Ferns – Deciduous or Evergreen ?

Ferns – Deciduous or Evergreen. I’ve set out below the ferns we grow and a note as to whether they keep their leaves or not over winter.

Adiantum – deciduous

Adiantums reliably loose their fronds each winter, leaving a forest of wire thin stalks.

Adiantum pedatum Aleuticum

Asplenium scolopendrium

Asplenium – evergreen

Harts Tongue Ferns are reliably evergreen, usually looking fairly good until the new fronds appear. A harsh winter may damage the fronds and make them a little ratty, but on the whole they look good.

Athyrium – deciduous

Come the winter, harsh or mild, the fronds of athyriums crisp up and lay flat to the ground.

Athyrium otophorum ‘Okanum’

Dryopteris wallichiana

Dryopteris – semi-evergreen

The Dryopteris vary as to their degree of evergreen(ness), and this varies with the harshness of the winter. The most evergreen are the asiatic D.erythrosora and D.lepidopoda. I na mild winter D.affinis and others can keep their fronds, but outside they will usually have collapsed somewhat.

Matteuccia – deciduous

The shuttlecock fern is fully deciduous.

Matteuccia struthiopteris

Polypodium vulgare

Polypody – evergreen

These smaller ferns tend to be fully evergreen.

Polystichum – evergreen

Polystichums are evergreen and usually look good right until the new fronds emerge. Polystichum munitum tends to look particularly good, earning the name ‘Christmas Fern’.

Polystichum setiferum ‘Plumosum Densum’

 

Ferns – deciduous or Evergreen