I had tried to grow a bird’s nest fern when I was young–it was a houseplant that seemed to waste away slowly in front of my eyes. It is a wonder that I became a plant person at all after that hideous, heart-breaking failure.

The hart’s tongue fern is a very similar fern and close relative to the bird’s nest fern, but lucky for it, it is perfectly hardy here and easily grown outdoors.

This tough fern growing in the woodland garden for over a decade adds a nice contrast to the frillier ferns growing in that garden.  It has tongue-like leaves that stay crisp and green most of the season. 

I noticed this year that the leaves have a lot of what appear to be chew marks, so maybe this plant is making its way into the food web despite being a non-native ornamental from elsewhere in North America.

There are no special future plans for this plant.  It seems to be doing well enough without any care and while I appreciate it, I don’t love it enough to want to propagate it or add more anywhere in the yard.