Onoclea sensibilis

Onoclea sensibilis: Lush Fronds for Where Other Plants Drown

Sensitive Fern is a native with feelings, and it isn't afraid to share them. Broad, light green fronds that thrive in the soggy, clay-heavy spots everybody else complains about. IT IS NOT SENSITIVE ABOUT WET FEET.

Plant Characteristics:

• Botanical Name: Onoclea sensibilis
• Common Name: Sensitive Fern, Bead Fern
• Height: 30–90 cm (1–3 ft)
• Spread: 60–90 cm (2–3 ft) per clump, spreading by rhizomes to form colonies
• Flowers: None; it is a fern. Separate fertile fronds with bead-like brown spore cases appear in late summer and persist through winter
• Foliage: Broad, light green, coarsely divided fronds; deciduous
• Features: Rabbit resistant, tolerates wet and clay soils

Where to Plant: Plant it where other things drown: pond and stream edges, rain gardens, low wet corners, ditches and moist woodland gardens. It knits together quickly into a groundcover that helps hold soil on damp banks, so give it room to spread.

Companion Plants: Plant sensitive fern in a moist to wet, shady native bed with other ferns and woodland plants. Gaultheria procumbens carpets drier edges at 10 to 15 cm with glossy leaves and red winter berries. Arisaema triphyllum adds hooded Jack-in-the-pulpit flowers at 30 to 60 cm from April to June. Osmunda regalis rises behind at 90 to 150 cm, a royal fern for damp ground. Carex rosea fills in with a fine native sedge at 30 cm.

Plant Care: Plant in part to full shade in moist to wet, humus-rich soil. Clay is fine. It can take more sun only where the soil stays wet all season. In dry soil it will go dormant early in summer. Keep it well watered through the first season. Cut back the sterile fronds after they brown in fall, and leave the fertile stalks for winter interest if you like. Divide or pull up runners in spring to keep it within bounds.

History: Onoclea sensibilis is native across eastern North America, including Ontario and Quebec, and also grows in eastern Asia, in marshes, wet meadows and swampy woods. The species name sensibilis refers to its sensitivity to frost, which browns the fronds at the first cold snap of fall.

Final Thoughts: Deer and rabbits leave it alone, and the beaded winter fronds give it something to talk about. Plant it by the ditch. EMOTIONALLY AVAILABLE AND WELL WATERED.