Ralph Archer Woodland Garden

A visit to Whitehall is never complete until you have experienced the Ralph Archer Woodland Garden, a magnificent fern collection thought to be unprecedented in the region. A small fern display garden was established several years ago in collaboration with Ralph Archer, a self-proclaimed "fernatic." In the years since the garden has been designated a Hardy Fern Foundation Display Garden and evolved into what Whitehall has recently christened the Ralph Archer Woodland Garden in honor of this volunteer who has given so much of his time to make this project a reality.

A Little Bit about the Fern Garden
The Ralph Archer Woodland Garden is truly a hidden treasure that we invite you to discover during your next visit to Whitehall. In the beginning, Ralph Archer discovered good soil, but dense Euonymous groundcover on the woodland site. Archer and Whitehall's gardener experimented with ways to eliminate the Euonymous, including physical removal with spades and hard labor, as well as an attempt to injure the Euonymous with string trimmers followed with applications of Round-Up. In the end, it was discovered that the simplest technique was to smother the groundcover with cardboard and a foot or more of woodchips. A year later the beds could be planted with ferns and other woodland plants in the decayed chips and cardboard.

The woodland site had been littered with fallen tree trunks and limbs, but Archer turned this problem of the garden into what has become one of its most charming features: a stumpery. A stumpery refers to a Victorian garden design where trees logs and stumps are used for the rustic planting of ferns and other woodland plants. The most famous is at Highgrove, the private residence of the Prince of Wales. Today, there are more than 150 species, sub-species, or named cultivars in the garden, including a recent addition of 30 named Victorian cultivars. It's an absolute heaven for any "fernatic," but easily enjoyed by everyone!

A Little Bit about Ralph
Ralph first cultivated his passion for ferns some twenty years ago on his own 2-acre landscape. His wife had decided that the sunny areas of the yard would be a perfect fit for the daylilies and irises she loved so well, and Ralph began to find ways to make use of the areas that were treed and shady. He planted Japanese painted ferns and a few hostas, but it didn't take long to realize he would need many more plants to turn his project into a real landscape. He might be a "fernatic," but Ralph knew he didn't want to go bankrupt feeding his fern frenzy and decided to teach himself how to multiply his plants rather than purchasing them from garden centers.

Ralph has been raising his ferns from spores and dividing ferns ever since and has read every book he can find on this favorite subject. Today he is a member of the Hardy Fern Foundation, the American Fern Society, and the British Fern Society. He sells his ferns to farmer's markets, plant shows and other local gardeners, making enough from his sales to support his ever growing collection. A graduate of the Kentucky Master Gardeners program and advanced Master Gardeners programs, he lectures at garden study events and teaches others how to grow ferns. He has written and published numerous articles in such renowned journals as the Hardy Fern Foundation Quarterly and the British Pterdological Society Journal.

Photos by: John Nation