"Colin Jackson" wrote

As a newby, what is the difference between brackens & ferns?

As a matter of interest, a neighbour said what I had in the garden was
bracken - an invasive weed.
Now the boss is looking , in a nursery, for pots of something very similar,
marked up as ferns!

This is Bracken...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bracken
If you scroll down you will see it has a stem and the fronds come off that,
with other ferns the fronds come straight out of a central rootball/trunk.
Over the last few years we have had them come up in all sorts of shady
places in our small garden and they always seem to choose the right spot,
this includes some maidenhair ferns which are a nice surprise.
--
Regards. Bob Hobden.
Posted to this Newsgroup from the W of London, UK