Boston ferns are immensely popular indoor plants that look equally at home in the living room as they do on a wraparound porch. Here is a guide on growing them. Boston ferns can be grown under filtered shade or strong, indirect sunshine indoors.
Do Boston ferns thrive more indoors or outdoors?
Although Boston fern is frequently grown as a houseplant, it also does well in USDA zones 9 to 11 outdoors in warm, humid regions. The plant could be able to endure dry climates if there is enough rainfall. The fern may be completely destroyed by the frost, but it will recover in the spring.
Boston fern needs filtered light or partial to complete shade in gardens. Because few other plants will thrive there, the plant is a fantastic choice for wet, dark places because it adds a splash of vibrant color.
Rich, organic soil is what the plant favors. Dig in a few inches (8 cm) of compost, finely chopped bark, or leaf mulch if your garden soil is poor.
How is a Boston fern cared for indoors?
Making ensuring the Boston fern is in the appropriate habitat is the first step in providing it with the required care. Boston ferns require a cold environment with high humidity levels and filtered light.
It’s a good idea to add more humidity when caring for Boston fern plants indoors, especially during the winter. Most homes are fairly dry, which is exacerbated when the heaters are on. Try placing the pot of your Boston fern on a tray of pebbles that has water in it for additional humidity care. To assist your fern obtain the humidity it requires, you might also try lightly spraying it once or twice a week.
Making ensuring the soil of the fern is damp is another stage in caring for a Boston fern. One of the main causes of Boston fern deaths is dry soil. If the soil feels even the slightest bit dry, be sure to water it. Check the soil every day. It is a good idea to wet the pot of the Boston fern once a month or so to ensure the peat moss is completely moist since Boston ferns typically are planted in potting combinations that are high in peat moss. After doing this, make sure to let it drain completely.
If the humidity is not high enough, the leaves of the Boston fern will become yellow. If the fronds on your Boston fern are going yellow, make sure to raise the humidity level in the area around the plant.
The fact that Boston ferns don’t require much fertilizer is one of the less well-known care guidelines for them. The plant should only receive fertilizer a couple times each year.
Boston ferns are vulnerable to various pests, particularly mealybugs and spider mites. To keep your plant healthy if it becomes infested, be sure to cure it as soon as you can.
Making ensuring the plant is in the proper atmosphere is all there is to caring for a Boston fern. Your plant will live for many years if you ensure that it receives the proper care.
A Boston fern is a type of outdoor plant.
Large, striking outdoor ferns provide porches, decks, and terraces personality and charm. These low-maintenance plants are perfect for sheltered areas because they thrive in low light. Use outdoor ferns in planters, urns, window boxes, hanging baskets, and more. Here is a short guide to assist you in choosing some of the top outdoor ferns.
The Boston fern was initially “found in a consignment of plants delivered to Boston in the 1800s.” It is a native of Florida, Mexico, and Central America (and thus it earned its common name). Because it could thrive in the chilly, dark climate of Victorian sitting rooms, this attractive plant quickly gained popularity. Boston fern became popular because to its lovely, arching fronds and rich, green hue. Boston fern continues to be a popular choice for both indoor and outdoor settings today. However, Boston fern is frequently a superior option for outdoor settings because it may reach heights and widths of 3 feet. Boston ferns can be grown directly in the ground in zones 9 through 11.
This plant certainly lives up to its name. This hardy fern may get up to 6 feet tall and broad, making it a far better choice for your porch or patio than the typical Boston fern would be for your front parlor. Long, arched branches with broad, deep-green fronds are characteristic of macho ferns. Macho fern can be grown in enormous hanging baskets, as well as in oversized urns, pots, or tubs. From zones 9 to 11, macho ferns can be successfully cultivated in the ground.
Considering their enormous size, macho ferns typically look their best on their own. Smaller plants in container gardens can be sucked up by them.
If you want to keep this tropical fern for the winter, you can bring it indoors as a sizable houseplant. Find out how to protect your favorite tropical plants in time for winter.
Check out the magnificent Kimberly Queen fern if you enjoy ferns but frequently forget to water them. These strikingly beautiful plants of Australia can withstand a little bit more heat, drought, and sun than other outdoor ferns. The magnificent upright tendencies of Kimberly Queen ferns make them excellent candidates for urns or other vertical containers. The plants expand to a height and width of three feet, and each leaf’s underside develops attractive dots (spores). Zones 9 to 11 are suitable for growing Kimberly Queen fern in gardens.
