Foxtail ferns ready for sale in a greenhouse.

Asparagus fern not a member of the asparagus family

Common name comes from the feathery, delicate-looking foliage

Many of the plants in my sunroom in the winter are ones that I use both indoors and out. Some of them are old tried-and-true favourites, such as the asparagus fern. These are dependable, easy-to-grow plants that can put on an attractive display of foliage. An asparagus fern is delicate looking (although it really isn’t)

The artillery fern is an attractive tabletop plant.

Pilea plant family has lots of species

This family contains over 600 species that are easy to grow and not demanding

Often the common name of a plant perfectly describes it, but the name is inaccurate botanically. The common name has developed over the years because of the plant’s appearance or because of some other unique attribute. Such is the case with the artillery fern, which is not really a fern at all. It got its


Fiddleheads — Free For The Picking

Some people are unapologetic foragers. They are morel hunters, berry pickers and hazelnut gatherers. Along with morels, fiddleheads are one of the most popular wild delicacies of spring, and like morel hunters, fiddlehead foragers are very secretive about their harvesting locations. Fiddleheads are the coiled, immature fronds of the ostrich fern. They acquired their name

Ferns — Great Addition To Indoor Landscape

There are many fern varieties that are grown as houseplants. They come in a wide range of sizes and the foliage can vary from long, cascading fronds to tiny button-shaped leaves. Ferns are generally divided into two groups: terrestrial and epiphytic. The first group, as the name implies, grows in soil, while the second group

Add A Fern Peony To Your Garden

The fern peony is a remarkably tough plant, and like the Chinese peony, it survives our intemperate climate just fine. One of the most cherished perennials in our garden is our beloved fern peony (Paeonia tenuifolia), which is one of the first herbaceous perennials to come into bloom in the spring garden. One reason that


Asparagus ferns — not just outdoor plants

The common asparagus fern grows from fleshy rhizomes which will often be visible on the soil surface. There are hundreds of varieties of ferns and luckily for us gardeners many of them are easy to grow in an ordinary indoor environment. One group of ferns that are dependable and beautiful houseplants are the ferns in