Illustration
Marginal Wood Fern
Dryopteris marginalis
Also called leather wood fern, marginal shield fern and eastern wood fern
Marginal Wood 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 Marginal Wood Fern
Plant it in part shade. It prefers moderate water. It is hardy in USDA zones 3–8. Expect it to reach about 20 in tall and 24 in wide at maturity, in roughly 3 years (a house reading).
Pets
- Not yet checked for pets.
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 Marginal Wood Fern. That is not a clearance: check its safety for people and pets before planting.
What was checked
Nine facts were checked against named botanical sources, each recorded beside the sources that carried it: mature height and spread, hardiness zones, sun, water, bloom months and color, the trait tags, and years to mature size, which rests on a recorded house rule where no publisher states one and is marked so. Soil, diseases, pests, toxicity and the plant's own names have not yet been read for this plant, and its trait tags are the ones a feature uses rather than every word a page prints. Each fact above carries its own mark. The planting, spacing and size sections are derived from these checked facts by a fixed rule, not checked separately, and the plant type is the library's own classification.
When to plant Marginal Wood Fern
Plant Marginal Wood 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 5, the middle of its hardy zones 3 to 8, spring means April to June and fall means August or September.
Month-by-month timing for your zone is on the planting calendar; if you garden near zone 5, the middle of this plant's hardy range, start with zone 5 in April. Derived from the plant's category, zones and bloom months plus typical zone frost dates, not checked separately.
How big does Marginal Wood Fern get?
20 intall5 ft 7 inan adult24 inwideSee Marginal Wood 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 Marginal Wood Fern
Derived from the mature spread above by a fixed rule, not checked separately: spacing is the spread, center to center.
Space Marginal Wood Fern about 24 in apart, center to center, so each plant has room to reach its full width.
Add Marginal Wood Fern to a garden plan and the planner draws it at its full width, so you see the spacing before you buy.
Where these facts come from
Marginal Wood Fern's height, spread, hardiness zones, sun, water and trait tags were checked against 8 published sources on October 22, 2026. Each one is linked below with every fact it carried, which can include a fact this page still marks as not yet checked, because a source carrying a value is not the same as the value being held to the standard. Facts not in that list, and the planting, spacing and size sections, are not covered by these sources. Bloom was checked as well: Marginal Wood Fern bears no flowers, so there is no bloom window for a source to carry.
- Missouri Botanical Gardenheight, spread, hardiness zones, sun, water and trait tags
- NC State ExtensionGardener Plant Toolboxheight, spread, hardiness zones, sun and water
- tnyards.utk.eduUniversity of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture, Tennessee Smart Yardsheight, spread, sun, water and trait tags
- Chicago Botanic Gardenheight, spread, hardiness zones and trait tags
- horsfordnursery.comHorsford Gardens and Nurseryheight, spread, hardiness zones and water
- Plant Delights Nurseryheight, spread, hardiness zones and sun
- RHSRoyal Horticultural Societyheight, spread, water and trait tags
- University of Illinois Extensionheight and water
How the checking works, and what each standard covers, is on the verified plants page.
Where it grows wild
Native to 32 states and 6 provinces
United States: Alabama, Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia, Wisconsin and 20 more
Canada: British Columbia, New Brunswick, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Quebec
Recorded growing wild in 758 counties.
Range data from the World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 4.0, adapted) and USDA PLANTS. How the native range is credited.
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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.