Polystichum acrostichoides
Growing Information
• Plant Type: Perennial
• Sunlight: Part to full shade
• Soils: Medium to Moist, well-drained
• Bloom Time: Not a flowering plant
• Size: 1-2 feet in height
This glossy green leathery fern is green year-round. It grows in clumps. Silvery fiddleheads appear in spring. It grows happily in the Cape’s sandy soils but likes it moist and shady. It will grow successfully under walnut trees. Great choice for accent, borders, mass planting as a groundcover, or as a potted plant.
Garden Companions
Violets (Viola sororia), Trout Lily (Erythronium americanum), Wild Columbine (Aquilegia canadensis), Wild Geranium (Geranium maculatum)
Nature Benefits
• Provides winter cover.
• Songbirds use parts of the plant for nesting material.
Native Habitat
Occurs in woods, stream banks, swamps, and thickets.