Royal or Flowering Fern
Osmunda regalis (OSMUNDACEAE)
Planting and Growing Royal Fern
You’ll find everything you need to know to plant and grow royal or flowering fern in the accompanying table’s tabs:
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- Foliage, spore bodies, and spores of royal or flowering fern
- Growing conditions for royal or flowering fern
- When and where to plant royal or flowering fern
- How to plant royal or flowering fern
- How to shape, prune and control growth of royal or flowering fern
- Watering, fertilizing, and care of royal or flowering fern
- Landscape uses of royal or flowering fern
- Pest and disease control for royal or flowering fern
Growing Royal Fern
A few cultivars and horticultural varieties of erect, fountain-shaped, spreading, rhizomatous, deciduous ferns, 6–8 ft. (1.8–2.4 m) tall and 3 ft. (90 cm) wide, with bronze, purple becoming deep green, double-divided, finely cut sterile leaves, to 6 ft. (1.8 m) long, and green, double-divided fertile leaves, to 4 ft. (1.2 m) long, with bunched and clustered, cream to yellow, flowerlike terminal segments bearing sporangia, or spore bodies.
Royal Fern Planting and Care Guide
Best Climates
U.S.D.A. Plant Hardiness Zones 2–10. Hardy.
Soil Type and Fertility
Moist, well-drained, sandy loam or, in water features, shallow-depth marginal or shoreline sites. Fertility: Rich. 6.5–7.0 pH.
Where and How to Plant
Full to filtered sun. Space 18–24 in. (45–60 cm) apart, or submerge to 4 in. (10 cm) deep in a container.
Proper Care
Easy. Keep very moist. Fertilize monthly. Allow fronds to naturally mulch the fern’s rhizome through winter; remove when fiddleheads emerge in spring. Propagate by division, spores.
About This Species
Good choice for accents, backgrounds, containers, fencelines in bog, shade, woodland gardens and water feature margins and shorelines. Sterile-leaf fiddleheads are edible; good for stir-fry or steaming. Pest and disease resistant.