Guides / Ferns and mosses
Ferns and mosses
Non-flowering plants with fronds, mossy mats or cushions.
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Blue star fern
Phlebodium aureum
How to care for Phlebodium aureum. The blue-grey epiphytic fern that forgives dry air where a maidenhair would not, why the furry rhizome must stay on the surface, and the best first fern to try.
Bracken
Pteridium aquilinum
How to identify and control bracken, Pteridium aquilinum. The commonest fern in the world, the carcinogen in the spores, and why bruising the fronds is the trick.
Button fern
Pellaea rotundifolia
How to care for Pellaea rotundifolia. The New Zealand fern with round leathery buttons instead of lace, why it takes drier air than other ferns, and the one thing it will not forgive.
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Field horsetail
Equisetum arvense
How to identify and control horsetail, Equisetum arvense. The prehistoric weed with roots two metres deep, why weedkillers slide off it, and what does help.
Fragrant fern
Microsorum punctatum
How to care for Microsorum punctatum. The upright strap fern with no scent despite the name, why the crested forms cost more, and how it grows on bark without soil.
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Hare's foot fern
Davallia canariensis
How to care for Davallia canariensis. The Mediterranean fern that sheds its fronds in a dry summer and grows them back, why it takes a cold room, and how it differs from the Fijian one.
Hart's tongue fern
Asplenium scolopendrium
How to care for Asplenium scolopendrium. The hardy native fern with undivided strap fronds, why the spore lines run in herringbone stripes, and where it grows that other ferns cannot.
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Soft Tree Fern
Dicksonia antarctica
How to grow soft tree fern, Dicksonia antarctica. Watering has to reach the crown and trunk surface rather than just the soil, and the single growing point needs frost protection that the fibrous trunk itself does not.
Spikemoss
Selaginella kraussiana
How to care for Selaginella kraussiana. Humidity, low light, constant moisture and growing it in a closed jar or terrarium.
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