Wayside

About Wayside

Quarter acre garden shaded by mature trees. The planting has been adapted to take full advantage of the dry shade. The Wayside fern collection is considered by Pteridologists to be one of the best in a private garden in the UK. Most of the native fern species are included in the collection. More than one hundred different garden cultivars of British native ferns are grown, together with several foreign species that have proved hardy in Oxfordshire, and is featured in ‘Ferns for a cool temperate climate’ by Martin Rickard.

The fern genus Polystichum is well represented and includes thirty cultivars within six species, with some rare cultivars of Polystichum setiferum and Asplenium scolopendrium. Unusual species of tree ferns are grown in a large fern house , together with exotic flowering plants. Sub tropical ferns are displayed in a conservatory. A pergola leads from the woodland fernery to a more open aspect where herbaceous plants are grown including many unusual perennials and bulbs. Clematis have been introduced to climb through fruit trees and topiary specimens while mixed borders contain a wide range of other shrubs. Autumn colour starts in September from Acers, Ginkgo and Liquidambar. Silk trees (Albizia) flower in August at the same time as evergreen Polypodium ferns unfurl new fronds.