Disappointment Turned to Optimism

Mail-order plants are always a surprise. 

My first mail order plants were for my previous house.  The yard there was deer-free due to solid-fencing all around, and I wanted a lot of day-lilies and hostas, but I was reticent (read too cheap) to pay potted-plant prices.

My first order was for 85 day-lilies from Gilbert H. Wild and Sons in Missouri, a place in operation for over 100 years, and specializing in day-lilies. The box seemed quite small when it arrived, but 85 bare roots were indeed inside, and I immediately set to planting them out and, two weeks later, they were already roaring to life. Pictures here >> https://shorturl.at/jTKZX

That daylily order was followed up, two weeks later, by an order for 50 hostas from the same Gilbert H. Wild and Sons. These too came in a distressingly small box, and were immediately planted out. Pictures here >> https://shorturl.at/uKjNt

Guess what?  They too immediatly roared to life.  See >>  https://shorturl.at/uXlss

Last night 75 Hay-scented ferns were delivered from a plant place in Tennessee.  It was the smallest and lightest box yet. Had I been snookered?

Earlier in the day, in expectation of the ferns arriving, I had gathered up seven growing tubs.  These tubs have drainage holes drilled an inch or two from the bottom, so that water can pool there to get plants through drought, but also dump water, when needed, to avoid drowning them in heavy rain.

I put a deep layer of old leaves in the bottom of each tub, with a few thick sticks on top to prevent too much packing when the soil was added on top. On top of this, I opened up a bag of humus-rich topsoil.

Now for the plants.  What the hell had I bought?

Inside the box was a plastic bag, and inside it was a rats-nest of roots.  What?

Things got clear when I started to pull on the rats-nest.  Little tiny green fern sprouts were arrayed down 3-12 inch root-like rhizomes. Ah!  Got it!

I arrayed the rhizomes, with sprouts up, in the bins and covered them with a thin layer of top soil. 

Will these things grow?  Had I gotten my money’s worth?

I have no doubt.  75 ferns?  I had gotten 75 rhizomes, each with 3-10 sprouts!

Hay-scented ferns are native ferns, quite deer-resistant, and are supposed to be rapacious growers, all of which is exactly what I need in a half-acre of forest immediately behind the house, which is largely plant-free.  

I am only the second owner of this house. The previous owner had spent 27 years trying to grow grass in shade under 80-foot oaks. When the leaves came down, it was war against the leaves, and that war was ultimately lost when he moved to Florida, rented out the house, and the tenant did nothing about the leaves. When the leaves came down, of course, they killed the always-struggling grass. When I bought the house, the half acre in back was a barren, muddy mess. 

What to do?  

Having no interest in either recapitulating failure or chasing weeds for the next 20 years, I coated the entire areas in a patchwork of weed-control cloth, plastic, and cardboard, and topped it with mulch and wood chips. I added more wood chips every six months, and now —18 months later — I have a perfect weed-free substrate for ferns.

If these ferns do as well as I think they will, my next order may be for Ostrich Ferns and Christmas Ferns.