Pruning ferns & Dividing perennial plants

My Favorites!!

SHADE
The lovely Maidenhair Fern

​Part-Sun
Autumn Fern, with coppery color on new growth.

​Part-Sun
Soft-Shield Fern, unusual, showy fronds!

I haven't though much about dividing ferns ​in the past, but this year I'm going to do it! They are big and beautiful, resilient and easy to care for.....And I want more of them!!!

Deer Fern, compact growing habit, beautifully bright green when grown in Full Shade.

Divide ferns in the spring, just as the fiddleheads are emerging, or slightly before. Ferns can take a little sun, as long as they are kept moist.  
Grow in humus, well-draining soil. Add compost for fluff! 

Trim away the old branches before you divide. Loosen ferns with a shovel apx 6" away from the center. Pull a hunk away, severing the lateral root a ways out for replanting with the fern.  Pull the root sections away from the whole, if it's a large root ball.

Dig at hole 2-3 times wider than the plant root, but only just as deep. Replant in the new hole, making sure to re-bury any lateral root in an outward shallow trench. Cover with loose soil and mulch, leaving the root a little higher rather than too low into the ground. Water deeply. 

​They transplant better when they are smaller.

Pruning Ferns

Use cardboard to surround the ferns in the winter, to keep the weeds down and so that you can find them easily in the spring.

Trim the old dark green fronds away to allow for new growth.

Trim carefully to avoid the emerging fiddleheads.
​Watch them unfurl into bright green fronds!

Divide these plants to fill in landscape gaps!!

Echinacea, Succulents, Autumn Joy, Iris, Shasta Daisy, Bee Balm, Hen & Chicks, Hosta, Grassy Plants, Rhubarb and more!!!

The best time to divide plants is in the early spring, just as they are emerging from roots or rhizomes, or when the snow is over and it's warm enough to work outside!