Fanciful Friday: Hillside Ferns
It’s been a while since I updated my hillside fern project, so I wanted to share it here for my Fanciful Friday post.
This year has been particularly unusual for my Fern Hillside project. Spring started in mid-February, allowing the ferns to begin growing early. It has also been very dry, with exceptionally hot summer months. The drought has become severe enough that our area has implemented water conservation guidelines. I have tried to adhere to these guidelines by watering the ferns sparingly.
I didn’t plant any new ferns this year, but I did set out four accompanying plants, three of which unfortunately died. The soil on this hillside isn’t very good. I’m waiting and hoping the ferns will start propagating and spreading, but so far I haven’t had much luck. Most of what you see from this view is Wood Ferns and Holly Ferns. The Japanese Painted Ferns have already pretty much finished for the year. I also lost two Boston Ferns, which are the ones you usually see everywhere in hanging baskets, but they don’t normally survive very well when transplanted.
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It wasn’t a good year here either – very dry. Plus, one area that our ferns were doing great in got invaded by invasive Ground Elder. This stuff is quite hard to get rid of. I pull it one day and the next it’s popping up little new shoots. But I think it outcompeted the ferns for a lot of the nutrients – and doesn’t seem to be affected by the dry conditions. 😞
The ferns that survived look better than I expected, but we’ll have to see what winter brings. Winter weather predictions here are kinda all over the place since we’re in somewhat uncharted territory with this Super El Niño. No one really knows!
Thank you for sharing the progress of you fern project. Seems nature has its own way of doing things and does not necessarily do what we want it to. For me it’s the surprises nature provides is one the reasons I enjoy the natural areas. I admire those have the gift of patients to be a gardener. I am not one of them. I’m more the looker.
I’d nursed these ferns for the last couple of years, but this year I decided to let nature take its course, adding a little water once in a while. We’re on a city/county water system, and it’s gotten even more expensive this last year. I guess they’ll be charging for air as soon as someone figures out how to meter it. Haha!