FERNS are back in fashion, the search for good foliage which enhances the garden for months on end as opposed to the fleeting charms of flowers makes them most desirable and flower arrangers who have such keen eyes for structure and composition have focused our attention on a neglected area of plants. It is over a 100 years since the great Victorian fern craze - ferns in gardens, ferns in pots, ferns inside, ferns pressed and dried, ferns in decoration on walls, on fabrics and on glass. They were everywhere and botanising ladies and gents went ferning, carefully watching for rarities and abnormalities in hedgerows and woodland. Such was the desire to possess the unusual that our native Killarney fern was hunted, dug out and exported until it was almost extinct. Today it is rare in the wild where it is rightly protected and guarded from marauding gardeners.
One Irish fern from the great fern era which is still cultivated is Mrs Frizell's fern Athyrium felix - femina "Frizelliae". Unlike the Killarney fern, which was once widespread in the south west, Mrs Frizell's fern was a single strange aberration found growing between boulders on the Avonmore River at Castle Kevin in co Wicklow. Mrs Frizell first noticed it in 1857 and two years later dug it up and sometime after presented it to Trinity College Botanic Garden. Soon it produced spores and the plant was distributed to other gardens. Happily it is available today. Sometimes called the tatting fern, the fronds resemble braid with small fan shaped segments projecting from the central stem. The fronds do not taper and diminish like a spire as is more usual with ferns. There is an air of delicacy about the plant, but it is fairly robust and hardy - making a plant under a foot in height.
The Lady Fern in its various forms - and Mrs Frizell's fern is just one of them - likes a degree of moisture and while a streamside situation is not essential or necessary, a little care needs to be taken in selecting a home.
One popular member of the Lady Fern tribe is the Japanese Pointed Fern Athyrium nipponicum `Pictum': Another low grower, its fronds and stalks are flushed with maroon and grey, making a most distinctive foliage plant which fortunately is widely available.
Of much nobler stature is our native Royal Fern Osmund regalis. In the wild it is encountered frequently in the west and south west, but don't go digging it up - buy it in the garden This is rightly some of all the hardy ferns and will survive in any part of the country provided it has sufficient moisture A waterside situation would be ideal but a heavy soil which does not dry out completely will suit equally.
As the tall elegant fronds unfold in spring they are suffused with yellow and coppery brown. In summer, the soft green spires can reach up to four or more feet in height and then in autumn they revert to yellow and brown shades.
One easy and obliging group which does not demand much moisture or the most select situations is Dryopteris, or the male fern. These we see often in hedgerows or in woodlands in dry shady places. The native form Dryopteris felix has several variations and is a much undervalued plant. Beneath trees or at the foot of a dry well it will behave beautifully: marking a corner or softening the edge of a path, a gate or steps it will be ideal, making a lacy composition two to three feet high. It seems content even in the poorest soil and as a bonus it holds its fronds well into winter.
A relative from the Himalayas is the much sought after Dryopteris with pale yellow green fronds suffused with coppery tones in spring. The foliage is elegant, regular and upright and the plant always seems on its very best behaviour. However, I would not subject it to the same abuse as our native male fern. This oriental fern deserves better treatment and will repay it well.