Autumn Fern, My Great All Season Fern

I am most appreciative of Autumn fern during the stale, hot days of August. This durable fern grows in my woodland garden, far from the water hose, but it has survived weather that sends other ferns into dormancy, or worse, to death.

When I first started planting a garden in the woods, I imagined great swaths of ferns. The reality is that soil under the big trees is thin and dry, and ferns generally need moist, rich organic soil. Autumn fern will grow best in those conditions, too, and I am working to improve the natural environment by regularly adding mulch and compost. But Autumn fern, once established, will tolerate drier and poorer conditions than many of its pickier cousins. Like most ferns it prefers partial to full shade, but with extra water it can take some sun.

Dryopteris erythrosora is as beautiful as it is durable. It is distinguished by pink fiddleheads in the spring, which unfurl to coppery pink fronds, which mature to rich green.

Autumn Fern will grow in zones 5-9, and in areas with mild winters like mine, it is evergreen. The colorful spring growth contrasts nicely with its older green foliage. 

Autumn fern looks good planted in mass. They should be planted about eighteen inches apart. Spores form on the undersides of the ferns. The following photos show the springtime fiddleheads and the summer spores:Growing up to two feet tall and wide, they will spread slowly to form clumps and can be divided every three to four years. A clump grows at the base of the tree seen on the right in the following photo of my woodland garden. Afternoon light is shining through the fronds:

Since it is evergreen in my area, Autumn fern adds good structure to the winter landscape. I like the way it looks frosted with snow:

Damaged or unsightly fronds can be cut back in late winter to neaten the clump and prepare for spring growth.

The Kingdom of the Three Rabbits

Three rabbits rule over my garden.

One sits on the front steps and welcomes visitors to the house. This rabbit was the first, a Christmas present long ago when my children were young. It is most wise. It watches the Front Garden and gives advice to woodland creatures that come on pilgrimage, including chipmunks, birds, squirrels, and, of course, rabbits. I like to gaze out the big windows in the living room, smiling at rabbits as they pause nearby the house, coming to worship the 'rabbit god', as my husband calls the piece of garden art. We once had many rabbits, before the foxes came and thinned them out. Even now rabbits use the front walkway as a route from one side of the house to the other.

The following photos were all taken this week in the Front Garden:

Another rabbit is cast iron and is the lesser of the ruling rabbits. It sits under a rose bush and has sway over the herb bed, the patio, and the vegetable plot. Despite the hard metal it is made of, it is a sweet rabbit and much too trusting, allowing all guests to pass by unchallenged on the way to goodies growing in the garden. I like this rusty rabbit. It is more of a pet than a guard. The following photos were taken around the patio and herb bed a little earlier this year, before most of the flowers retreated from the intense summer heat. The rabbit is covered with pollen because he likes to poke around in the surrounding flowers.

The third rabbit is the mightiest. It controls the Woodland Garden, standing proudly near the entrance to the woodlands. It never sleeps and is ever vigilant. All humans and animals must have his permission to enter. The woodland photos in the next two groups are recent, except for the one with the cat. It is last year's photo, but I included it because it shows the woodland rabbit doing his job.Note the invasive English ivy growing in the lower left photo, below. The gardener who built my house sixty years ago loved ivy and sprigged it here and there. This is what I have to contend with as the result. It's beautiful, but it smothers everything in its path.

I hope no one would consider my rabbits tacky, though I know it's all in the opinion of the beholder. I have no gnomes or garden fairies or statues of Greek gods, but throughout my gardens are various decorative objects: wind chimes, a couple of birdbaths, colorful pots, even an iron chandelier in the Lady Garden. With so much wildness of plant material, I think the garden needs an occasional punctuation mark for the space. Surely this would not qualify for a posting on LifesHighway, that blog that is a testament to tackiness. But even if so, I enjoy living in the Kingdom of the Three Rabbits. It is a happy kingdom.

Long live the rabbits!