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The Green pages

Ferns for dry, shady areas

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Male Fern.
Photo: Jardin botanique de Montréal (Roméo Meloche)  
Dryopteris filix-mas

No ferns can tolerate lengthy dry spells and stay healthy looking.

Male fern

On the other hand, some of them can adapt to competition from neighbouring plants and grow at the base of a hedge, for instance, like male fern (Dryopteris filix-mas).

Common polypody, rock polypody

Our common polypody, or rock polypody, (Polypodium virginianum) can grow on rocky ledges similar to its well-drained natural habitat, and is also somewhat drought tolerant.

 

Based on an article by Michel-André Otis in Quatre-Temps magazine, Vol. 18, No.2.