Not such a shady character

Cheilanthes tormentosa, the Woolly Lip Fern

A xeric fern for sunny and dry spots

If you are a lover of ferns, but find your garden is too sunny and dry for them, then maybe you need to explore this genus a little deeper. Ferns are an incredibly large and diverse group of plants, having colonised nearly every continent on the planet.

Take Cheilanthes tormentosa for example. It’s common name of the Woolly Lip Fern, really doesn’t do it justice. It is a creeping evergreen fern, with fronds a silvery-green in colour. This is a xeric fern. What is xeric I hear you ask? Xeric (short for xerophytic) meaning a group of plants that has evolved to grow in an environment with little liquid water, such as a desert or areas covered by snow or ice such as the Alps or Arctic.

Xeric ferns are not for the beginner. They do require water, but need adequate drainage, especially over the winter months. The more drainage the hardier they will be. In optimum conditions it will tolerate -20 degrees.

These ferns could be sited in a rockery or on the south or west facing side of a large, high canopied tree right next to the trunk if you can dig a hole big enough.

Other xeric ferns to try:

• Astolepis sinuata

• Cheilanthes distans

• Cheilanthes eatonii

• Cheilanthes fendleri

• Cheilanthes lanosa

• Cheilanthes lindheimeri

• Cheilanthes wootonii