Sensitive Fern

Those dark, bead-like fertile fronds standing through the winter are unique among ferns. and the summer foliage is bold and distinctive.

Sensitive Fern is one of the most recognizable native ferns: distinctive broad, irregular fronds with deeply cut lobes that look nothing like the typical feathery fern silhouette. The fronds emerge bronze-tinged in spring, deepen to fresh green through summer, then go down at the first frost with a quickness that explains the common name. But before going dormant, it sends up separate fertile fronds with dramatic dark brown, bead-like spore cases that persist all winter like botanical sculpture. Those persistent fertile fronds, standing on bare, leafless stems through December and January, are genuinely ornamental. They catch snow and morning frost, look intentional in winter garden compositions, and make excellent dried material for arrangements. Cut them when the spore cases are fully formed and they'll last all season in a vase. Plant it in moist, shaded to partly sunny spots: rain garden edges, low woodland areas, and along drainage paths. It spreads readily by rhizomes in ideal conditions; give it room and let it naturalize for a lush, low-maintenance fern colony that fills in fast.