How do you take care of autumn ferns?

When caring for an autumn fern you want to make sure that you have it in well-draining soil. These plants enjoy the shade and like to have damp soil. Make sure that your soil never goes bone dry.

Is autumn fern an evergreen?

Autumn fern is an evergreen shrub.

How much sun can Autumn fern take?

The autumn fern is mostly a shade plant but can take up to 2hrs of sunlight.

Do autumn ferns die back?

In warm climates, the autumn fern will stay evergreen. While in colder conditions the plant will slowly die back and become semi-evergreen while maintaining some foliage.

Dryopteris Autumn Fern Shrub

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Product Description

The Dryopteris Autumn Fern shrub is an unparalleled option for a vibrant fern ground cover or landscape border. It is easy to grow and the fern thrives in a variety of planting sites.

Its new fronds reveal themselves in striking shades of orange red that change to copper-red before maturing to the lush deep green it maintains through the summer season. The Autumn Fern’s growth process is both beautiful and breathtaking and a real treat to watch!

This unique dwarf fern is known as an accent fern and is an excellent choice for ground covers or borders in any shade garden or landscape. The Autumn fern perennial plant is perfect in so many ways!

Dryopteris Autumn Fern Care

The Autumn Brilliance Fern grows best in part shade to full shade and does not react well to hot full sun. Shield the fern if planted in an area in any kind of sunlight. It is drought tolerant once established.

The evergreen fern performs best in moist, rich, deep, well-drained, organically supplemented soils. It will do best in slightly acidic, wet soils that are consistently moist soils. Drier soils will not be able to maintain the bright orange fern.

It can be planted in pots to give that porch or patio the perfect accent. The bright red leaves that look a copper color stand out tremendously in woodland gardens and containers alike. Then the Dryopteris erythrosora brilliance autumn ferns leaves turn to a shiny dark green and will compliment your landscape.

The Autumn fern grows best across the United States in USDA hardiness zones 4-9. The Autumn fern size can grow up to 2 feet tall and 1.5 feet wide making it a perfect small plant. It is extremely low maintenance and easy to care for. The ornamental fern also has excellent pest and disease resistance.

Shop the Dryopteris Autumn Fern plant for sale.

The perfect shade loving shrub!

Botanical Name

Dryopteris erythrosora

Sunlight Full Shade

Foliage Color Green

Mature Height 1.5-2 ft

Mature Width 18 in

Growing Zones 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9

Special Features

Attractive foliage
Low maintenance
Evergreen
Cold Hardy

Shipping Info

Once your Dryopteris Autumn Fern Shrub order is placed, we will ship your plant(s) within seven business days year round unless during the checkout process you request otherwise in the space provided to do so.

Perfect Plants’ shipping specialists carefully package your plants using a proven packaging method that ensures your plants arrive healthy, colorfully alive and ready to flourish. We’ve coined the term ‘upside down box test’ and we do just that; we carefully package so that regardless of the direction your box is handled, it will not harm your precious plant that’s inside.

No shipping process is without a problem from time to time. On rare occasions some plants may experience some of the following during their transit: drooping, minor leaf-loss and/or minimal yellowing/discoloration, minor limb damage, etc. These instances are quite rare, but can happen when shipping plants in boxes.

Plants normally recover within a few weeks after planting. If a damaged box has injured your plant on the inside, please notify us within 5 days of receiving you package(s) by emailing us a photograph of the damage.

We always do our very best to ensure that your plants are packed and shipped in the safest, gentlest and most effective way possible.

Will my plants and trees look like the photographs?

Absolutely! Unlike other online nurseries, our photos are of actual plants and trees we’ve grown here, on our family operated nursery.

Growing our own plants and trees helps to ensure we ship you the best quality plants that are free of pests and diseases.

Your plants and trees may however not ship with flowers on them, like the photographs. This all depends on the time of year you buy your plant or tree. Crape Myrtle trees, for example, only bloom during the summer months, so if you purchase one during the spring or fall, they would ship without flowers. Once planted, your plants will grow and thrive giving you flowers for many years to come!

Pot Sizes

Pot sizes (commonly referred to in gallons) are shipped in the same size nursery trade pots which may vary in actual volume. Some plants may have been at the approximate pot size listed, but require excess dirt to be removed so that you will not be paying any additional shipping costs. This doesn’t happen very often though.

Shipping Fees

Our shipping charges are based on the value of your order. Please use the chart below to see what your shipping charge will be.

