Cheilanthes eckloniana 'Naude's Neck'

(aka: Notholaena eckloniana) One of the most exciting plants that we saw on our 2005 expedition to South Africa was a desert sun fern, Cheilanthes eckloniana. Although we have only dropped to 9 degrees F since we have had it in the garden, it has remained evergreen so far. The steely, blue-green, deer-resistant fronds emerge from the hairy tan croziers to form a 1' tall x 20" wide rock garden-sized clump. These spore-grown offerings are from plants growing along the road to Naude's Neck Pass at around 8,000' elevation. Cheilanthes eckloniana is named after the 1800's Danish plant collector Christian Ecklon.