The Sweetfern is found in the wild, growing in full sun to deep shade in acid, well-drained soils in woods, barrens, dunes, on cliffs, and in open fields from Nova Scotia and southeast Canada, southern Maine, New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, the Delmarva peninsula, down the Appalachians into northern Georgia, spots in northern Ohio, spots in northwest Indiana and northeast Illinois, northern Michigan, central and northern Wisconsin, and northeast Minnesota. I've seen a good number wild in the southern Poconos of Pennsylvania despite the fact that deer and rabbits can browse on the plant. This is usually about a 3-feet high shrub with fern-like leaves that are aromatic when crushed and can be used in landscapes. It does not like clay soils, especially if heavy clay soils, though a good quality, well-drained clay soil seems all right. I planted one in my backyard, but the many rabbits ate it down to the ground in winter. Sweet Fern has a thin, stringy, long creeping shallow, lateral root system that freely suckers and fixes nitrogen, but it is difficult to transplant and slow to establish. Some native plant nurseries sell this in pots and a few large, diverse conventional nurseries may sell some. I think it is a very interesting plant that has wonderful texture!

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Not a fern, not an herb. Though to look at it you may think the former, and to smell the aroma when you rub the leaves you may think the latter.

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