around the base on the Weeping Nootka tree .  These have done remarkably well in this spot and are putting on quite a show right now.  Below is a peek at them: These are some of the various Pictum Japanese ferns that we have - but these are characterized as Lady Ferns.

Last Summer, one of my big-box-nursery white whales was the Crested Surf Japanese Painted Fern.  I saw them a few times, but always wanted to wait until they went on sale.  Then they started to disappear from the shelves and I figured it wasn't meant to be for our garden.  Right after the 4th of July, I found three of them on sale and decided to plant them in the little Japanese garden-inspired section on the south side of our backyard .  Two of them seemed to be fine, but one suffered.  I watered them and watered them.  And they still went into decline.  That first year is always tough.  I figured I lost one or two of them.   And, so imagine my delight when Spring comes around and all three of them have fronds that begin to unfurl.  You can see them in the photo below, planted in a triangular shape around a hosta: I really like these double-tipped ferns, so my plan is to give them as much water as they need this Spring/Summer....

I'm on a little bit of a roll with Japanese Painted Ferns and other related cultivars in the garden this growing season.  I've had one in our side yard for a couple of years - next to the screened porch .  Planted in 2018, it has established itself and is now being crowded out by some Bressingham Blue Hostas that I'm going to try to divide this Fall.   Earlier this year, I planted four Ghost Ferns in the bed along the northside of the backyard - right at the base of the Weeping Nookta Falsecypress tree that I (also) planted this Spring.  The Ghost Fern is a Lady and Japanese Painted Fern hybrid - with the color of a Painted Fern and the habit of the Lady Fern.   And, just last week, I posted a photo of my second traditional Painted Fern - a Pictum - planted in the border around our new fire pit area in the far back.  It is at the base of our new Emperor I Japanese Maple tree (you can see the fern in the photo in this Maple Tree planting post )...

Yesterday, I posted a 2021 update on the Japanese Painted Fern 'Pictum' that I planted in 2018 on the side of the screened porch and mentioned that I had another one that I planted this season.  I'm posting this in July, but I planted this (second) Pictum fern back in May.  And took the photo at the bottom - of the fern in the ground - in mid-June. This is the second Pictum, but (now) the sixth Japanese Painted Fern with the addition of four Ghost Ferns earlier this Spring .  I bought this one (below) when I saw it on sale at a big box store and brought it home.  My thought was to plant a series of them in Priority Area #1 this year , but when Nat came up with the fire pit area plan, I decided to skip planting in Area #1 (for now).   Here, below, is the tag from this fern that came in a 1# nursery pot.  It shows 8-12" height and 15-18" spacing.  As I mentioned above, I planted this in May, but posting in July.  The in-between photo you see ...

 Yesterday, I checked in some Bressingham Blue hostas that were planted in 2018 as bare root plants and had now grown to be fully established and thriving.  In that post, I mentioned that there was a Japanese Painted Fern planted in between some of the hostas.  I figured that fern deserved a proper [ garden diary ] update for Summer 2020.  You can see the fern below - it is happy and healthy, despite being crowded by the hostas.   If you go back to the post showing when I bought and planted this fern in 2018 (bought for just $2 at Menards), I included a photo of the tag.  And that means that I can confirm this is a Pictum Japanese Painted fern.  My plan (as of yesterday) is to try to split up/divide the hostas this Fall to provide this fern with a little bit of space.   As for growth history, here's what I have: 2018 - planted in Spring . Looks like it struggled due to Summer + transplant stress, but also likely because I ignored it, ...

Just yesterday, I posted a couple of photos of some newly emerged Frances Williams Hostas that I planted as tiny bare root plants from Costco . When I was out there taking photos of those new plants, I remembered that I had previously planted some bare root hostas - and wondered what their growth trajectory looked like.  So, I went over to the north side of the screened porch and found a grouping of three of the Bressingham Blue hostas that I planted as bare root plants in Spring 2018. That means that what you see in the photo above - a trio of Bressingham Blue hostas - grew like this: 2018 - Planted as bare root.  First growing season 2019 - Second growing season. 2020 - Third growing season.  I included a photo of these in a post in June 2020 . Note, the tops of the foliage reached the line where the foundation hits the house.   2021 - Fourth growing season.  Photo above.  You can see that they've grown in height and width.  And (in this photo) ...

I have been eying the addition of some Japanese Painted Ferns to our backyard all this growing season.  I have one that I planted on the north side of the screened porch in 2018 .  It is a Athyrium nipponicum 'Pictum' and it has done really well on it's own over there mostly being left alone.  Here's what it looked like last Fall/late Summer in August of 2020 .  And in Priority Area #1 from this year , I was thinking of using Japanese Painted ferns instead of the (currently) spec'd Ostrich Ferns.   When I was at the Morton Arboretum Spring Sale, I came across these painted ferns and I ended up buying four of them to add to the backyard.   Here's the tag (below), which shows these aren't the same "Pictum" ferns that I had already, rather they are called Ghost Japanese-Lady Ferns.  Athyrium 'Ghost' and they're described as a 'hybrid with the best qualities of Japanese Painted and Lady Fern'.  Kinda great, right?  I have one Lady F...

Back in June, I posted a photo of the one Japanese Painted Fern that we have next to our screened porch and talked about how - after leaving it almost exclusively ALONE for the past two years, it. seems to have established itself and is doing well. Today, I'm sharing another photo at the top of this post showing what it looks like in the heat of the Summer.  It has grown bigger and more full.  And it now has me thinking that when I come across MORE of them - or if I seek them out - I should buy and plant a series of them along the fenceline -underneath the Frans Fontaine Hornbeam trees.  I've had good luck with Ostrich Ferns, but they start to look kinda shabby later in the Summer and I've recently planted a Lady Fern - so I'm not sure how that will look once mature.  But, I do love the look of this Japanese Painted Fern in it's full Summer glory and think they'd look nice mixed in with some hostas under the trees .  I have a gift card from Wannemake...

Back in the Spring of 2018, I planted a couple of ferns on the northside of our house, outside our screened porch in what is pretty deep shade.  One of them was a Japanese Painted Fern .  That's what you see at the top of this post.  It has come back this year and seems to have established itself despite me not paying a lick of attention to it over the past two years. After planting them, they suffered - through transplant shock + lack of attention.  But, they sprung back and showed some life at the end of their first season .    I had planted a hosta in between them that you can see in that post from September of 2018 . I caught this fern a year later - September of 2019 when it was happy and showing off it's green and purple fronds .  Today, it seems to be doing just fine in the shade.  The other fern that I planted two years ago?  I don't see it, unfortunately.  But, there are a few hostas that have joined this one that you c...

All the way back in Spring of 2018, I planted a couple of ferns on the northside of our screened porch - in a spot that is in (I think) total shade all day long.  It felt like the right spot for ferns and hostas - at least as a temporary measure until I figure out the path/pavers that will run alongside the little bed.  One of them was an Autumn Fern.  The other is this Japanese Painted Fern.  Last September - almost exactly a year ago today - I posted a photo of this fern that was trying to establish itself after a rough Summer .  It was showing just.a.little.bit of growth then, but I was hopeful that this fern was going to make it.  The photo at the top of this post is from this week - and you can see that this Japanese Painted Fern has really come back and is spreading itself out in a big way.  I had a Japanese Painted Fern back in Elmhurst - that came back for a few years (when it wasn't smothered by mulch!) - so this isn't my first one ...