Cinnamon Fern - Osmunda bipinnata
A great versatile fern that tollerates sun, shade, is deer resistant and is well behaved. An ideal low maintenance plant.
| Cinnamon Fern | Perennial |
|---|---|
| Bloom Time | Spring and Summer |
| Light | Sun, Part Sun To Full Shade |
| Water | Average to Rich -Moist |
| Diseases | Rust |
| Pests | Relatively Pest Free |
| Propagation | Divisions, Spores |
| Color | Brown Fronds |
| Zones | 4 - 10 |
| Features | Attractive Foliage,Fall Color,Tolerates Wet Soil,Deer Resistant,Easy to Grow |
Cinnamon Fern: Big, beautiful and easy going, with 3-foot foliage and unusual coffee-colored stamens that look exactly like cinnamon sticks!
The Cinnamon Fern adds woodsy charm to gardens. Choice plants.
The Cinnamon Fern is one of those plants that you can plant and forget in your bed or border. About the only real need for this plant is plenty of water if planted in a sunny area.
The Osmunda will bless you with beautiful fiddle heads in early spring before sending out bright green fronds, filling up your bed area. It then shoots up the beautiful green cinnamon stamens that look like cinnamon sticks - thus the name.
This plant looks great in a shady setting, surrounded by ferns of different sizes, colors and density.
The Osmunda is also deer resistant, which is particularly nice in a woods setting. Disease is minimial with the occasional outbreak of rust being possible, although I can say that I have never had that issure with by bed of Osmunda.
Divide clumps in spring or fall.
Can also propagate by sowing spores immediately when they become ripe in summer.
Spores can lose viability if planting is delayed.
Cinnamon Fern: Cinnamon Fern - Perennial. Sterile brown fiddlehead fronds emerge from the center of a symmetric clump and turn pale green as they mature, later turning golden brown before dying back for winter.
Joe-Pye Weed:
Bold plants need bold partners. Joe-Pye weed is a perfect partner for ferns in stature and their liking for damp places.
Iris:
The swordlike foliage of Siberian iris is a good foil for the osmunda fronds that are enlivened by the colorful iris flowers. Both enjoy moist soil in sun or light shade.
Lobelia:
At waterside, cardinal flower and cinnamon fern are fine companions. Both foliage textures and the jewel colors of cardinal flower make for an interesting scene.
Hosta:
Hosta's bold-textured foliage plays off well against fine-textured ostrich fern fronds in beds and borders.
Cinnamon Fern: Luxuriant and beautiful in cool, shady, problem spots you may have around your home or garden.
Extremely hardy, our Cinnamon Ferns will give you year after year of lush cool fronds, which often reach 5' feet in length. For low maintenance plants, fern should be your first choice..
These ferns make an ideal ground cover along shady garden paths. The can get quite large, so a place in the background or the mid-section of a border is appropriate, with smaller ferns or a bed of hosta in front of them looks great.
I planted a bed of Osmunda along my garden pond, directly next to the waterfall. I arranged them so the fronds gently overhand the waterfall to give it a natural appearance.
The Cinnamon Ferns are slow growers and you will be pleased with how well behaved they are. If you have your garden in a rather large area, look for volunteers downwind from the patch of ferns. I have found babies as far away as 400' from the parents.
One of the nice features of this fern that separates if from the rest is that it will tollerate some sun, as long as it can get enough water so as not to dry out.
Try planting the Osmunda along a shady area next to the garage or house, where it may be difficult to raise anything but hosta or ground covers.
Cinnamon Fern
Cinnamon Fern: First foliage looks like cinnamon sticks. Divide in spring before growth starts.
Spread very slowly. Foliage: Dark, waxy-green, later cinnamon-brown. 6-8 inch wide, 24-26 inch long. Often called Fiddle Heads.
Spacing: Space 36" to 48" apart when planting.
Fertilizer: During the growing season, apply a half-strength fertilizer monthly.
Water/Soil Requirements: Rich soil, evenly moist and well-drained to constantly moist or wet. Prefers acidic soil.
Make sure to enrich soil with leaf mold or compost. During the growing season, water freely; sparingly in winter.
Pruning: Only clean up dead fronds in the fall. Otherwise no maintenance is required for this plant
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