Ornamental · Onocleaceae
Ostrich Fern
Matteuccia struthiopteris
Give it shade and steady moisture, and this hardy fern throws up knee-high fronds shaped like green shuttlecocks.
Partial shade
Every 3–7 days
USDA 3–7
3–6 ft · 0.9–1.8 m
Overview
Looking for a fern that won't give you grief? The ostrich fern's one of the easiest hardy ferns out there, and folks love it for those tall, arching fronds that fan out like a shuttlecock. It shrugs off winter down to -40°F (-40°C), happily living in zones 3 through 7 where plenty of other ornamentals just give up. Find it a damp, shady corner and it'll build a lush colony pretty much on its own.
Keep two things sorted and it's happy: shade and water. It's a plant of cool, moist woodland and stream banks, so it doesn't care for hot, dry, open ground at all. Pop it somewhere the soil stays damp and the afternoon sun can't reach, and you'll get fronds standing 3 to 6 feet (90 to 180 cm) tall.
There's one thing to know before you plant, though. The fern travels by underground runners and keeps on widening its patch, so either give it room or pen it in. Its other big draw is the fiddlehead, that tight coiled crown you harvest in early spring as a foraged veg, and it's genuinely good eating once it's cooked right.
Care
The short version: part to full shade with rich, consistently moist soil that never dries out. Mulch to keep the damp in and the roots cool, feed it lightly in spring, and give the colony some room or a root barrier so its spread doesn't get away from you.
Light
Give this fern part to full shade. It'll take a bit of morning sun where the soil stays wet, but hot afternoon sun scorches the fronds and pushes the plant into early dormancy, so shade really is the way to go.
Water
Keep the soil consistently moist to wet, and never let it dry out. It's built for streambanks and damp woodland, so it falls apart fast in a hot, dry spot. In a normal spell, water every 3 to 7 days, and lean wetter when it heats up.
Soil
Plant it in rich, humusy ground that holds moisture, and even heavy clay's fine since it tolerates clay well. A pH anywhere from 5.0 to 7.0 works, so most garden soil's fine as long as it stays damp.
Temperature
Cold's really not an issue here, with hardiness running from -40°F to 86°F (-40°C to 30°C). It's the top of that range that's the catch, because steady heat is what drives the fronds into their summer slump.
Humidity
It likes the moist air of a shaded, damp spot, roughly 40% to 70%. Outdoors that pretty much sorts itself out once the soil and shade are right, so there's nothing extra to fuss with.
Feeding
Feed it lightly in spring with a balanced fertilizer, or just topdress with compost or leaf-mold mulch. A fern sitting in good woodland soil hardly needs more than that.
Pruning
Pruning's about as easy as it gets. Cut back any tattered or browned green fronds in late fall or early spring before the new fiddleheads show up, and you can leave the brown fertile fronds standing over winter for a bit of interest, then trim them in spring.
Repotting
This one's not a container plant, so forget about repotting. Instead, lift and divide a congested colony every 3 to 4 years once the crowns start crowding and the fronds come up smaller and weaker.
Size & spacing
Mature fronds reach 3 to 6 feet (90 to 180 cm) tall, and a colony spreads 2 to 8 feet (60 to 240 cm) wide over time. So plant with that eventual sprawl in mind, or hold it back with a root barrier.
When to plant
Think of this as a spring fern that takes summer off. Get new plants in the ground in spring once the frost's done, or in early fall, and grab the coiled fiddleheads in early spring as the crowns push up but before the fronds unfurl. And don't be surprised when the fronds tire and brown by midsummer, since that's just the plant easing into its natural rest.
Northern hemisphere
Southern hemisphere
Typical months for a temperate climate: start earlier in warm zones, later where spring frosts linger.
- Plant: Spring after frost, or early fall
- Harvest: Non-flowering; harvest fiddleheads in early spring as the coiled crowns emerge, before the fronds unfurl
Hardiness
USDA hardiness zones: 3–7
Temperature: down to -40°C
Troubleshooting
Honestly, an ostrich fern gives you very little to worry about, and most of what looks wrong is really just the plant reacting to heat or running low on room. So read the signs below before you go reaching for a fix. Nine times out of ten, the answer's shade, water, or a spade.
New crowns turning up away from the main clump
No, it isn't sick. That's just the fern's spreading habit doing its thing. Underground stolons send out runners that pop up as fresh fiddlehead crowns, and once a colony's happy, it keeps creeping outward. Just dig out the stray crowns in spring or fall, or sink a deep root barrier if you'd rather keep the patch put.
