The Japanese tassel fern offers rare beauty, form and texture in the landscape and should be mandatory for all shade or woodland gardens.
If you treasure ferns but lament their disappearance in the late fall -- caused by deciduous dormancy, death or having to move them to a sheltered location -- then you will like the genus Polystichum.
The Japanese tassel fern is known botanically as Polystichum polyblepharum. Although it presents a spelling challenge, it is simply incredible in the landscape.
One Web site compares this fern's form to that of a shuttlecock, and others call it vase-shaped. These are certainly correct. But I have a different description. When older, unattractive fronds are kept pruned, an older, 3-foot-wide or wider clump can have a 4- to 5-inch trunk, making it look like a cycad or sago palm. The plant gets its name from the way young fronds, called crosiers, unfurl and bend backward, drooping in a tassel form before flattening out. The Japanese tassel fern is very adaptable. It is cold hardy to Zone 5 and yet can thrive in filtered light areas in Zone 9. Like many ferns, it needs moist, fertile, organic-rich soil that is well-drained.
The Christmas fern is an outstanding, much underused native, known as Polystichum acrostichoides.
The evergreen Christmas fern is native across the eastern United States. Some suggest it gets its name because it is green during Christmas, and others say it was prominent in holiday floral arrangements because of its color at Christmas time.
Regardless, you will want it because it has glossy, deep green, upright fronds that reach 18 to 30 inches before arching over. The clumps reach about 2 feet wide. Ferns bring the woodland or shade garden to life as few other plants can.