Garden Designers & Landscape Gardeners
Garden Buildings in South & East England

Polstichium polyblepharum
Left - this detailed shot shows how glossy the mid green leaves are, although we have also seen this fern growing with a darker leaf colour. Epimedium rubrum is the groundcover behind. P. blepharum is very hardy - probably to -20c and comes from Japan, southern Korea and China. It seems to hang on to green foliage into the winter which is only spoiled by frost or snow which may cause the leaves to lie flat on the ground.
Right - this fern looks tough as well as being hardy with thick leaf stems - or stipes  in botanical terms. The stipes are covered in broad coarse hairs called scales which are a rusty red/brown colour, caught beautifully in the sunlight in this photo. It is robust loking but also elegant with drooping leaf tips which give rise to it's name poly - many, and blepharum - fringed like an eyelash.
Fantastic photos courtesy of emagen on flickr.com, see their link on our Resources Page.