Most people who are learning to garden go nuts for anything that blooms, and they fill their garden beds with blooming plants. This is fine for a time but soon one learns that having something blooming all the time is a goal that takes time to accomplish, and may not really be what is most desirable. As a gardener learns their craft they begin to realize there is virtue in almost every plant whether they bloom or not because texture and architecture in a garden are also very important elements.

This is where ferns really shine as they provide a strength and backbone element to any garden, providing all kinds of texture and style depending on which ferns are chosen. Ferns are amazingly resilient and tough, once they are established they don’t need very much care. Nature’s Friends Landscaping would love to help you find and place these architectural beauties to help achieve the best balance in your garden.

There are now varietals for every garden situation and many new ones have been developed over the last ten years. Some love damp or boggy soil but there are quite a few which will handle dry areas as long as the soil contains organic matter and receives somewhat regular water. In addition, ferns don’t have to just be used in a highly shaded area, they will take more sun than you realize.

These wonderful plants can be used as fillers, ground covers and specimen plants, a special fern such as a Southern Maidenhair looks fabulous in a pot. Plant a bunch of different varietals together to form a ground cover and discover how different they are from each other. Autumn ferns, Christmas ferns and Japanese Painted ferns are some of the more common ferns available, but there are many more to discover.

One more benefit to these rugged beauties, they aren’t bothered by bugs or diseases so you don’t have to use harmful to you and the environment chemicals on them. In addition none of the critters, big or small, which feast on other plants care about eating the ferns.