Tassel Fern Care Tips

The elegant green foliage of Polystichum polyblepharum (Japanese Tassel Fern) makes a lovely addition to shady parts of your garden. It works beautifully as a groundcover or in planting arrangements contrasting with Carex, Heuchera, and Astilbe.

These low-maintenance ferns don’t need much attention other than regular watering and occasional trimming of dead fronds in early spring. They also like a mulch with rotted leaves to help retain moisture and nutrients.

Light

Light is one of the most important factors in growing a tassel fern. The fern thrives in areas with partial or full shade but is also hardy enough to grow under bright sun, especially if the area is well-drained and protected from extreme temperatures.

The tassel fern is a great choice for the dappled shade beneath deciduous trees or in cooler zones with morning sunlight and afternoon shade. It also does well in richer, steadily-moist soils that are enriched with plenty of organic matter.

It is a charming plant that is easy to grow and attracts very little pest or disease, although it may be susceptible to scale insects. Regular watering, trimming away dead fronds in early spring and perhaps an annual mulch with rotted leaves are all that is needed to keep your tassel fern flourishing!

Water

Water is one of the most important tassel fern care tips to keep in mind. This is because, as the name suggests, a healthy tassel fern needs lots of water to thrive.

Aside from this, a healthy Tassel Fern also needs soil that has good drainage properties. This is the reason why you should choose to plant your tassel fern in a soil mix that is made out of sand, chalk, and loam.

The next important tassel fern care tip to remember is to avoid large temperature fluctuations. This is because these fluctuations can stress a tassel fern, leading to it losing moisture and evaporating quickly.

Aside from this, you should also make sure that your tassel fern is located in an area where it can receive full to partial shade on a daily basis. This is because this will help it to retain more moisture and resist crown rot.

Fertilization

Fertilization is the process of fusing together two different chromosome sets to form a single diploid cell. The fusion of sperm and egg cells in fertilization is one of the most primitive processes, occurring in animals and plants.

During fertilization, a sperm cell swims upwards to the fallopian tube to meet up with an egg. Once the sperm is inside the egg, it then releases acrosomal enzymes to penetrate and activate the eggs membrane, allowing it to fuse with the eggs.

Tassel fern (Polystichum polyblepharum) is an evergreen fern with shiny green fronds up to 2 feet long. It features finely divided but overlapping pinnae as the new fronds emerge, but the most interesting feature is when the crosiers begin unfurling and then flip over backwards to form tassels.

Tassel fern grows best in an evenly moist, dappled shade location. It is easy to care for and pests don’t bother it, as do deer and rabbits, so this fern is ideal for woodland gardens, shade gardens, and home foundation plantings.

Pruning

There are few plants that offer a more dramatic, eye-catching presence in a shade garden than ferns. Their structure, texture and shape come to life in the spring when fronds emerge and mature.

The Japanese tassel fern, Polystichum polyblepharum (Polystichum pol-IS-tick-um pol-ee-BLEF-ar-um), is a good choice for any shady location, and it is resistant to rabbits and deer. It looks great in a woodland garden, as a groundcover under shrubs or as an edger along a pathway.

It grows 1-2 feet tall and wide in an outward-spreading clump of finely divided, dark green fronds that resemble a lacy necklace. In early spring the closed pinnae flip over, forming a tassel.

It grows best in moist, well-drained soil enriched with plenty of humus. Keep tassel ferns regularly watered but not saturated and provide consistent aeration. It can also benefit from an annual mulch with rotted leaves.