About Ferns
Ferns have an unfortunate reputation for being difficult to grow.
They certainly are different from flowering plants such as the usual bedding plants, shrubs and trees found in a typical garden. However, if their different requirements are understood, they can be grown very successfully as house plants, pot plants and in border and landscape plantings.
Water
Most NZ native ferns require moist soil. This does NOT mean WET soil. Ferns need moist free-draining soil. Moist soil will stick lightly to your finger if you push it into the soil to the second joint. The bits that do stick can be easily brushed off. Soil like this is moist and shouldn't need to be watered. To tell if your soil is free draining, dig a hole the width and depth of a spade and fill it with water. If the water drains within a couple of minutes, it is free draining. If not check out our notes on coping with clay soils. If the roots are wet for too long, oxygen cannot get to them, and they die. Damage can be caused by the low humidity of summer air (and air in a house with pot plants). Growing ferns in borders partially under shrubs and trees helps to maintain the humidity around the fronds. Mulching with bark or tree shredding helps to maintain humidity around the roots. Spraying the fronds of indoor ferns with a mist bottle 2 or 3 times a week over summer will do more for them than over-watering the pot. The Catalogue filter enables you to filter and find ferns that grow best in Damp Soil, Semi-Moist Soil or Dry Soil.
Root Growth
Fern roots tend to spread out in a shallow manner near the surface. When they are growing in a pot or a bag, the roots go out and hit the sides, then grow down. If you take a well-grown fern out of a bag, there will be a network of roots down the sides and very few roots in the middle of the ball. The roots are very brittle and easily damaged, so do not "play" with them or tease them out when planting. Put the ball straight in the hole.
Light
Most ferns are easily damage by mid-day to mid-afternoon sun but can cope with morning and late afternoon sun. So bear this in mind when placing ferns in the garden. Check the exposure to sun particularly in summer. As with many things, there are exceptions to the rule, and we have tried to indicate this in the Catalogue items. The Catalogue filter enables you to look for ferns that grow best in Full Shade, Semi Shade, Partial Sun or Full Sun.
Fertiliser
Ferns do not need high concentrations of general fertiliser. We use a thin spread of slow-release fertiliser in pots and around garden ferns twice a year.
Buttons on this page, open up more information peculiar to ferns.
You can learn the correct botanical names of the parts of a fern which are often used in descriptions of the different species.
Ferns are non-flowering but they do have a fascinating 2-part life cycle - analogous to the caterpillar and the butterfly. There is a sexual phase involving sperm and eggs in a tiny little leaf-like phase that most people have never observed.
Many of the botanical names for fern species have changed over the last 20 years. As we updated this website, we even found 3 more changes we were unaware of! Learn about the names and why they sometimes change.
Many sites for gardening or landscaping have clay soil. Learn how to deal to a clay site.