FERNS
- Bracken Fern
- Pteridum aquilinum
- Light: part sun to shade
- Height:1-4'
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- Culture and Notes: The most common fern in New England with distinct three parted blades on top of long stalks. Moist to dry well-drained soils will support a large colony of creeping rhizomes. The young fiddleheads, covered in silvery gray hair, are one of the first to unfold in the spring and are so deliciously edible they were once used for monetary bartering in the middle ages.
- Christmas Fern
- Polystichum acrostichoides
- Light: part shade to shade
- Height: 12-24"
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- Culture and Notes: An easily recognizable member of mixed hardwood forests with sturdy evergreen fronds that form neat clumps up to three feet wide over time. Ideal soil is slightly acidic and well-drained.
- Cinnamon Fern
- Osmunda cinnamomea
- Light: part shade to shade
- Height: 3-5'
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- Culture and Notes: Tall large clumps of bright green arching fronds are found in moist acidic soils. Fertile fronds mature to the color of cinnamon sticks later in the season. Loose colonies may form from underground rhizomes.
- Hay-scented Fern
- Dennstaedtia punctilobula
- Light: part sun to shade
- Height: 15-30"
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- Culture and Notes: This soft textured fern is a rapid spreader in open meadows and lightly wooded slopes. Beautiful chartreuse fronds have a soft textured appearance that looks stunning en masse. Fronds turn golden-bronze in fall.
- Interrupted Fern
- Osmunda claytoniana
- Light: shade
- Height: 3-4'
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- Culture and Notes: This fern is “interrupted” by the spore structure located in the middle of the stalk between leaflets. A unique fern for added texture. A vulnerable and protected plant in the state of New York.
- Maiden Hair Fern
- Adiantum pedatum
- Light: part sun to shade
- Height: 12-30"
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- Culture and Notes: A slow growing fern found in rich moist deciduous woodlands. Maidenhairs send up a horizontal fan of delicate fronds one to two feet above the ground. Often accompanied by carpets of wild leeks and trillium
- Northern Lady Fern
- Athyrium filix-femina
- Light: part shade to shade
- Height: 1-2'
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- Culture and Notes: A smallish clump-forming fern preferring the rich, moist, well-drained soils of woodland settings. Long feathery bright green foliage with reddish veins look beautiful planted among shady companions such as Silver Sedge, Jack-in-the-Pulpit and Wild Ginger.
- Ostrich Fern
- Matteuccia struthiopteris
- Light: part shade to shade
- Height: 2-4'
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- Culture and Notes: Stately feather-shaped fronds are highly ornamental and make a striking backdrop for bright water-loving perennials like Blazing Star. This elegant fern will grow from vigorous underground runners in moist to wet soil. The more consistent moisture available, the more sun tolerant the fern will be. Edible fiddleheads.
- Royal Fern
- Osmunda regalis
- Light: part shade to shade
- Height: 2-5'
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- Culture and Notes: Tall, arching, light green fronds resemble the leaves of the black locust tree. With a little light and sufficient moisture these will slowly form showy clumps as wide as they are tall.
- Sensitive Fern
- Onoclea sensiblis
- Light: shade to sun (if kept wet)
- Height: 1-3'
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- Culture and Notes: Deeply-lobed dark green fronds will happily spread in wet meadows, woods or boggy areas. Fertile fronds of dark brown persist through the winter. Can be a problem without enough room to grow, but in the right spot it becomes a deep green wonderfully textured ground cover.
- Wood Fern
- Dryopteris marginalis
- Light: part sun to shade
- Height: 12-18"
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- Culture and Notes: Bright chartreuse fronds unfurl in the spring and change to dark blue-green in summer. Common on rocky, wooded slopes, it adapts well to the garden in both moist and drier sites. Easier to maintain in the garden than other ferns because it does not spread rapidly.
Professional Pricing is available for retail nursery centers, landscapers, educational programs and non-profits. Please call 413-274-3433 for details.
Project Native, Inc. 342 North Plain Road (Route 41) Housatonic, MA 01236 Phone (413) 274-3433 Fax (413) 274-3464