Ferns in Kansas

Every now and then I fall into a rabbit hole while gathering information about the most fascinating thing imaginable--for the moment at least.  For two days now,  I've been obsessing over ferns.  I'm recording here what I learned partly so that I can find the information again when I need it.

I feel intoxicated with the opportunity to plant some shade-loving plants, now that, since we moved back to this place, I have for the first time a nice shady spot near the house for planting.  Already present are several pretty hostas, several coral bells, lily-of-the-valley, a bleeding heart (bought this year with gift card money), a lime-green-leaved, magenta-flowered spiderwort, and some lamb's ear,  I'm still hoping for two plants:  a lady's mantle and a fern.  

The lamb's ear has been growing in that spot for more than 20 years, having been planted there before the nearby trees and shrubs grew enough to provide this much shade.  I'm not sure that they really like as much shade as they're getting, but they're surviving.

If you can picture the plants I've named, you'll know that many of them have colorful foliage with a variety of leaf-shapes and textures.  None have bold flowers, but some have exquisite colors and delicate textures.  I'll start some lady's mantle from seeds, but I can't do that with the fern.  I want to plant something that will thrive in the environment I have to offer.  Discovering what that might be launched me right into the above-mentioned rabbit hole.

Typically, the best way to insure that the site and the plant are a good match is to choose something that thrives in the wild in this area under similar circumstances.  If you're from Kansas, and you've ever seen a fern growing in the wild in Reno County, I'd like to hear from you.  Somewhere in the deep recesses of my brain, I remember either my one of my brothers or sons talking about having spied some ferns in Mahlon Wagler's shelterbelt, so that's the only clue I have to the whereabouts of local wild ferns.  I don't know what kind they were and the person I heard it from certainly didn't know.  The point is that ferns are hardly ever found growing on the Kansas plains.  

I'm sure you're wondering why I bother with ferns, if the idea of planting them seems doomed from the get-go.  I'm blaming someone from Wichita.  That man, whose name I've long since forgotten, once lectured and charmed a Gathering for Gardener's audience for almost an hour with photos of and tidbits about the dozens of different hardy ferns he grew in his backyard.  For some of the varieties he grew, the plant hardiness data he was able to verify after tracking winter temperatures and survival records, changed what had been accepted truth in the horticultural literature until that time.  In other words, he found many ferns to be hardy in his Zone 6 yard that had never been thought to be hardy that far north.  

Two serendipitous sources of information are helping me.  One is a 150-plus page book on ferns, one of the many volumes on plants and landscapes published in the late 1970s by Time-Life Books. "Ferns" is the title.   Hiromi had purchased the whole set, one volume per month, before we were married.  I've referenced these books countless times.  The one I consulted today contains an encyclopedia of ferns in the back of the book, with colored pictures.  

The other is an internet find that opens up a host of wonderful prospects for this teacher-at-heart.  Unknown to me until now,  Emporia State University (formerly Emporia StateTeacher's College) has for years published one or more natural science booklets each year.  The series is called "Kansas Naturalist News."  Each publication is offered free to Kansas teachers in a hard copy format, and 165 of the 180 are visible, downloadable, and printable online.  In 1967, a very competent high school student from Shawnee produced a booklet called simply "Ferns in Kansas." It was the first time that one of these booklets had been written by a high school student.  Here's the link for that booklet.  

Part of the booklet consists of an encyclopedia of 29 ferns that grow in Kansas, with a listing of its common and botanical names.  Each entry contains a black and white drawing, a range map of Kansas counties, showing each one where the fern was found growing, and several paragraphs describing the plant and its preferred habitat.  As anyone familiar with our region might guess, by far the majority of the ferns are found in the eastern third of the state, where rainfall is higher and trees (thus shaded areas) are more numerous.  I can't help wondering if this choice of species reflects reality entirely, or if it's because Shawnee where the student lived is near the eastern border, exactly where you would expect a high school student from there to have explored.  

Only one fern is listed as occurring naturally in Reno County.  It's the Slender Lipfern (Cheilanthes Feei).  It grows "in the open on dry rocks or cliffs of limestone or sandstone."  I have no idea where to find rocks or limestone cliffs in the open in this county.  Again, if you're from here, and you know, please talk to me.  

Actually, in my very shady spot near the house, I suspect the micro-climate created there would easily accommodate almost any of the other ferns that grow in moist, shady areas in Kansas, as long as I plant kinds that don't require running water, for example, or as long as I plant only kinds that are clearly hardy at least as far north as zone 6b, which is where we live.  

In case you're concerned, I will tell you that I would be very cautious about wild-harvesting any ferns I might find.  It seems responsible to me take anything only when an abundance is present, and then only to take a minimal amount.  In some states, laws are very strict about what plant materials can legally be "lifted" from public lands of any kind--not just parks, but roadways, etc.  In my opinion, the mowing and spraying policies implemented by our public workers are far more destructive of native plants than anything I would ever think of carrying out.  

Back to ferns . . . I have only one catalog listing hardy ferns for sale--Bluestone Perennials. None of them are the same as the hardy ferns of Kansas.  I will need to gamble on planting what is available in the trade or keep looking for other suppliers, or find an abundant wild population--or do without.  After spending all that time buried in fern lore, I'd like to have an actual plant to show for it.   Or maybe--who knows?--there's another yet-to-be-discovered good reason for having immersed myself for two days in learning about ferns.

*****************

For a listing of all the available publications in the Kansas Naturalist News series, check out this link.  With a thumbnail picture of the booklets are listed several options.  Nearly all of them have both an online edition and a pdf edition.  Some have been translated into other languages, and some have supplements or other additions to the original publication.  When I clicked on the pdf edition, I could print out a full-page-sized format of the booklet on ferns.  It was 16 pages long (I only printed eight pages--the encyclopedia section).

Books from the past 20 years are more colorful than earlier ones.  The publication volume per year seems to have slowed down recently, however--one book instead of four per year, for example.  Maybe this reflects the fact that a lot of work has already been done, and maybe some of the slowdown is related to funding shortfalls.  

If you're a homeschool parent for whom these materials would be helpful, I urge you take advantage of the opportunity offered by this university in our state.  I'm also hopeful that many of these books can be a useful addition to the school  library.