A LITTLE MORE LIFE
Marginal wood fern
Dryopteris marginalis
Evergreen fronds give ground-level wildlife cover and supply material for songbird nests.
MAKE IT FEEL AT HOME
A spot to thrive.
Forms a tidy, non-spreading crown in moist, well-drained soil; shelter from drying winds.
- Sunlight
- Shade
- Soil moisture
- Average moisture
- Mature size
- 1½–3 ft tall · 2–3 ft wide
- Season of interest
- Evergreen foliage
- Hardiness
- USDA zones 4–9
- Garden role
- An evergreen woodland fern
ONE GOOD SWAP
Instead of japanese holly fern.
Cyrtomium falcatum
Try marginal wood fern for an evergreen woodland fern.
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Photo credits & licenses
Marginal wood fern: desultrix · CC-BY-SA 2.0
Japanese holly fern: Stan Sheb · CC BY-SA 3.0
Resized, converted to WebP, and cropped in the layout. Each photo retains its listed license. All photo credits