Deparia

This naturally occuring hybrid Deparia comes to us via plantsman Lance Reiners. Forms a clump of glossy dark green single fronds, each of which is marked by an extremely crenate margin, think scrapbooking scissors. The overall effect is rather eel-like and somewhere between a small blechnum and a tongue fern. Very unusual and quite attractive, wants a wet but well drained spot. Should be hardy down to Zone 7 given its parentage but will possibly go slightly lower.

This deciduous and broadly distributed Asian fern boasts alternately pinnate fronds up to nearly 2' long that gives it a certain je ne sais quoi while not straying too far from the archetypical fern appearance. Pair that with its ease, tolerance for deep shade, reliability and you get a surprisingly well-rounded do-er considering its uncommon availability on the market.

Another one of those hyphenated names which pique our interest beyond sane rationale no doubt due to some character defect on our part but there is nothing defective about this Japanese gem. Glossy evergreen leaves are evocative of Blechnum which is high praise in our book. Gently, almost apologetically creeps to form a congenial aggregation of crowns. This formerly was placed in different genera such as Diplazium and Lunathyrium and one can sometimes find this plant labeled as such. Thanks to plantsman Lance Reiners for sharing this with us.