Christmas Fern For Springtime

Marty Young
 Adams County Master Gardener

Don't bother to check your calendar — you’re not in the wrong season! I actually planned this article so you could plan to buy and plant a Christmas fern 'Polystichum acrostichoides.’ The explanation for its name is because it stays evergreen all year. Most ferns planted outside do lose their leaves (fronds) in winter so it is very unusual to see a dark green fern with its fronds peaking up through snow in January or February. Another thought, you could plant a Christmas rose 'Helleborus niger' nearby. These plants start blooming in the late winter or early spring. Both types of plants like mostly shade to do well. The Christmas rose does bloom and comes in white, pink, and various shades of dark pink to lavender.

Maybe you haven't bought ferns in the past but they make a beautiful statement planted under trees for shade and coolness. Ferns do not bloom which is also a plus for planting in shade since their fronds are so decorative. Other than needing shade, ferns in general, are rather accepting about soil and soil moisture. They will do well in dry or moist conditions. They can take acid soil, loam, clay, sand or gravel/rock. Sometimes in a Pennsylvania forest you can find a fern growing in moss that is a thin layer on top of a rock. The Christmas fern can have fronds of 1 to 2 feet long; they grow from zone 3 through 9. The Christmas fern is a clumping fern — the rhizomatous plants will expand to form a large clump 1-2 feet wide, but will not creep or form ground cover. Some ferns such as the Ostrich fern spread by rhizomes or underground roots that will spread throughout your garden if left unchecked. If this concerns you, the Ostrich fern can be planted in a container, the same way you plant mint. After planting your new fern you can spread a mulch of pine needles, shredded bark or leaf mulch about 2 to 4 inches deep to help keep the soil cool.


  Royal ferns are also native, and add a lovely texture to any shade garden

If you want to view Ostrich ferns, 'Matteuccia struthiopteris' visit the Warehime-Myers Mansion in Hanover and tour the yard surrounding the mansion. We were given Ostrich ferns many years ago before we realized how invasive they could become. Every year we encourage people to take some of them home to their yard!

You may wonder in general how ferns reproduce. Ferns are one of the more primitive plant forms. From the above paragraph you learn that you can simply dig up a small plant and move it, but ferns also reproduce by spores. Spores appeared eons before the first flowering plants. If you turn over a fern frond, you may see many dot-like objects stuck to the underside of the leaf. These are the spores, sometimes millions of them. They come in little cases called sori. Or in some cases they are found on a separate fertile frond. When the spores ripen, they are catapulted into the wind and dispersed. The chances of a spore landing in a place with optimum conditions for growth are rare, hence the need for so many. Next, if the spore does find conditions it needs, the spore doesn't sprout into a fern. Rather it develops into an intermediate generation, a tiny plant called a gametophyte. Here the eggs and sperm are produced and fertilized to develop into the generation we know as the fern.

If you plant a Christmas fern (or any fern) you should probably water it weekly the first year; after that it probably won't need any supplemental water unless the summer is very dry. If your fern experiences leaf drop, that could be a sign that it needs to be watered. A light application of granular fertilizer designed for acid-loving plants can be applied under the fern leaves during its second year.

There is a long-range purpose to the environment by planting ferns. Species that are weedy or thrive in disturbed soil are beneficial in erosion control and soil stabilization. The rhizomes and root systems are thin and grow horizontally beneath the surface of the soil and this helps to stabilize the soil and the root systems are well branched and add moisture to the soil to prevent erosion.

Two more ferns that are native to Pa. are Lady fern Athyrium filix-Femina and Sensitive fern Onoclea sensibilis and Royal fern Osmunda regalis. These ferns like a shady and moist environment. I hope reading this article will educate more people in the use of ferns in the garden. It's good to use native plants whenever possible and there are a lot to choose from.

Read other articles on ecological gardening & native plants

Read other articles by Martie Young