Good plants for dry shade include Lamium maculatum 'White Nancy', Dryopteris affinis 'Angustata Crispa', Viburnum tinus, Sarcococca confusa, Asplenium
scolopendrium 'Angustatum'.
THE striking hart's tongue fern, Asplenium
scolopendrium, is a beauty.
However, some of our native evergreen ferns will do very well in dry shade, such as hart's tongue fern, Asplenium
scolopendrium, Polystichum setiferum, the soft shield fern and the common polypody Polypode vulgare.
Floristically these forests are characterized by the presence of Acer platanoides, Ilex aquifolium, Taxus baccata, Tilia platyphyllos, Hedera helix, Anemone nemorosa, Cardamine bulbifera, Galium odoratum and Geranium robertianum among others, as well as a significant coverage of ferns (Asplenium
scolopendrium, Athyrium filix-femina, Polystichum ssp.).
Polypodium is often accompanied by the upright shuttlecocks of Asplenium
scolopendrium, also known as the hart's tongue fern.
Mixed mating system in the fern Asplenium
scolopendrium: implications for colonization potential.
55-65 Button fern Pellaea rotundifolia 60-75 Climbing bird's nest Polypodium punctatum 60-75 fern Creeping moss Selaginella 55-60 Deer's foot fern Davallia canariensis 60-75 Hart's tongue fern Phyllitis 60-75
scolopendrium Holly fern Cyrtomium falcatum 50-75 Holly fern Poloystichum tsus- 55-65 simense Maidenhair fern Adiantum raddianum 65-75 Maidenhair fern Adiantum tenerum 65-75 Palm-leaf fern Blechnum capense 60-64 Rabbit's foot fern Polypodium aureum 55-60 Stag's horn fern Platycerium 60-75 bifurcatum Tree maidenhair Didymochlaena 60-75 truncatula Flowering Plants Achimenes Achimenes 55-60 African violet Saintapaulia ionantha 65-75 Azalea Rhododendron indicum 50-60 Basket vine Aeschynanthus 65-70 Billbergia Billbergia spp.
"Hart's tongue" ydi'r enw Saesneg arno fo a'i enw gwyddonol ydi Phyllitis
scolopendrium.
Plants that immediately spring to mind include hostas, Crocus tommasinianus, Convallaria majalis (lily-of-the-valley) and two evergreens - Asplenium
scolopendrium (hearts tongue fern) and Iris foetidissima.
Hart's tongue fern (Asplenium
scolopendrium); zones 2-9, 14-24.