Care

DRYOPTERIS AUTUMN FERN CARE:

The Dryopteris Autumn Fern is a slow-growing, low maintenance plant. Any good forest loam is best for soil. This fern needs full shade conditions, and can only tolerate 1 to 2 hours of direct sunlight daily. Once established, it has good drought tolerance.

Multiples should be planted 12 to 18 inches apart.

PLANTING INSTRUCTIONS:

Dig a hole approximately twice as wide as your new plant’s root ball and deep enough so that the top of the root ball is equal with the ground level.

Loosen the root ball using a small garden spade or by hand. Breaking smaller outer roots can encourage growth into the new soil, but take care to not damage large primary roots.

Place the plant in the hole and ensure that it is situated evenly upright. Use the excavated soil to fill in around the root ball, using your foot to pack it in firmly. Thoroughly soak with a hose as you fill in the dirt. Take great care to not leave any gaps or air spaces around the root ball as this could kill the plant.

Ensure that the plant and surrounding soil is completely soaked with water.

Mulch is not generally necessary for these ferns.

To ensure the proper nutrients are available for the life of your Dryopteris Autumn Fern, our proprietary Perfect Plants Special Blend Soil and a once yearly application of Nutricote Total 360 Fertilizer are great considerations for your new plants!

12 reviews for Dryopteris Autumn Fern Shrub

4.5

Rated 4.50 out of 5

Based on 12 reviews

5 star		75%
4 star		0%
3 star		25%
2 star		0%
1 star		0%

Rated 5 out of 5

Budd – April 13, 2016

Truly a Perfect Plant! Thank you

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Rated 5 out of 5

Austin S. – May 14, 2016

Bought 3 1gallons and I am very pleased. Well packaged and arrived in 1 box. They even gave me planting instructions about ferns.

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Rated 5 out of 5

Kelsey – September 10, 2018

I love this fern! Arrived quickly and I loved the directions on how to take care of my fern. Thanks so much Perfect Plants. I’ll be ordering plants from you again.

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Rated 3 out of 5

Shirley Daniels (verified owner) – April 30, 2019

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Was somewhat droopy at first,had a few dead leaves.Looks a little better.

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Rated 3 out of 5

Constance Henry (verified owner) – May 20, 2020

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Rated 5 out of 5

Ronald S. (verified owner) – May 29, 2020

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Beautiful, healthy ferns. Much larger than I had expected. They seem to be very happy in their new home!

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- Perfect Plants (store manager) – June 2, 2020
  
  Hi Ronald, thank you for your feedback on our Dryopteris Autumn Fern. Glad you love your new plants!
Rated 5 out of 5

Anonymous (verified owner) – June 4, 2020

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Very healthy. I love this fern!

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- Perfect Plants (store manager) – June 4, 2020
  
  We are so happy you love your new Autumn Fern!
Rated 5 out of 5

Anonymous (verified owner) – December 1, 2020

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Beautiful, healthy plants. Always packaged so well. Need more.

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- Perfect Plants (store manager) – December 2, 2020
  
  Hi there, thank you so much for reviewing our Dryopteris Autumn Fern shrub. We are glad they arrived safe and sound!! Happy planting
Rated 5 out of 5

Doug (verified owner) – April 15, 2021

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Autumn Fern was a gift for a neighbor. Showed up fast, was packed securely & it looked great! This was my second order from Perfect Plants. They are my favorite online nursery.

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- Perfect Plants (store manager) – April 21, 2021
  
  Thank you for your kind review on our Autumn Brilliance Fern. We are glad it arrived safely and hope your neighbor loves their new plants! :)
Rated 5 out of 5

Janis (verified owner) – July 19, 2021

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Transplanted them (5) into the woods out back and they’re doing great. I am sure to buy a lot more!

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- Perfect Plants (store manager) – July 30, 2021
  
  Enjoy your new Dryopteris Autumn Ferns! I am sure they look lovely in your wooded area!
Rated 3 out of 5

Sharon Brown (verified owner) – July 28, 2021

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Just disappointed in the appearance/size of the plant.

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- Perfect Plants (store manager) – July 30, 2021
  
  Hi Sharon, so sorry your Autumn Ferns arrived less than par. We can certainly fix the experience for you. Reach out to us at contact@myperfectplants.com for further assistance.
Rated 5 out of 5

Larry Adkerson (verified owner) – August 2, 2021

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