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How to Grow and Care for Pacific Maidenhair Fern
Adiantum pedatum
     
Depending on where you live, the Pacific Maidenhair Fern may be called
an American Maidenhair or Northern Maidenhair Fern.
This popular, deciduous fern from North America will add a bit of graceful elegance
to any partial to fully shaded area of your garden.
The distinctive, palmately fan-shaped fronds emerge as deep pink or burgundy colored fiddleheads
in early spring before unfurling atop shiny black, wire-like stems that reach 18-24 inches.
Maidenhair Ferns spread by creeping, branching rhizomes and will eventually form large colonies.
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Growing Requirements for Hardy Maidenhair Ferns
Adiantum pedatum is a very easy to care for plant when grown in the right conditions.
The Pacific Maidenhair Fern is hardy in USDA zones 3-8.
Unlike most tender Adiantum species,
Pacific Maidenhairs do not grow well in planters and won't survive as a house plant.
Maidenhair Ferns grow best in an area with good air circulation and light to partial shade
but they can be grown in full shade as well.
They should be planted in a light, compost rich, slightly acidic soil.
Provided constant, even moisture... especially during the first growing season.
Never allow the soil to become soggy.
The old fronds can be removed after new growth begins in spring to keep the plant tidy,
but this is not necessary. In nature, ferns do their own maintenance and mulching.
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Provide a heavy top-dressing of chopped up fronds, well rotted compost or manure each spring.
How to Propagate new Maidenhair Ferns
Maidenhair Ferns grow from rhizomes that spread under the surface of the soil, making them very easy to propagate by dividing the roots in early spring, just as the new fronds begin to emerge. Each section should contain a minimum of two or three healthy fronds.
Ferns do not produce flowers, therefore they cannot produce seeds.
They reproduce with spores that form on the underside of the fronds.
Propagating ferns with spores is a fun and fairly easy method of growing new ferns,
but it can take 3-4 years to grow a mature plant.
Propagating Ferns with Spores
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Pacific Maidenhair Fern
Adiantum pedatum
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