Fern plants for rockery garden
Shop our range of the best fern plants for the rock garden, perfect for adding intricate, architectural foliage and bringing a sense of calm and simplicity to your rockery area. Ferns are highly versatile, ancient and mysterious plants which require very little care and attention and are untroubled by pests and diseases. The ferns for rockeries in this section are smaller growing, most topping out at little more than 50cm tall with marvellous, pinnate leaf forms which look particularly beautiful as they erupt from new fronds. Ferns grow best in partial to dense shade, so you will need to situate them in an area of the rockery that’s cast into shadow or dappled shade for at least part of the day. They make a perfect backdrop to showier plants such as flowering or berry-producing shrubs and perennials. Ferns have fibrous roots, rather than woody taproots, so grow best in an open, free-draining soil; if you have a heavier clay soil, just be sure to build in some organic matter when planting. Rock gardens are perfect for adding colour and interest to parts of the garden with shallow or poor soil. Constructed as natural-looking rocky outcrops, ideally on a slope in full sun, they work particularly well alongside ponds, water features or next to walls and can be given extra height and contours using railway sleepers if your garden is naturally flat.