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Sunday, November 15, 2009

Christmas Fern on Stompf Tavern Road


Christmas Fern (Polystichum acrostichoides) is an especially prolific native plant in our woods. Last weekend, driving down Stompf Tavern Road, an unpaved 18th century path, now road, that drops swiftly down to the Delaware from our perch on a ridge above the river, I found Christmas Fern growing in large colonies. It seems to have a fondness for steep banks, where it is well drained, though growing in heavy clay.



This is a view of the habitat carved by an intermittent, very steep, stream.

12 comments:

  1. James, that is lovely. Thanks for stopping and taking some photos.

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  2. I like the freshness the ferns give the brown forest floor, and that last picture if very nice.

    Les

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  3. The prolific fern over here is Asplenium or Hart's togue, it's practically colonised the woods just behind.

    I sometimes move big specimens into the garden as I like the strappy foliage.

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  4. Here too. On old roads that cut through the wooded slopes that define Jockey Hollow the ferns are prolific. I've been meaning to stop an take a photo for months...thank you for yours.

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  5. Rob,
    Yes. The former owners of our house planted them in the entranceway. I have a bank out back that would make a good home too.

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  6. Susan,
    I've never been to Jockey Hollow, but I like the sound of it.

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  7. James, my wife, Karen, says that fern looks like a Boston fern or at least that's what she's always thought of a similar fern as such. Is that a secondary or tertiary name from way down South in Dixie or total bushwah? (I'll never tell her she's wrong, you understand.)
    Allan

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  8. Allan, tell Karen it isn't Boston fern. It does have a superficial resemblance, but Boston fern isn't hardy here. It's a tropical fern. Christmas fern isn't nearly as full.

    You're doing a lot of work on the house. How's the market down there?

    James

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  9. Thanks for the clarification. House setup is nearing some kind of finish...or we are! One bedroom and hall floor to clean and wax and some cleanup in a breezeway and the attached garage and we'll drive a stake through this joint's heart.
    Our realtor says the market here in Midtown Memphis is showing some real growth and that's good news. A house two doors down just sold for more money than we thought likely, so wish us luck!

    Allan

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  10. I like to see plants growing in their natural habitat. CF grow in my area as well.

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