Alongside the pictures of her outdoor plants that have been brought indoors, Debby H sent us a great photograph of her fern that lives permanently indoors and has grown lots since she was given it about 10 years ago. Ferns are something we don’t know a lot about here sadly.

We mentioned that we were thinking of getting some for the bottom of the garden, which is well shady and because we heard they need a lot of moisture were a bit unsure about it. Debby said “There are different sorts of ferns. I only know about indoor ferns. I read that it’s a common mistake to think that ferns need lots of water. Actually they don’t. They do like shade though. I suggest you try planting them at the bottom of your garden. You can tell if they need water as they start to droop. You may just need to give them a watering in the summer if it hasn’t rained for quite a while.” Now that sounds great to us and we may give it a go now.

She also noted “Did you notice the claw-like thing sticking out of the fern on the right hand side? I think this is the equivalent of its flowers, but it doesn’t make petals. You get small round green balls that are its seeds. The seeds turn brown and sometimes black eventually, and the claw sometimes goes orange. If you look in the centre of the plant towards the flower pot, and slightly to the right, you will see one that’s going orange but they can go much brighter orange than that though.” Brilliant stuff Debby!

Anyone else have any ferns?

STOP PRESS: Thanks to elradioescucha, for getting in touch telling us it’s the indoor palm tree Chamaedorea!