LONG warm evenings in June and July are truly magical and yet it is only during these sublime summer periods that we fully appreciate this particular atmospheric time of day.
Lilies and lavender perfume fill the air producing all kinds of reactions in the family.
They bring back memories of long ago, of noses that wrinkled in childhood when hugging elderly aunts smelling of lavender-water, and of gazing at vases of highly-scented lilies standing in long, dim, tiled hallways at grandmother's house.
In winter, evenings for gardeners really don't exist, for the night comes hard and fast during the early afternoon and there is barely a chink of light between the two.
Now however, is our most favoured time to luxuriate in the warm scents, gentle movement and sympathetic sounds that fill the summer garden.
Even the light which all too often we take for granted slants quite differently for other times of the day, and other times of the year.
I sit for a few moments, then something reflective takes hold of the scene, as if, for a moment, it is vying for my attention.
Moving closer for inspection it turns out to be a plant with distinctive qualities, one more than able than most to exist in isolation, but superb also as part of the bigger picture.
I refer now to one of the dainties of hardy ferns, the long-lived, tidy-sized, Adiantum pedatum (sometimes sold as A. aleuticum) from Japan.
Unfortunately, it disappears alarmingly in winter, but, as soon as spring arrives its transparent fronds rise from the resting crown like sinewy lime-green cartwheels on top of ink-black stems.
This upper class beauty is totally hardy, long-lived as outlined and capable of seeding itself when soil conditions and shade are optimum.
I use it as a 'repeat' planting throughout the garden and thank the day I stumbled upon it quite a number of years ago.
It has remained with me ever since and comes through each winter without as much as a flinch.
The fresh green growths stand about 12 inches high with stiff fronds held almost horizontally.
Even in our somewhat unforgiving climate Adiantum pedatum seems to have adapted to quite a range of climatic and soil conditions and it shows its fondness for damp shade by seeding and creeping around in quiet corners, content to be left alone — until noticed that is.
Then, you will probably want to move it to a more prominent setting where it will make a particularly pleasing feature from early March to the first severe frosts.
It will make a sizeable clump in a few short years but it can be divided long before then if needs be. Mix it with Hostas and delight in their combination.
Present-day fern growers now realise that the interesting foliage of many ferns will furnish handsomely any damp, shady parts of the garden without needing any kind of attention.
Their leaves are among the miracles of nature and they belong to such a big family that there is almost no end to the varieties one can grow.
