We have a small Fernery, in which we have planted three small tree ferns, a hart’s tongue fern and a Boston fern, but there are other ferns in the watermeadow that were already there.
Left is the bank underneath the decking which looks out over the watermeadow, where everything is left to grow wild, and the mice and voles are left alone. I hadn’t realised that it caught any sunshine at all, but it turns out that the evening sun slants in at this time of year – and there’s another fern.
Below is a Male Fern (Dryopteris filix-mas) growing on a more exposed bit at the foot of the bank. It turns out, as per usual, that there is no one ‘common’ fern. I decided that this was a Male Fern as its little leaflets or pinnules have serrated edges and rounded tips. The sori are the little seed-structures on the underside of the leaves and they are round and in two parallel rows which is another indication that it is a Male Fern.
