New York Fern is a common fern throughout eastern North America in moist woods with filtered light where it often forms extensive colonies. Clumps of graceful upright, arching bright green, twice-cut fronds spread underground. It is an excellent fern to use as a quickly spreading ground cover in moist, neutral to very acidic soil. Give it room.

Reply to this comment

This fern species is found the most in the Northeast and in the Appalachian Region, but it ranges from Newfoundland down to northern Georgia to northern Louisiana & Arkansas up to northern Illinois and Michigan into southern Ontario. It is a fine textured, soft, light green fern. The compound, twice-cut, thin leaves (fronds) get around 20 inches long x 6.5 inches wide and they taper at both ends, where the leaflets are shorter; having about 15 to 30 pairs of nearly sessile leaflets. It has fibrous, black, shallow roots and rhizomes (underground stems) so that it spreads a lot to become a groundcover fairly quickly. It likes to be out of strong winds. It can grow in very acid soil up to pH about 6.8 as recommended. One source mentioned that in really acid soils it can be aggressive against other plants. I've only seen this species so far at Longwood Gardens in Kennet Square, Pennsylvania, in their wooded areas.

Reply to this comment