84 AMERICAN FERN JOURNAL 
The Hart’s Tongue is a most charming fern, but, 
unfortunately, is not absolutely hardy in this climate. 
The very severe winter of 1917-18 killed a colony of 
large fine plants that had grown well in my garden for 
several years.- A curious thing about this plant is that 
it does not seem to really start growing in good shape 
until just before the coming of the frosts in the autumn, 
at which time it is unrolling goodly numbers of thrifty 
fronds. Since losing my fine Hart’s Tongues I bring 
all my plants into the house in the late fall, keeping 
them all winter in a cold room, where they are not sub- 
ject to the extreme low temperatures. This seems to 
be just what they want, for they get an early start— 
by March—and put out beautiful big fertile fronds 
over twenty inches in length. So when I put them 
back into the garden in the spring they are much finer 
than any that I ever had before, and I do not have to 
wait all summer to see them at their best. 
Although both Woodsia obtusa and Woodsia ilvensis 
are growing in my garden and apparently doing well, 
I have not had them long enough to be sure that they 
are absolutely established. 
The three Beech ferns are easily grown and to my mind 
are, as a family, the most satisfactory garden ferns of 
the smaller sorts. They are most effective when grouped 
in fairly good-sized colonies, each one by itself. The 
Oak fern produces larger and finer fronds in my garden 
than any I ever saw in the wild, and the Long Beech 
fern does wonderfully well. 
A small fern that does very nicely for me is the nar- 
row-leaf Chain fern. Given frequent showerings with 
the hose, it reciprocates with fine fertile fronds, if not 
in too shady a spot. 
The Fragile Bladder fern is one of our hardiest species 
and is sure to do well in the garden. It is particularly 
effective in the rockery. The Bulblet Bladder fern is 
