Illustration
Brilliance Autumn Fern
Dryopteris erythrosora 'Brilliance'
Brilliance Autumn Fern is grown for its foliage rather than flowers, giving the garden structure and color all season long.
Months here are Northern Hemisphere months; in the Southern Hemisphere, shift them by six months.
Growing Brilliance Autumn Fern
Plant it in part shade. It prefers moderate water. It is hardy in USDA zones 5–9. Expect it to reach about 24 in tall and 24 in wide at maturity, in roughly 3 years (a house reading).
Pets
- No toxic listing found for dogs and cats in the sources we check.
Lists differ and none is complete. If a pet eats a plant and seems unwell, call a veterinarian or a pet poison helpline.
No toxicity note is on file for Brilliance Autumn Fern. That is not a clearance: check its safety for people and pets before planting.
What this means
Listed on October 3, 2026, from two published pages: Proven Winners and NC State Extension. Its mature size, hardiness zones, sun, bloom time and trait tags were read off those pages and recorded beside them. It has not yet been checked against the wider botanical literature, so treat the numbers as a starting point. Years to mature size is a house convention, taken from the plants of the same kind already in the library. The source-by-source check works through the whole library in the open, and a checked plant says so in this row.
Proven Winners (opens in a new tab) · NC State Extension (opens in a new tab)
When to plant Brilliance Autumn Fern
Plant Brilliance Autumn Fern in early spring as soon as the soil is workable, or in early fall at least six weeks before your first frost, so roots establish in cool weather. In zone 7, the middle of its hardy zones 5 to 9, spring means March to May and fall means September or October.
Month-by-month timing for your zone is on the planting calendar; if you garden near zone 7, the middle of this plant's hardy range, start with zone 7 in March. Derived from the plant's category, zones and bloom months plus typical zone frost dates, not checked separately.
How big does Brilliance Autumn Fern get?
24 intall5 ft 7 inan adult24 inwideSee Brilliance Autumn Fern in a garden plan: the planner shows it in 3D beside everything else you add, growing toward this size over the years.
How far apart to plant Brilliance Autumn Fern
Derived from the mature spread above by a fixed rule, not checked separately: spacing is the spread, center to center.
Space Brilliance Autumn Fern about 24 in apart, center to center, so each plant has room to reach its full width.
Add Brilliance Autumn Fern to a garden plan and the planner draws it at its full width, so you see the spacing before you buy.
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Drop this plant onto a 3D plan, see how it fills in, and watch your whole garden bloom across the year.