Fix:
- Dig out unwanted crowns and runners in spring or fall
- Install a physical root barrier to contain the colony
- Divide and relocate or discard excess crowns
Fronds going brown and tatty come midsummer
Wondering if something's wrong? Some of it isn't, because summer dormancy is just how an ostrich fern winds down once the heat shows up. The rest is heat and drought stress, and too much sun with soil that keeps drying out makes it worse. Water deeply, throw down some mulch to hold moisture and keep the roots cool, and the crown will send up fresh fronds again next spring.
Fix:
- Water deeply to keep soil consistently moist
- Mulch to retain moisture and cool the roots
- Provide more shade in hot climates
- Remove tattered fronds; the plant rebounds from the crown the following spring
Toxicity
Got animals at home? Good news, because the ostrich fern carries no known toxins and isn't flagged as a poison to pets or livestock. People even eat its fiddleheads, though only after a proper cook. The one thing to be careful about is cooking your own foraged fiddleheads, not a pet brushing past the plant.
Safe for
People · Cats · Dogs · Horses · Rabbits · Livestock · Birds
Cats None
There's nothing on record about this fern poisoning cats, so a quick nibble shouldn't cause any drama. If a cat really goes to town on greenery, you might get a little coughed-up mess or a soft stool, and that's about it.
Dogs None
Dogs aren't known to get poisoned by this one, so don't panic over a chewed frond. The most a sensitive dog might feel is a slightly off stomach for a day, and then it passes.
Horses None
There's no record of ostrich fern doing horses any harm. It's not bracken, the fern that actually causes pasture trouble, so a grazing horse has nothing to worry about here.
Rabbits None
Rabbits can munch the fronds with no known ill effect. Like any new green, though, bring it in slowly so their gut has time to get used to it.
Livestock None
Cattle, goats, and sheep can graze around an ostrich fern just fine, since it doesn't carry any of the toxins you find in bracken. So it's an easy one to have in the mix.
Birds None
No toxicity's reported for birds, whether they're pets or part of a backyard flock. A hen that pecks at the fronds is in no danger at all.
People None
The young fiddleheads are a real spring treat once they're cooked through. Just boil them for 15 minutes or steam them for 10 to 12, because raw or barely cooked fiddleheads can make you sick.
No special contact precautions are documented. If foraging fiddleheads for food, rub off the brown papery husk, wash, and cook thoroughly (boil 15 minutes or steam 10-12 minutes); never eat them raw or merely sauteed/stir-fried/microwaved.
Varieties
Most gardens just grow the plain species, but a few selections turn up when you want a bit more size or the true native form. So here are the ones worth knowing by name.
'The King'
It's the big one, with a heavy crown and fronds about half again as large, and it can sometimes stretch up close to 7 feet tall.
'Jumbo'
It's a vigorous, large-fronded form for when you just want the biggest shuttlecock the plant can throw.
subsp./var. pensylvanica
It's the North American native form of the species, and it's what sets the home-grown plants apart from the Eurasian ones.
How to propagate
Making more ostrich ferns barely takes any skill, since the plant's already busy cloning itself underground and just asks you to lift and move the results.
DivisionEasy
Spring as crowns emerge, or early fall · 1 to 2 growing seasons
Want more of them? Lift and split the crowns as they wake up in spring, or hold off until early fall, whichever's easier. The fern does most of the work anyway, since it keeps sending out underground stolons that surface as offset crowns, and those slice away and replant without much fuss. Give a transplant 1 to 2 growing seasons to settle in and start throwing full-sized fronds. Out in the wild it self-sows from spores on the brown fertile fronds, but at home division's pretty much always the way to go.
Myths
It's totally okay to eat fiddleheads raw or hardly cooked, much like any garden green.
Not so fast. Raw and undercooked fiddleheads have caused foodborne-illness outbreaks across the US and Canada since 1994, bringing on nausea, vomiting, cramps, diarrhea, and headaches. Rub off the brown husk, then boil them 15 minutes or steam them 10 to 12 minutes. And no, a fast saute, stir-fry, or microwave zap won't get them hot enough for long enough.
Any fern's fiddleheads are fine on the plate.
Only the ostrich fern's fiddleheads are the ones you'd want on the table, and even those only after a full cook. Bracken and other ferns can be toxic or even cancer-causing, so it really pays to get the ID right before anything goes in the pot.
Ostrich fern's really a Eurasian transplant that doesn't belong over in North America.
Nope, this fern's native to both Eurasia and North America. The home-grown version even has its own name, M. struthiopteris subsp./var. pensylvanica.