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

Adiantum venustum
Left - Maidenhair ferns love walls - its as though they know that they look good draped in an elegant fashion from a vertical crevice.









Photo used with kind permission of richard314159 on flickr.com, with whom copyright for this image remains.  http://www.flickr.com/photos/richard314159/

Also known as the 'Himalayan Maidenhair' this delicate fern is in our opinion the softest most delicate looking of all garden plants. It is remarkably easy to grow so long as it does not encounter drought or waterlogging. There seems to be a lot of variation in the colouration of the leaves in this species, however it seems to grow with the same vigour and general good health whether dark green or lighter yellow/green.

Many thanks to floralimages.co.uk for the above images, see their link on our Resources Page.

Left - It likes damp, moist shade and seems to be particularly fond of rocks where it can spread along crevices. Unless temperatures drop below -6c, its leaves stay evergreen and the only thing that can really spoil their appearance is being covered with wet and rotting leaves. This fern will slowly spread making a clump and eventually a carpet of lacy foliage. We like to use it where it can hang over the edge of rocks as seen here, growing amongst a ground covering Pileostegia viburnoides.
Above right - Growing amongst ivy and another fern - Polypodium interjectum at the foot of a clump of bamboo in deep shade.