There's a very attractive small fern that grows in little cracks in stone
walls. It's fronds are only a matter of inches long, 6 to 8, perhaps and it
has quite a dark edge to the leaf and the stem is dark, too, though that
seems to vary. It hugs the walls pretty closely. Does anyone have an idea
what it is from that rather poor description?!
--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
)

"Sacha" wrote in message
id...
There's a very attractive small fern that grows in little cracks in stone
walls. It's fronds are only a matter of inches long, 6 to 8, perhaps and
it
has quite a dark edge to the leaf and the stem is dark, too, though that
seems to vary. It hugs the walls pretty closely. Does anyone have an
idea
what it is from that rather poor description?!
--

there are 2 common small wall ferns

Asplenium trichomanes
http://ispb.univ-lyon1.fr/cours/bota...07-04.jpgwhich grow flat against wallsand Asplenium ruta-muraria with more irregular frondsPlus rusty back fern with orange felty undersides to the "leaves"Any use? Sacha www.hillhousenursery.co.uk South Devon )

On 12/3/06 16:08, in article , "Des
Higgins" wrote:


"Sacha" wrote in message
id...
There's a very attractive small fern that grows in little cracks in stone
walls. It's fronds are only a matter of inches long, 6 to 8, perhaps and
it
has quite a dark edge to the leaf and the stem is dark, too, though that
seems to vary. It hugs the walls pretty closely. Does anyone have an
idea
what it is from that rather poor description?!
--

there are 2 common small wall ferns

Asplenium trichomanes
snip

That's the one. Many thanks.
--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
)

The message
from Sacha contains these words:

There's a very attractive small fern that grows in little cracks in stone
walls. It's fronds are only a matter of inches long, 6 to 8, perhaps and it
has quite a dark edge to the leaf and the stem is dark, too, though that
seems to vary. It hugs the walls pretty closely. Does anyone have an idea
what it is from that rather poor description?!

No, but do you mean this one?

http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/...rden/fern1.jpg
http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/...rden/fern2.jpg

--
Rusty
Direct reply to: horrid dot squeak snailything zetnet point co period uk
Separator in search of a sig

On 12/3/06 16:50, in article ,
"Dave Poole" wrote:

Sacha wrote:

There's a very attractive small fern that grows in little cracks in stone
walls. It's fronds are only a matter of inches long, 6 to 8, perhaps and it
has quite a dark edge to the leaf and the stem is dark, too, though that
seems to vary. It hugs the walls pretty closely. Does anyone have an idea
what it is from that rather poor description?!

I seem to remember that you have more than just one 'wall fern' at
Hill House. The one you refer to is almost certainly 'Maidenhair
Spleenwort' - Asplenium trichomanes. It has extremely dark, wiry
fronds with rounded leaflets. Young fronds have lighter green 'stems'
but these darken to almost black over several months.

Another that I'm sure I've seen there is the diminutive 'Wall Rue' -
Asplenium ruta-muraria. It forms tiny tufts of a few leathery, dark
green fronds often no more than 5cms. long.

The 'Rusty Back fern' Ceterach officinarum is almost certainly there
as well. Rather like a stockier, thicker, shorter fronded version of
the first with rather bright, rust coloured masses of spores on the
leaf undersides in autumn.

I'm beginning to think we should employ you. ;-) Come to think of it,
you've helped enough customers with information on busy days! Asplenium
trichomanes is the one I'm thinking of, as Des also suggested. It's one of
those tiny plants that I find really enchanting but never know the name of.
The Ceterach officinarum is familiar and so is the A. ruta-muraria but I
don't like either of those in quite the same way. The first Asplenium is
growing wonderfully in the wall beside the path of our local pub and I never
fail to admire it when we go there. I'm wondering if I could get it to
'take' in the stumps of the apple trees we have beside the wooden seat on
the 'pebble bed' to the left of the big lawn.
--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
)

On 12/3/06 16:57, in article ,
"Rusty Hinge 2" wrote:

The message
from Sacha contains these words:

There's a very attractive small fern that grows in little cracks in stone
walls. It's fronds are only a matter of inches long, 6 to 8, perhaps and it
has quite a dark edge to the leaf and the stem is dark, too, though that
seems to vary. It hugs the walls pretty closely. Does anyone have an idea
what it is from that rather poor description?!

No, but do you mean this one?

http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/...rden/fern1.jpg
http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/...rden/fern2.jpg

Thanks, Rusty but I don't think that's it and I do think that I've now got
its name from Des and David. Isn't urg wonderful - all that information so
quickly! ;-)
--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
)

"Sacha" wrote in message
id...
On 12/3/06 16:50, in article ,
"Dave Poole" wrote:

Sacha wrote:

There's a very attractive small fern that grows in little cracks in
stone
walls. It's fronds are only a matter of inches long, 6 to 8, perhaps
and it
has quite a dark edge to the leaf and the stem is dark, too, though that
seems to vary. It hugs the walls pretty closely. Does anyone have an
idea
what it is from that rather poor description?!

