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Royal Fern
Osmunda regalis
Royal Fern is grown for its foliage rather than flowers, giving the garden structure and color all season long.
Mature size, hardiness zones, sun and the trait tags were checked against named botanical sources for this plant. The bloom months and water need on this page were not.
Growing Royal Fern
Plant it in part shade. It prefers high water. It is hardy in USDA zones 3–9. Expect it to reach about 3.9 ft tall and 3.3 ft wide at maturity, in roughly 3 years.
When to plant Royal Fern
Plant Royal 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. For the middle of its hardy zones 3 to 9 range, spring means March to May and fall means August or September.
Month-by-month timing for your zone is on the planting calendar: for the middle of its range, start with zone 6 in March.
Good to know about Royal Fern
Curated from university extensions, botanic gardens and other primary sources, with the source named on every note.
Safety
Do not eat the fiddleheads. Osmunda croziers are at least mildly toxic and can cause nausea, dizziness and headache; ostrich fern is the fern to forage instead. per Miller Library
Worth knowing
It never flowers. The name 'flowering fern' comes from the rusty, tassel-like fertile clusters at the frond tips: these are spore-bearing structures, not blooms. per NC State
Mature size tracks moisture
Sources disagree on height, but moisture is the driver: about 0.6 to 0.9 m in an average moist garden, up to 1.5 to 1.8 m where the ground stays wet. per NC State and Missouri Botanical Garden
Safe around cats and dogs
It is not on the ASPCA toxic lists for cats or dogs, and NC State assigns it no poison rating; regarded as non-toxic to pets. per ASPCA and NC State
Thrives in wet ground
An obligate-wetland fern that even takes short spells of standing water: superb at pond and stream edges, in bogs, water gardens and rain gardens. per NC State and Go Botany
A clumper, not a runner
It forms a large clump on a stout crown and expands slowly; it will not colonize the bed like the running ostrich fern. Divide the crown to propagate. per NC State
Pest-free and deer-resistant
No serious insect or disease problems, and seldom damaged by deer: a low-input plant once sited in the moist shade it wants. per NC State
What pairs well with Royal Fern
Good companions share its growing conditions and add something it lacks: an earlier or later bloom, a lower carpet in front, or structure through winter.
Christmas Fern
Takes part shade to full shade and moderate to high water; evergreen, so the bed keeps its shape through winter; lower at 1.6 ft, for the front of the border; both are native plants.
Eastern Hemlock
Shares part shade and moderate to high water; evergreen, so the bed keeps its shape through winter; both are native plants.
Wild Ginger
Takes part shade to full shade and moderate to high water; low at 6 in, to carpet the ground beneath; both are native plants.
Bergenia
Takes part sun to part shade and moderate to high water; evergreen, so the bed keeps its shape through winter; lower at 1.3 ft, for the front of the border.
Autumn Fern
Shares part shade and moderate to high water; evergreen, so the bed keeps its shape through winter; lower at 1.6 ft, for the front of the border.
Holly Fern
Takes part shade to full shade and moderate to high water; evergreen, so the bed keeps its shape through winter; lower at 1.6 ft, for the front of the border.
Japanese Forest Grass
Shares part shade and moderate to high water; its seed heads stand through winter, for structure and the birds; lower at 1.3 ft, for the front of the border.
Hellebore
Shares part shade and moderate to high water; evergreen, so the bed keeps its shape through winter; lower at 1.3 ft, for the front of the border.
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