Hello All -
Well the 'Dog Days of Summer' have arrived and hopefully have not kept all of you inside hugging your air conditioners - you can find some cool spots out in the Garden, especially in the Fern Glade. Located at the north end of the Nature Trail, the Fern Glade is home to over 150 different species and cultivars of hardy ferns that carpet the forest floor in wonderful shades of green. These ferns are not like our tropical ferns that we must protect each winter form the cold weather - all of these ferns can stay outside all year long. Most of them will go dormant like other herbaceous perennials but a few of the selections like Holly fern, Christmas fern and Autumn fern will stay evergreen through the winter.
The Fern Glade is a wonderful spot to cool off as you walk the Garden - it is perfectly sited under a mature grove of native trees that are typical of a bottomland forest of the southeastern United States. Come rest under the spreading canopies of Sycamore, Red maple, Sweet gum, Willow oak and Black gum and enjoy the cooling effects of these wonderful ferns as you try and survive the 'Dog Days of Summer'.
