Blechnum Species, Alpine Water Fern, Antarctic Hard-Fern

This fern has been in my shade garden for four years. It requires no attention and is winter hardy.

It does cover some gr...Read Moreound. The small plant I planted four years ago is now about 36" in diameter. It is only about 4" tall.

It is interesting, as the new foliage is pinkish and then it turns green, so there is some color.

It does not spread to form a carpet of fern, at least not in my garden. It spreads, but not thickly, you can see plenty of earth between the plants.

An attractive, small fern which will spread fairly rapidly, making it a good 'filler' in between other plants.Tolerates a fair amount of ...Read Moresun if the roots are kept moist.

Blechnum penna-marina is native to Australia (New South Wales, Tasmania, and Victoria), New Zealand, Brazil, Bolivia, Argentina, and Chile.

This attractive little fern, has a very interesting distribution in the wild. It is found in Alpine regions of South-East Australia and N...Read Moreew Zealand, and is also found in South America. This makes it one of the link species from when the Southern continents were linked as Gondwanaland. I have no experience as yet of growing it, but we have recently purchased some plants to place in an alpine plant section of a local Park.