Who needs anemones..

When you’ve got ferns l i ke these?

LUSH ferny foliage brings peace and splendour to your garden’s shady corners.

Ferns are low- maintenance and come in a range of texture and colour, sizes and shapes and look amazing planted in naturalised drifts.

No cottage garden would be complete without ferns, adding architectural interest to borders. They obligingly prop up floppy perennials and rampant climbers use them as a ladder to the sun.

Team with helianthus, nasturtiums, foxgloves, lupins and daylilies and let your garden take care of itself.

Exotic tree ferns make excellent dot plants to create atmosphere. Keep them well away from the edge of a lawn so the thirsty grass won’t deprive them of food and moisture.

Structured types such as shuttlecock ferns and the hart’s tongue fern can be used in blocks or combined with others to create a textured tapestry of green to replace lawns and borders for a contemporary feel.

Ground hugging maidenhair ferns are also perfect for squeezing into the nooks and crannies of a dry-stone wall or a craggy stumpery, which is a combo of old tree stumps, boulders and ferns that provides an ideal home for wildlife.

Evergreen types, such as polystichums, are good for winter interest, especially when frost-encrusted lacy fronds shine in the sun, giving ghostly outlines. The unfurling fronds of deciduous types work well with the early spring blooms of wood anemones, snowdrops, cyclamens and hellebores. In the summer garden, irises and lilies make a star combo.

The royal fern is just the thing for the boggy edges of a pond and looks smart with ligularias and hostas in the late summer garden. Water and ferns have always been best friends because ferns appreciate high humidity.

Ideally plant in dappled shade or where the site receives early morning sun. Ferns mostly prefer slight acidic soils that are rich in organic matter.

But aspleniums, including crispum and cristatum groups that have ruffled fronds, and the soft shield, which has new fronds that resemble octopus tentacles, love limy soils.

British native Dryopteris filix-mas grows in the deepest, darkest shade.

Ferns look best if yellowing deciduous fronds are removed in late autumn and older fronds on evergreen varieties removed in late winter to make room for the new growth.

You can even grow a collection in pots in a cool, shady spot. Try coloured fronds such as the silvery-grey leaved Japanese painted fern.

Or create an unusual hanging basket using a combination of ferns, hostas and old-fashioned mimulus.

Qfull potential, prune in summer to shape the hedge and reduce

its vigour.

Conifer control

Despite its reputation for getting out of hand, leylandii is still a popular hedging plant.

Look for the golden variety Castlewellan Gold, which tends to be bushier than the green variety and grows about 30-45cm each year.

When cutting conifers, always trim across the leaf spray otherwise the exposed cut ends will turn brown.

Privet part

Privet hedges are a good choice for polluted roadside gardens. They can also be used to create a screen to discourage nosey neighbour and dog walkers while encouraging birds into the garden.

It can be clipped into topiary but will need trimming at least twice a year. Remove long shoots using secateurs so you avoid slicing individual leaves. be stolen, with a

security pen.