Hansen's Northwest Native Plant Database

An excellent deciduous native fern which may reach 6’ tall. Spreading fan-like from their base, the fronds each form a diamond of feathery foliage.

Select a sheltered spot to protect the delicate, yellow-green herbage from wind damage. Lady Fern likes moist, even boggy, soil and shade.

Beautiful at the back of a border, the wonderful large fronds of Lady Fern are tall enough for underplanting with smaller woodland perennials such as Wild Ginger (Asarum caudatum), Bunchberry (Cornus unalaschkensis) or Western Trillium (Trillium ovatum ssp. ovatum).

Found growing across North America, Lady Fern is considered threatened in both New York and Florida. It is hardy from USDA zones 4-8. Native Americans ate the “fiddleheads” of this species.

Photo, left, credit:  Yuri Khanon

Photo, center, credit: Daderot, Berlin Botanical Garden

Photo, right, credit:  Vintotal

Photo, left, credit:  Guido Gerding

Photo, center, credit: Aroche

Photo, right, credit:  Piotrus

Photo credit:  Sten Porse

Bog habitat in Tversted Plantation, Denmark. In the foreground Juncus effusus (Common Rush), and behind that you see Vaccinium uliginosum (Bog Blueberry), Athyrium filix-femina (Common Ladyfern) and Betula pubescens (Downy Birch).

Photo credit:  Matti Virtala, Kemi, Finland

Photo credit:  4028mdk09

Photo credit:  Homer Edward Price

Photo credit:  Juandev

Photo, left, credit:  Corynis; Photo, right, credit:  Hanson59

Photo, left, credit:  James Lindsey at Ecology of Commanster; Photo, center, credit: MurielBendel; Photo, right, credit:  Andreas Egger

Normal appearance- left; sport- center; sport underside- right

Photos, above, credit:  Rosser1954