PlantSowGrow
How to plant and care for Male Fern
Dryopteris filix-mas
🌸 Flower
🔁 Perennial
A tough, native fern with shuttlecocks of fresh green fronds — thrives in dry shade where little else will grow.
Growing Male Fern: what it needs
- Light
- Shade · 6+ hours a day
- Watering
- Water well until established, then in dry spells
- Soil
- Any soil, including dry shade
- Spacing
- 60 cm
- Height
- 90 cm
- In pots
- Grows well in containers
- Feeding
- No feeding needed
- Hardiness
- USDA zones 4–8
Step by step
- On planting day
Plant
Plant at the same depth as it was in its pot, 60 cm apart, and firm in.
- 0–1 days after “Plant”
Water In Well
Give a full can of water, then keep moist for the first few weeks while roots establish.
- 7–14 days after “Water In Well”
Mulch Around the Base
Spread 5 cm of compost or bark around the plant, keeping it off the stems.
Every year
- MarchCut Old Fronds
Cut last year's fronds at the base before the new ones uncurl.
- AprilNew Fronds Unfurl
Watch the new croziers unroll — a lovely photo.
- OctoberLeaf-Mould Mulch
Mulch around the crown with leaf mould or compost.
