Ferns
9 ferns. 6 of them still have fronds in February, and 4 will grow in dry shade — two facts that cut across each other, and neither of which is on a plant label.
Not all ferns want damp ground
It is the commonest thing said about ferns and it is wrong about the ones you are most likely to need. The male fern and the soft shield fern are standard answers to dry shade — the position under an established tree or against an overhung north wall that defeats almost everything else — while the lady fern and the ostrich fern genuinely do need reliable moisture and sulk without it. On a nursery bench in April they look similar enough that the distinction is worth checking before buying.
Dry shade, and damp shade
The division that decides whether the plant lives. Both columns are shade — it is the ground that differs.
Takes dry shade — 4
Tolerant of the root competition and rain shadow under a mature tree or hedge. They still want a decent start: dry shade kills far more newly planted things than established ones, so water through the first two summers and mulch.
Wants reliable moisture — 5
Streamside and damp-woodland plants. The ostrich fern in particular runs by rhizome where it is happy, which is a virtue in a big damp shady space and a nuisance in a small border.
Which ones are there in winter
It decides both what the corner looks like in February and — more practically — when the old fronds come off.
A deciduous fern is tidied in autumn once it has collapsed. An evergreen one is left strictly alone until the new croziers unfurl in spring, and then the old fronds are cut away at the base; shearing it over in November removes the entire point of having planted it. The semi-evergreen middle case holds its fronds through a mild winter and loses them in a hard one, so it is worth having for winter cover and not worth relying on for it.
| Plant | Foliage | In a container |
|---|---|---|
| Golden-scaled male fernDryopteris affinis | Semi-evergreen | Workable in a container, with conditions |
| Hard shield fernPolystichum aculeatum | Evergreen | Good in a container long-term |
| Hart's tongue fernAsplenium scolopendrium | Evergreen | Good in a container long-term |
| Lady fernAthyrium filix-femina | Deciduous | Workable in a container, with conditions |
| Maidenhair spleenwortAsplenium trichomanes | Evergreen | Good in a container long-term |
| Male fernDryopteris filix-mas | Semi-evergreen | Good in a container long-term |
| Ostrich fernMatteuccia struthiopteris | Deciduous | Not a realistic container plant |
| Royal fernOsmunda regalis | Deciduous | Not a realistic container plant |
| Soft shield fernPolystichum setiferum | Evergreen | Good in a container long-term |
Ferns in pots
A shady doorway or a north-facing basement area is one of the few positions where a container is genuinely the easiest answer.
The constraint is drying out rather than cold — a fern in a pot in a shaded spot needs checking through summer, because the leaf area is large relative to the reservoir and a fern that dries to crisping does not push a second flush the way a hosta will.
| Plant | Foliage | In a container |
|---|---|---|
| Hard shield fernPolystichum aculeatum | Evergreen | Good in a container long-term |
| Hart's tongue fernAsplenium scolopendrium | Evergreen | Good in a container long-term |
| Maidenhair spleenwortAsplenium trichomanes | Evergreen | Good in a container long-term |
| Male fernDryopteris filix-mas | Semi-evergreen | Good in a container long-term |
| Soft shield fernPolystichum setiferum | Evergreen | Good in a container long-term |
Planting them in a woodland layer
Ferns are an understorey, and they read best with something at ground level under them rather than bare soil.
The combination that works is a shade-tolerant shrub above, ferns as the middle layer, and evergreen groundcover beneath — epimedium, vinca or ajuga — so the soil is covered when the deciduous ferns are gone. The shrub hub carries the shade-tolerant shrubs and the groundcover list.
Ready-made lists from this group
Computed from the same fields as the tables above.
Every fern, compared
| Plant | Foliage | In a container |
|---|---|---|
| Golden-scaled male fernDryopteris affinis | Semi-evergreen | Workable in a container, with conditions |
| Hard shield fernPolystichum aculeatum | Evergreen | Good in a container long-term |
| Hart's tongue fernAsplenium scolopendrium | Evergreen | Good in a container long-term |
| Lady fernAthyrium filix-femina | Deciduous | Workable in a container, with conditions |
| Maidenhair spleenwortAsplenium trichomanes | Evergreen | Good in a container long-term |
| Male fernDryopteris filix-mas | Semi-evergreen | Good in a container long-term |
| Ostrich fernMatteuccia struthiopteris | Deciduous | Not a realistic container plant |
| Royal fernOsmunda regalis | Deciduous | Not a realistic container plant |
| Soft shield fernPolystichum setiferum | Evergreen | Good in a container long-term |
One thing worth saying plainly, because it is visible in the tables above and looks like a coincidence: every fern here that takes dry shade is also evergreen or semi-evergreen, and every one that needs reliable moisture is deciduous. That is not how the catalogue was assembled — it is what leathery fronds are FOR. A fern that keeps its leaves through the winter has to survive without replacing them, and the same construction is what carries it through a dry summer in the rain shadow of a hedge. The coverage page records the consequence: the “evergreen ferns” list is currently held back as a near-duplicate of this one, because in this catalogue the two questions have exactly the same six answers.
Know the position rather than the plant? What can I grow? takes your light, soil, space and month and answers from this same catalogue — including which ferns it rules out for you and why.