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Spring is in the air!

Plants for Shady Gardens?

There are many of us who have mature gardens underneath large trees in older Houston neighborhoods and still want to enjoy not only color, but some interesting textures and plant shapes. Here are a few suggestions that might brighten up some of those shady areas.

In this issue we'll focus on Ferns, a great choice if you have really deep shade. Houston is blessed with such mild winters that many of these ferns, otherwise dormant during colder winters, remain evergreen all year long. Some of the favorites for us are:

Southern Wood Fern - that bright green fern that sprouts early and grows to about 18" tall. This one seems to get a little worn looking during the summer, so it is a good one to cut back to the ground each spring, allowing the fresh, new growth to really show up. One interesting treatment that I've seen used was at the gardens at Bayou Bend one year. In a creek-bed setting, they had cut the fern to the ground, then planted winter ryegrass over the top. The grass sprouted, then the ferns emerged through it just in time for the Azalea Trails. This might pose some maintenance issues, but it was a beautiful effect.

Japanese Painted Fern - a silvery-pink hue covering dark green leaves. This plant was the Perennial Plant Association's Perennial Plant of the Year for 2004 (check out their link below):
http://www.perennialplant.org/ppy/04ppy.htm

Tree Ferns - larger specimens that may withstand some of our mild winters. There are at least two species of Tree Ferns that we try to maintain in stock that would add some drama to your shade garden. The Australian Tree Fern (Sphaeropteris cooperi), considered an invasive in Hawaii, is the larger of the two, and the New Zealand Tree Fern (Dicksonia antarctica) is the more hardy one. Both are large ferns that lend a tropical look to any garden.

Autumn Fern - with some hints of autumn colors all year long. Dryopteris erythrosora produces new leaves with red-orange hues that deepen to dark green on a plant that reaches only about 12-14" tall. It is an evergreen species and performs best in the foreground in a shady location.
http://www.monrovia.com/PlantInf.nsf/0/6b6456f58f012a008825684d007135ef?OpenDocument

Asparagus ferns - not real ferns, but always located close to them. Some of these species perform very well in full sun, but varieties like the Foxtail and the Ming Fern are well-suited for the shade garden. They attain a more sparse appearance and a darker green color when grown in some shade.

These are just few of the Ferns that are available, so check your convenient garden center location for others, and check at different times during the year as some species cycle in and out of season.

Tropical Fruits

Ever wonder what the plants that produce Avocados and Mangos look like? Wonder no longer, because we have some excellent tropical fruits in stock now. Many of these varieties will perform very well in our mild winters, and most all will grow very well in containers. In fact, ours have been in containers all of their lives. Some varieties have even begun to produce flowers. Give them plenty of sunshine and feed them with any fertilizer that promotes flower or fruit production, like the Cornelius Blooming Plant Fertilizer. We even have a good selection of Miracle-Gro Shake 'n Feed fertilizers including one specifically for Citrus, Avocado & Mango on sale this weekend. Some of the species that we have include:

Mango, Lychee, Guajava, Cacao and other things that are what I call “way cool!” Our grower has a terrific web site with all of the information that appears on our plant tags so that you can be a success with them. Take a look at:
http://www.tropicalfruitnursery.com

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