I seem to remember that you have more than just one 'wall fern' at
Hill House. The one you refer to is almost certainly 'Maidenhair
Spleenwort' - Asplenium trichomanes. It has extremely dark, wiry
fronds with rounded leaflets. Young fronds have lighter green 'stems'
but these darken to almost black over several months.

Another that I'm sure I've seen there is the diminutive 'Wall Rue' -
Asplenium ruta-muraria. It forms tiny tufts of a few leathery, dark
green fronds often no more than 5cms. long.

The 'Rusty Back fern' Ceterach officinarum is almost certainly there
as well. Rather like a stockier, thicker, shorter fronded version of
the first with rather bright, rust coloured masses of spores on the
leaf undersides in autumn.

I'm beginning to think we should employ you. ;-) Come to think of it,
you've helped enough customers with information on busy days! Asplenium
trichomanes is the one I'm thinking of, as Des also suggested. It's one
of
those tiny plants that I find really enchanting but never know the name
of.
The Ceterach officinarum is familiar and so is the A. ruta-muraria but I
don't like either of those in quite the same way. The first Asplenium is
growing wonderfully in the wall beside the path of our local pub and I
never
fail to admire it when we go there. I'm wondering if I could get it to

Those wall ferns are indeed good plants. They are spectacularly good at
living in nothing more than bits of mortar and tiny bits of soil that get
lodged in between the bricks in walls. On a good wall, they look really
cool. I have often thought about trying to grow them on my garden walls or
even house but it would probably be very hard to do. Yet, when they do it
for themselves, they can take over.


'take' in the stumps of the apple trees we have beside the wooden seat on
the 'pebble bed' to the left of the big lawn.
--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
)

On 12/3/06 23:06, in article , "Des
Higgins" wrote:


"Sacha" wrote in message
id...
snip
Asplenium
trichomanes is the one I'm thinking of, as Des also suggested. It's one
of
those tiny plants that I find really enchanting but never know the name
of.
The Ceterach officinarum is familiar and so is the A. ruta-muraria but I
don't like either of those in quite the same way. The first Asplenium is
growing wonderfully in the wall beside the path of our local pub and I
never
fail to admire it when we go there. I'm wondering if I could get it to

Those wall ferns are indeed good plants. They are spectacularly good at
living in nothing more than bits of mortar and tiny bits of soil that get
lodged in between the bricks in walls. On a good wall, they look really
cool. I have often thought about trying to grow them on my garden walls or
even house but it would probably be very hard to do. Yet, when they do it
for themselves, they can take over.


I'm interested to try one or two in the tree stumps, as I said but they
might not like that. The other thing we find interesting and annoying here
is that all around us people have valerian growing in their walls and odd
nooks and crannies but we get none here. Again and perversely, I suppose,
it's a huge favourite of mine!
--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
)

Sacha writes
I'm interested to try one or two in the tree stumps, as I said but they
might not like that.

You could try the ones that particularly like trees, polypody for
example - fairly simple fronded, fronds about 8 inches, not like the
maidenhair fern that you have (it's a tough looking thing) but different
from the usual male ferns and so on.
--
Kay

On 13/3/06 0:13, in article , "K"
wrote:

Sacha writes
I'm interested to try one or two in the tree stumps, as I said but they
might not like that.

You could try the ones that particularly like trees, polypody for
example - fairly simple fronded, fronds about 8 inches, not like the
maidenhair fern that you have (it's a tough looking thing) but different
from the usual male ferns and so on.

Thanks, Kay, that's very helpful. I'm absolutely hopeless at the proper
names of ferns because, for some reason, I've never had much to do with them
or planting them. I'll check out polypodys and see if we have any here. If
not, I'll try to get some.
--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
)

"Sacha" wrote in message
id...
On 13/3/06 0:13, in article , "K"
wrote:

Sacha writes
I'm interested to try one or two in the tree stumps, as I said but they
might not like that.

You could try the ones that particularly like trees, polypody for
example - fairly simple fronded, fronds about 8 inches, not like the
maidenhair fern that you have (it's a tough looking thing) but different
from the usual male ferns and so on.

Thanks, Kay, that's very helpful. I'm absolutely hopeless at the proper
names of ferns because, for some reason, I've never had much to do with
them
or planting them. I'll check out polypodys and see if we have any here.
If
not, I'll try to get some.

there are 2 or 3 native ones (Polypodium) and I have seen some exotic ones
in botanic gardens.
The native ones grow along branches and up tree trunks in teh west of
Ireland where it is wet enough.
They even grow on shaded stone walls, as long as there is enough moss etc.

