For us avid gardeners in the Pacific NW, where our damp winters create perfect climates for ferns, it is hard to imagine any garden without them.
On hikes in the Columbia River Gorge, it is the ferns growing out of a rotting log, on the side of a living trunk, or on a stone cliff face near a waterfall, that make me feel at home and deeply cared for. Ferns do not flower and may rarely be the specimen centerpieces of the home garden, but they are often responsible for the difference between a garden I want to look at from a window and a garden I want to hang out in.
Ferns add a delicate backdrop for any woodland or perennial garden.