Boston fern is a more conventional choice for lovely hanging baskets; Kimberly Queen fern is more suited to urns, container gardens, and window boxes due to its erect nature. Kimberly Queen fern can be brought indoors as a houseplant, similar to Boston fern and macho fern, to protect it over the winter.
In addition to tropical ornamental ferns like Boston, Macho, and Kimberly Queen, you can grow a variety of perennial ferns in your flower border or landscape. The majority of these plants are winter-hardy and reappear every year bigger and better. Hardy ferns consist of:
purchasing ferns Look for full, balanced plants with rich, brilliant foliage when buying ferns to decorate your deck, patio, porch, or balcony or to plant outside in your garden. Many ferns will have gray-green or olive-green leaf instead of their customary bright green color, especially fragile kinds like Boston, Macho, and Kimberly Queen. When too dry, most plants quickly recover when watered.
To determine whether ferns are suitable for hanging baskets, search for plants that are not rootbound. The hanging basket will dry out more quickly the more roots there are in the pot. Ferns can occasionally get fairly rootbound, especially toward the conclusion of the growing season. When squeezed up against one another, lopsided ferns frequently break and bend and are sold in stores. However, don’t let this discourage you; with the right care (see the instructions below), your ferns will recover rapidly.
Remember that perennial ferns slumber over the winter when buying them. Early spring sales of perennial ferns might not have much new growth on them. If you want to make a statement in your yard the first year, pick the biggest plants you can find because they grow a little slower than tropical ferns. Growth rates differ among various fern species. For instance, the Japanese painted fern grows slowly, whereas the joyful ostrich fern grows quickly.
Purchase Outdoor Ferns Find Costa Farms ferns online through one of our store partners or at your preferred neighborhood garden center.
No matter if they are tropical or hardy, ferns love to grow in areas that are shaded or partially shaded and have rich, slightly moist soil that is full of organic matter (such as compost). Additionally, they appreciate high humidity levels and the occasional shower. Use a slow-release granular fertilizer to feed the ferns. If cold weather is expected, transfer tropical ferns to a protected area because they are sensitive to frost. After planting, topdress the soil with a few inches of compost to give your ferns the best possible start. Then apply mulch to ferns to shield plants from temperature fluctuations and stop weed competition.
Because containers, especially hanging baskets, dry up a little quicker than the ground, ferns in pots require more frequent watering than their counterparts in the ground. Potted ferns may require daily watering to prevent drying out when the weather is particularly hot, dry, and windy. However, to prevent overwatering your ferns, always check the soil’s moisture level before you water.
When are Boston ferns allowed to go outside?
In cold areas, the Boston fern is a common ornamental plant that is widely grown as a houseplant. Nephrolepis exaltata, a tropical species of the sword fern (Lomariopsidaceae family), is indigenous to humid woods in Florida, the West Indies, and northern South America, where it can reach heights of up to 7 feet. The N. exaltata ‘Bostoniensis’ plant, sometimes known as the Boston fern, is a naturally occurring variation of the species that was found in a sizable cargo of ferns brought from Philadelphia to Boston in 1894. This evergreen fern can be grown outdoors in extremely mild regions because it is hardy in zones 9 to 11, but it also adapts well to container culture for use indoors or seasonally outside in other parts of the world.
The broad fronds of Nephrolepis exaltata have alternate leaflets (pinnae) on either side of the midrib. The light to medium green fronds can reach lengths of 4 feet and a width of 6 inches. On the underside of the pinnae, there are two rows of circular sori (clusters of spore-bearing organs; ferns are seedless vascular plants that produce spores instead of seeds). Each leaflet has a deltoid form with edges that are somewhat serrated and undulating. The species has upright fronds, but “Bostoniensis” has fronds that gently arch. Additionally, the plants will produce long, thin runners called “stolons” that, when they touch the ground, will begin to root and grow into new plants.
