Deer Fern
Blechnum spicant
4-inch pot
A native here in the Puget Sound, Deer Fern or Hard Fern, is a distinctive and elegant beauty with two different types of fronds on the same plant. One type are the evergreen sterile fronds up to 2 feet long that are stiff, leathery, pinnatifid and dark green, forming a loose outward-spreading, flattened rosette on the ground as the season progresses.
Fertile fronds up to 2 feet long are located in an erect vertical fountain in the center of the sterile frond rosette. They are similar to the sterile ones but maybe a little taller, with much thinner and widely separated leaflets. This shade-lover is excellent for shady woodland gardens or borders or streambanks.
- Fern
- Zones 5-9
- Full to partial shade. Avoid direct afternoon sunlight.
- Grows 12-18 in. high x 18-24 in. wide
- Spacing 24 in. for mass plantings
- Deer and rabbit resistant
- PNW Native