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62 The West Dorset Magazine, August 26, 2022 Homes & Gardens x Horticulture...

Born and bred in West Dorset, Dave has worked in horticulture and botany locally and internationally, notably in Belgium, Jordan and the UAE. He brings a wealth of practical knowledge with its underlying principles to his writing Beware the dangers of over-feeding and

A few weeks ago, our local West Dorset Magazine stockist seemed surprised when, during a conversation, I told her: “I’ve caused the death of many a plant.” It happens to us all, but rather than view this a failure it is better to accept it as a learning experience that can turn our fingers a slightly darker shade of green. My current ailing plant (not dead yet...) is a fern grown as a houseplant. It has done remarkably well this year until a week ago when its fronds became limp. Despite the hot weather, I knew it wasn’t dry, although all the symptoms demonstrated it was parched. I quickly realised the cause was the fern’s sensitivity to fertiliser. Despite using the same strength liquid feed on other houseplants, which resulted in growth, the opposite was true for the fern. I had inadvertently ‘scorched’ the plant. Scorched in this gardening context has nothing to do with heat, but everything to do with overfeeding. In nature, plants inhabit diverse habitats, some love high levels of nutrients, whereas others demand a much lower level. The embarrassing thing (so please keep it between us), is that I knew this fern enjoyed nutrient-poor conditions, yet for a split second I must have ‘forgotten’ this, and this became the plant’s potential downfall. So, what has happened to the plant and will it survive? Plants constantly lose water through their leaves and stems, as a result soil water (a solution of water and nutrients) needs to be constantly absorbed to replenish the loss. Absorption from the soil mainly occurs through minute root hairs. The solution enters the root via a process called osmosis (stay with me here). Put very simply, osmosis is the movement of soil solution (water and nutrients) into the root from a high to a low concentration. For a plant to take up water from the surrounding soil the concentration of minerals

NOT DEAD YET: My ailing fern has been ‘scorched’

Plant of the week:

Yarrow is one of those native plants that blooms occasionally through July and August, reaching its peak during late summer and early autumn. It is especially visible this year, flowering profusely amongst the parched vegetation of neighbouring plants. It is resilient and drought tolerant capable of surviving in closely mown lawns, yet in less manicured spaces flowering to 50cm. Its plants are often unnoticed during summer until clusters of white and/or pink daisy-like flowers erupt. Its leaves are curious, much divided and, at least to me, have a slightly odd unpleasant threedimensional texture. Plants provide food for a host of moth species while its flowers are an important food source to pollinators.

Yarrow Achillea millefolium