All the Dirt on Gardening

Arborvitae ferns are ideal part-shade or full-shade plants in USDA zones 6 to 9. They are dependable perennials with positively gorgeous evergreen-tree-like foliage. Plant Delights Nursery says, "Sold under a number of incorrect names, Selaginella braunii (fern cousin) is one of the easiest spikemosses to grow in the woodland garden. The dark green, lacy, semi-evergreen fronds of arborvitae fern rise to 18" tall from a slowly creeping rhizome. In 3 years you could expect a 2' wide mass. A grouping of Selaginella braunii in a woodland setting is indeed a textural garden highlight!" Native to China, these beauties are called ferns but are Lycopods . Plant of the Week said, "-- a descendant of spore-producing plants that date back unchanged into the Permian (~320 mya or so). Tree-like relatives of this plant group produced the great coal forests of the Carboniferous. (This plant is sometimes known as a spike moss, but it is not a moss, either.) S...