Evergreen ferns are one of those mainstays of the garden, they provide a dark green back drop for many plants within the woodland and shady parts of the garden. Keeping them looking their best is pretty simple and is done ideally in mid spring, such as now. It’s best to do it just as a few of the new fronds (the right name for fern leaves) are starting to unfurl. This is so you don’t damage too many of the new uncurling fronds
The tools and equipment needed are pretty simple
Secateurs
Gloves
Container for waste
This is a pretty easy task to carry out, main key points to remember is that the new fronds are quite brittle and for that reason I would Mark it 2/5 for difficulty
Here on this fern, you can see the new fronds just starting to uncurl. This is the best time to start cutting them back You can see in this photo that the old fronds are starting to lay down. This is the plant making room for the new fronds to push thoughIt’s easy to do, just grab your secateurs, trace the stem of the frond down to the base and cut it off as low as you can Here you can see the new fronds in the middle and the fronds that we have cut back are around the outsideClean out the old leaves and rubbish around the new fronds While you are cleaning out the old rubbish, just be careful, there might be a few creatures hibernating in there! Here a queen bee was disturbed and off course I left them bee
Yes, great to have you back on the screen again and providing us with timely reminders and useful, practical advice! Keep it coming. We’re never to old to learn!
It would be so much easier if they died back. Some of ours look shabby enough that we just cut them back completely. Of course, this does not work so well with tree ferns.
Good to hear from you again and I’ve just spotted the Bearded Iris post which I missed last year. That is a job I must do this year.
Thank you 😊 I’m hoping my new job will allow me to get back into more writing 👍
Yes, great to have you back on the screen again and providing us with timely reminders and useful, practical advice! Keep it coming. We’re never to old to learn!
Why thank you 😊 hoping to have a bit more time to do a bit more writing 😀
It would be so much easier if they died back. Some of ours look shabby enough that we just cut them back completely. Of course, this does not work so well with tree ferns.