Royal Fern - Osmunda regalis
Great for naturalizing and for Part Sun or shade, plus it's easy to grow and deer and rabbit resistant.
| Royal Fern | Perennial |
|---|---|
| Bloom Time | Late Summer to Fall |
| Light | Part Shade To Full Shade |
| Water | Average to Rich -Moist |
| Diseases | Rust |
| Pests | Relatively Pest Free |
| Propagation | Divisions, Spores |
| Color | Brown Fronds |
| Zones | 3 - 10 |
| Features | Attractive foliage, Deer resistant, Naturalizing, Rabbit resistant, Wetlands plant |
Royal Fern: A beautiful, elegant fern that performs gracefully in shady gardens or woodland settings.
Plant several for a groundcover effect in a shaded area. Cut a frond or two to add to cutflower arrangements for a lovely green background.
The Royal Fern is a large, atypical fern of lakeshores and wet places, up to 6' tall.
The fronds are doubly compound and not fern-like in appearance. The Petioles (leaf stalks) roughly the length of blades, winged, with light brown hairs, smooth at maturity. The blades alike, except that fertile fronds have greatly reduced sporangia-bearing pinnae at tip.
I love the Royal Fern for many reasons. Mostly though I like the natural appearance of this plant in a woods setting. If you walk though any moist woodland area in the country, you are likely to stumble across a large bed of Royal Ferns.
The fiddle head stalks are burgandy up until the fronds open up and provide a flush of color first thing in the spring. The stalks turn brown and then golden brown in the fall.
The Royal Fern, like many other ferns will grow in concentric circles from the main plant. Where the Royal Fern differiantiates itself from many other ferns is the parent plant does not die out and keep grown in size until it reaches about its 6 foot limit in height. Truley a royal fern.
In the wild, Lady ferns can be found growing in meadows, open thickets, moist woods, and along stream beds.
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.
Royal Fern: Lovely bright yellow green fern with wide, deep cut leaves which tapered at both ends.
This large fern has multiple fronds growing from a central clump. Fronds are deciduous. Anything from partial sun to deep shade and moist soil but is heat and humidity tolerant. A real favorite of mine.
Sweet Woodruff:
Beautiful flowers and foliage develop a sweet, new-mown-hay fragrance when dried. Gives a fresh scent to potpourri and sachets, and makes a flavorful tea. Used to sweeten German May wine. Attractive in the rock garden, herb garden and as a ground cover.
Lady Fern:
A graceful fern, beautiful in shaded gardens or at woodland's edge. Complements large-leaved perennials, spring-flowering bulbs and other ferns, and is especially attractive at water's edge. Use as filler for cut arrangements. Hardy and easy to grow.
Hosta:
Perfect for the shaded garden! An outstanding foliage plant, excellent as an edging or specimen in perennial gardens or mixed plantings or as a small-scale ground cover. Attractive with ferns and astilbe. White or lavender lilylike flowers.
Royal Fern: One of the most graceful plants for shady or sunny spots in your landscape. Royal is the fern we recommend for southern gardens and can be grown in zones 3-10.
Use them as tall accents in the bog garden.
Although like most other ferns, the ideal growing condition consist of moist humus soil with light shade to dense shade.
This hardy fern also makes a nice ground cover plant on the north or east side of buildings.
In the wild, the Royal Fern grows in moist woods, moist meadows, and swamps and along streams, from lowlands to mid-elevations so if you have a pond or water feature, be sure to add this fern to your bed in that area.
This deciduous fern is a very low maintenance plant that adds a lot of esthetic value to the landscape. It looks the best when used in a natural woodland type of atmosphere.
Royal Fern A gorgeous woodland plant that adds light green accents to your shade garden.
This fern is an acidic soil lover so plant with lots of humus in the soil. Use mulch during the overwinter periods and mix in peat moss when planting.
Spacing: Space 24" minimumapart when planting. Although if left in one place for several years you will find that this fern will clump and cover and area between 5 and 7 feet.
Fertilizer: During the growing season, apply a half-strength fertilizer monthly.
Water/Soil Requirements: Ferns grow best in light shade to full shade areas. They prefer moist, rich humus soil with a slightly acidic pH (5.3 to 5.5 pH range).
Sphagnum peat moss is good to add to the soil for holding moisture and will add some acid to the soil as it decomposes. I also make mulch from my Oak leaves and mix that in the soil when first planting ferns. They love the acidic composition of the Oak mulch.
Pruning: If grown in a woodland setting, no cleanup is necessary. If you like a groomed bed you will want to prune the dead fronds in the early spring.
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