Don't you just love when Mother Nature gifts you with wonderful plants? About five years ago I was gifted with an unknown fern. It just moved in and made itself at home. Good thing it is a nice gift-Mother Nature can keep her weeds. I did not know what kind of fern this plant was, but knew it was indeed a fern. Though its foliage is coarser than most ferns, it is a fern and it was pretty easy to identify it. The first frost gave the identity away. Have you guessed the type of fern I am talking about? It is a Sensitive Fern, aka Onoclea sensibilis. My Southern Living Garden Book says this fern is native to the eastern United States and spreads by underground rhizomes. The book also says it can be invasive in the right conditions. After growing here for more than six years I have found it reliably spreads to form a nice clump. Volunteers will pop up close to the plant, but they are never a problem because one of my friends always wants a start!
My sensitive fern grows near my heat pump. It receives steady moisture from the condensation formed when the heat pump is in the cooling mode. I have allowed it to grow to its heart's content. It is on the north side of my home and serves as a great groundcover. It complements the hostas and hydrangeas growing near it.And why did the first frost give the identity a way? Because, according to my Southern Living Garden Book, this fern is most 'sensitive' to frost. Sensitive is a nice word for what happens to the plant because in my garden the sensitive fern totally dies back and is blackened by a the first frost. But never fear, once spring arrives it bounces back....
in the garden....