Once all risk of frost has passed, use Boston fern as an inside houseplant or as a temporary accent plant outside. These plants work best in high containers, hanging baskets, or plant stands where their long fronds may create a stunning arching fountain of foliage. Additionally, they can be cultivated in the ground as tall, tropical-looking ground covers or as relatively erect accents among low annuals like coleus and browallia, as well as low impatiens and begonias. On decks or patios, mix potted Boston fern and other containers with vibrant flowering annuals.
In hanging baskets or other containers where the long fronds can hang down naturally, Boston fern can be cultivated with ease. Place the plant indoors in a location with moderate light, like an east-facing window or behind a sheer curtain in a south- or west-facing window (or far enough from the window so the plant is not in direct sunlight). Provide full or partial shade for plants growing outdoors. The Boston fern prefers a nighttime temperature of 65 degrees Fahrenheit and a daytime temperature of no more than 95 degrees Fahrenheit, while it will grow outside in colder conditions. When temperatures fall into the low 40s, plants that are cultivated outdoors seasonally should be brought inside or covered.
This plant thrives in a soilless potting media or well-drained soil that retains moisture (such as a mixture of peat and vermiculite). Of the regularly farmed ferns, it is the most drought tolerant, however it thrives with regular hydration. Keep the potting media evenly moist but not saturated, if at all feasible. In hot weather outside, especially with smaller containers, this can be really difficult. By placing the fern in its pot in a second, larger container that is lined with wet sphagnum moss, you can help the plant retain moisture and humidity by “double-potting.”
When actively growing, Boston fern benefits from rich soil and regular fertilizing (liquid or slow release houseplant fertilizer at half strength) every 4-6 weeks; the amount should be significantly reduced in the winter. Over-fertilizing will cause the ends of the fronds to discolor and dry. The tips and edges of the pinnae may turn brown in dry interiors, especially in the winter, while ferns thrive in humid settings. There aren’t many pests that affect Boston ferns, but scales and mealybugs can cause problems indoors, and slugs can harm plants outside. Cutting off the fronds with scale infestations is the simplest solution. New fronds will develop more readily if old ones are cut off at the root.
Despite the fact that spores can be used to create ferns, named cultivars will not succeed, and most gardeners find it far simpler to simply divide the plants (commercial growers frequently propagate by tissue culture). Every few years, divide and/or repot the plant in the spring. For each division, maintain as many leaves as you can by cutting the root ball vertically in half or quarters.
The species frequently develops sports, which might or might not be stable. Nephrolepis exaltata is available in a variety of cultivars aside from “Bostoniensis,” including the following (although many others can be found):
- With 15–18 fronds, “Compacta” is shorter, more compact, and more erect than “Bostoniensis.”
- Dallas is a diminutive cultivar that spreads quickly and can withstand lower light and humidity levels. It is sometimes marketed under the name “Dallas Jewel.”
- The medium-sized “Florida Ruffle” has twice divided leaflets giving a more feathery appearance. For a denser canopy, the stiff fronds are wider at the base.
- Small and fine-textured, “Fluffy Duffy” has a fluffy appearance. To create an extremely dense plant, the fronds are separated two or three times and heavily overlapping.
- The smaller, sterile selection known as “Fluffy Ruffles” has stiff, upright fronds with thick, wavy-edged, and incised leaflets.
- The fronds of “Golden Boston” are yellow-green.
- Bostoniensis and “Massii” are quite similar, but “Massii” is darker green and more pendulous.
- Rita’s GoldTM has chartreuse fronds that are more tightly packed.
- The fronds of “Rooseveltii” are delicately cut and fluffy, and some have crested ends.
- An ancestral cultivar called “Verona” has highly drooping, delicate fronds.
- Whitmanii’s fronds are more delicately cut and feathery, and they can withstand reduced humidity.
My indoor fern may I bring outside?
Although the lush green foliage can also flourish in a hanging pot indoors or outdoors, ferns prefer wet, shaded outdoor locations. A fern grown in a container dries up more quickly than one that is planted directly in the ground because of the lower amount of soil and the constrained space. You must regularly water your ferns without using too much water if you want them to stay lush and green. Ferns require a certain amount of sunlight and fertilizer to grow well in a container.
What position should my Boston fern be in?
Growing Boston fern is best done in an area with direct, bright light. Both too much light and too much shade can cause the fronds to become thin and unappealing. Because of this, Boston fern is a fantastic option for a porch plant that receives morning shade and afternoon filtered sun.