On 9/1/08 15:24, in article , "Eddy"
wrote:

Sacha wrote:
I think wildflower lawns are things of great beauty but it's not just a
question of chucking in some seeds, no. They do need a particular regime of
care, AIUI. Charlie seems to think tree ferns wouldn't like your climate
but I wonder if they'd survive if wrapped in straw for the winter. Sally
who has just waved to you from Ludlow might know, or your local nursery.
Otherwise, it might be as well to make a virtue out of necessity and see
what you can find in the way of ferns that you like. Googling around, I
found these people but this isn't a recommendation because I've never had
any dealings with them. Their range is pretty large, though and they have a
special 'Ferns for wet places' section, too and comments on how to cope with
tree ferns in the UK climate. The Equisetums sound interesting:
http://www.fernnursery.co.uk/

Yes, gorgeous tree-ferns at www.fernnursery.co.uk, Sacha. I bookmarked
that site a year ago while exploring Lincolnshire where my family hails
from. They give some noteworthy advice with regard to tree-ferns on one
of their pages: in the heat of the UK summer don't go two days without
watering the whole tree, bark & crown included; and in winter wrap it
against the cold. Now, I'll tell you a secret: we left our "paradise"
in West Wales because it was "a terrible beauty", i.e. stunning gardens
that had to be maintained intensively and doing so nearly killed us!
Ain't going down that path again. I think keeping a tree-fern in our
situation would be like taking on an exotic pet.

If you're wearing the t-shirt, you certainly don't need to do that again!


But that still leaves
the idea of a collection of reasonably big ferns. If I can just find
one or two things that will give greater height, that would be good.
Have just found a site that suggests that gunneras need "deep" soil, so
it looks like they're going to have to be rejected. On the other hand,
have just found a couple of pdf files in the USA specifically talking
about what to plant in a "leach-field" or soakaway, and they advise "any
shallow-rooted herbaceous plants that are NOT water-loving". So I'll
try googling that!


Our Gunnera is planted near our soakaway in a sort of wooded bit of the
garden, known to its original owner as The Rhododendron Walk. It's a bit of
a mix of soil and shale there, so I don't think they're over-fussy. But
perhaps Charlie's idea of judiciously chosen bamboos and then some lovely
ferns would do it. Perhaps you could have a sort of stone 'folly' ruin and
plant ferns among the crevices. ;-)

--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
(remove weeds from address)
'We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our
children.'