--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
)

"Sacha" wrote in message
id...
On 12/3/06 23:06, in article , "Des
Higgins" wrote:


"Sacha" wrote in message
id...
snip
Asplenium
trichomanes is the one I'm thinking of, as Des also suggested. It's one
of
those tiny plants that I find really enchanting but never know the name
of.
The Ceterach officinarum is familiar and so is the A. ruta-muraria but I
don't like either of those in quite the same way. The first Asplenium
is
growing wonderfully in the wall beside the path of our local pub and I
never
fail to admire it when we go there. I'm wondering if I could get it to

Those wall ferns are indeed good plants. They are spectacularly good at
living in nothing more than bits of mortar and tiny bits of soil that get
lodged in between the bricks in walls. On a good wall, they look really
cool. I have often thought about trying to grow them on my garden walls
or
even house but it would probably be very hard to do. Yet, when they do
it
for themselves, they can take over.


I'm interested to try one or two in the tree stumps, as I said but they
might not like that. The other thing we find interesting and annoying
here
is that all around us people have valerian growing in their walls and odd
nooks and crannies but we get none here. Again and perversely, I suppose,
it's a huge favourite of mine!

Christopher Lloyd used to grow that on old retaining walls (I only know this
from a picture book of his; I have never been to Great Dixter).
Here in Dublin, you get masses and masses of it along the railway lines (the
3 colours, red, pink and white).
It has a reputation for wrecking mortar so keep it to walls tat do not
support parts of yer house :-).




--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
)

On 13/3/06 10:15, in article
, "Des Higgins"
wrote:


"Sacha" wrote in message
id...
On 12/3/06 23:06, in article , "Des
Higgins" wrote:


"Sacha" wrote in message
id...
snip
people have valerian growing in their walls and odd
nooks and crannies but we get none here. Again and perversely, I suppose,
it's a huge favourite of mine!

Christopher Lloyd used to grow that on old retaining walls (I only know this
from a picture book of his; I have never been to Great Dixter).
Here in Dublin, you get masses and masses of it along the railway lines (the
3 colours, red, pink and white).
It has a reputation for wrecking mortar so keep it to walls tat do not
support parts of yer house :-).

We haven't tried getting it going in our walls but if we do, it would be the
one that runs round the garden! The strange thing is that we are surrounded
by it. Not only is it in profusion in neighbouring villages, a wall mere
yards from here is full of it. But it's as if someone has drawn an
invisible line either side of our house from the nearest neighbour to the
other end of the village. I can only suppose that it's something to do
with a change in the type of mortar used in building, perhaps. Do you think
it could be the cause?
--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
)

"Sacha" wrote in message
id...
On 13/3/06 10:15, in article
, "Des Higgins"
wrote:


"Sacha" wrote in message
id...
On 12/3/06 23:06, in article , "Des
Higgins" wrote:


"Sacha" wrote in message
id...
snip
people have valerian growing in their walls and odd
nooks and crannies but we get none here. Again and perversely, I
suppose,
it's a huge favourite of mine!

Christopher Lloyd used to grow that on old retaining walls (I only know
this
from a picture book of his; I have never been to Great Dixter).
Here in Dublin, you get masses and masses of it along the railway lines
(the
3 colours, red, pink and white).
It has a reputation for wrecking mortar so keep it to walls tat do not
support parts of yer house :-).

We haven't tried getting it going in our walls but if we do, it would be
the
one that runs round the garden! The strange thing is that we are
surrounded
by it. Not only is it in profusion in neighbouring villages, a wall mere
yards from here is full of it. But it's as if someone has drawn an
invisible line either side of our house from the nearest neighbour to the
other end of the village. I can only suppose that it's something to do
with a change in the type of mortar used in building, perhaps. Do you
think
it could be the cause?
--

This is on;ly part of an answer but...
wikkipedia never ceases to amaze me .... here is the entry for it:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Valerian

It says it tolerates lime well and hence can grow in lime mortar.
Maybe your mortar is more recent? Lime mortar was the standard mortar in
times past.
In other words, I have no idea :-)



Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
)

On 13/3/06 10:38, in article
, "Des Higgins"
wrote:


"Sacha" wrote in message
id...
On 13/3/06 10:15, in article
, "Des Higgins"
wrote:
snip
This is on;ly part of an answer but...
wikkipedia never ceases to amaze me .... here is the entry for it:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Valerian

It says it tolerates lime well and hence can grow in lime mortar.
Maybe your mortar is more recent? Lime mortar was the standard mortar in
times past.
In other words, I have no idea :-)

I don't know what mortar was used but the stone was taken from a quarry just
a few fields up and now disused and the house was built in 1851. The
architect was the man who designed Truro and Brisbane cathedrals, so he
obviously made a bit of a 'thing' out of ecclesiastical buildings, as this
used to be the vicarage! I have looked him up on Google but found out
little about him or his preferred building methods etc. However, I imagine
that lime mortar would have been used in the mid 1800s? The walls don't
have a lot of things growing in them, just a few ferns and Leycesteria which
looks particularly strange and gangly!
--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
)