We may have had lady ferns planted in the woodland garden at one time, but they have died out since then and only left male ferns. However, some lady fern sporelings appear in pots in the greenhouse on a fairly regular basis, so I still have one that I planted out in the native plant garden this year. These are graceful and impressive ferns, reaching a grand size. Ferns are notoriously useless as food web plants, but I figure they probably serve a greater ecological purpose than humans realize, so I’m planting them, anyway. Besides, they are beautiful.

My 2020 plans for this plant are to keep it watered well through the autumn and pull the mulch away as needed so it doesn’t interfere with the fiddleheads next spring.