Plant-A-Day 2020 (Day 236) Dryopteris felix-mas

The male fern has survived well in the woodland garden–there are three or four sizeable ones there. They jump up all at once in spring with their myriad, intricate fronds expanding rapidly. Not native here, it still seems extremely happy and a bit showier than the native sword fern.

My future plans for these plants are to remember to clean up the old fronds before the new ones arrive in the spring–it makes for a more spectacular fiddlehead show. I will also pull a few fronds with spores on them into the greenhouse to see if maybe some sporeslings result.