Clivia Miniata

Another awesome underplanter to tree ferns is the Clivia species. There are a few variations, but the C. Miniata is the most commonly available.

This can be planted out during the Spring, Summer and Autumn and brought back in for the Winter. You can plant it direct or sink it in pots.

The dark, thick foliage is very rich and contrasts very well with the brown trunks or light green fronds of ferns. During the growing season it likes to be kept moist and shaded. If the Summer sun hits this plants leaves then they will fry and never recover.

Clivia flower in the Spring, red, yellow or orange clumps. They spread mainly through suckers which can be separated into new plants, though I think they look nicer as a huge clump. They prefer to be on the dry side for Winter, so bring them in and forget about them.

Agapanthus Africanus

Commonly available and root hardy this particular type of Agapanthus is perfect for both ferneries and palmeries. I'm not so interested in the flowers, more the dark shiney broad leaves they produce. These look fantastic when set in large clumps around rocks between palms or tree ferns.

If you want Agapanthus to flower you need to give them good sunlight. If you don't want them to flower (like me) give them shade. They do not like boggy ground even though they look like lillies. They don't like dry ground either so ensure good moisture by clumping them close to each other.

In the Winter the foliage will usually die back at around -5c. The roots will remain intact though, even at -10c. In the new year they will spring up more leaves fairly quickly and sucker roots will spring up new plants.

You can keep them in pots if you like, but they spread faster if you leave them in the ground outside. Agapanthus are still fairly expensive in garden centres, which is a little irritating as they are always planted out as medium to large sized groups in any planting scheme.

Polystichum Proliferum - A Stumpy Tree Fern

Not quite a tree fern, more of a stump fern :) This guy grows under the feet of Australian tree ferns and will eventually grow a short dark brown stump, from which will emerge loads and loads of very dark green, stiff fronds.

The interesting thing about this guy is that if you pin one or more of the leaves to the ground a baby one will grow from the tip. This means that you can fairly quickly cover ground with these guys. Keep the frond(s) pinned down until the baby takes root.

They should be grown in damp shaded areas. They are 100% imprevious to anything the Winter will throw at them. Their fronds last all year round and throughout the Summer it will grace you with 20 or 30 new fronds. I really love this fern. It ticks all the boxes and should be in everyone's garden.

Calathea – Perfect Fernery Choice

There are absolutely loads of variations of Calathea. Some grow low, some shoot to 3 feet. They are primarily indoor plants, but there is no reason why you cannot use them outside in the milder weather.

Calathea require low light. Too much and they will shrivel. They also like humidity so the best place for them is in a fernery setting... with your tree ferns for example.

They are pretty cheap houseplants, so you can buy a whole bunch of them and pot them up together in a standard plastic plant pot. Then dig a hole in your fernery, put some gravel or wood chip into the bottom of the hole, then sink the pot into it. Simple as that and an instant interest among your fern collection.

Calathea spread underground, so once they get too big break them off into clumps and start all over again. I have also noticed that from time to time the whole plant will appear to die off. I have no idea why, but give it time and new leaves will emerge and it will look as good as new.
Remember to bring them in for Winter :D

Phormium Cookianum

The other 'true' Phormium. Unlike the Tenax however these curl and droop their leaves. Again, there are hundreds of colourful flavours now and garden centres still command a high price for them.

Unlike Tenax these don’t seem to attract mealy bugs so much... dunno why? They need room to move though as they get bigger and bigger and bigger with each year and will soon crowd any neighbouring plants out. If they are happy they will shoot out massive spikes carrying rather uninteresting flowers on them. These spikes are easy to walk into, so watch your eyes :D

In heavy frosts they curl their leaves up which can easily make you think it is being damaged, but I have never seen any damage on mine. They have suffered -10c at least with no protection and in pots, or even bare rooted !!! No amount of sun or cold can harm these guys and they look great too once they have gained in size.