Virtues: This tough, adaptable fern is an evergreen with year-round interest for even very cold gardens. It lives up to its common name by remaining attractive at Christmastime and beyond.
Common name: Christmas fern
Botanical name: Polystichum acrostichoides
Exposure: Part to full shade
Foliage: Lance-shaped dark green fronds with triangular leaflets. Evergreen even in USDA Zone 3. In spring, the unfolding crosiers add to the plant's beauty, for each one is densely covered with silvery white scales that make it stand out dramatically against the dark older fronds.
Habit: Grows 18 to 24 inches tall in asymmetrical clumps of a similar width. Unlike some ferns, it does not creep from its planting spot, but stays in place.
Season: Year-round.
Origin: Woodlands of Maine west to Minnesota, Texas and New Mexico, and south to northern Florida.
How to grow it: Tough and adaptable, Christmas fern is easy to cultivate. Although it relishes woodland conditions and rich, moist soil, it will also grow happily in poor, rocky soil and even on dry slopes. It takes part or full shade. Do not trim old fronds until they turn brown. Good companions include ginger (Asarum), sedges (Carex), Hosta and lady fern (Athyrium filix-femina). USDA Zones 3–9.
Photo credit: Katja Schulz/CC BY 2.0
