Maidenhair fern

* Common name: Maidenhair fern

* Botanical name: Adiantum pedatum

* What it is: A shade-preferring, native-Pennsylvania fern with frilly light-green fronds and a low, slowly colonizing habit. Dies back to the ground over winter but emerges as pink, curled “fiddleheads” the following spring.

* Size: 12-15 inches tall, spreading 2 feet wide and beyond.

* Where to use: Maidenhair ferns are found naturally in damp, shaded woodlands and ravines, so they’re best if you have a similar damp, shady spot. They’ll also make a lush colony along a north-facing house-foundation bed and along a shady stream bank or water garden. And they provide interesting foliage texture in a shady deck pot. You’ll likely have to water them in the dry shade under big trees, though, especially if the lower limbs have been removed.

* Care: Keep well watered the first full season, then soak weekly in hot, dry weather – unless the bed stays naturally damp most of the time. Work compost into the soil at planting, then fertilizer usually isn’t necessary. Cut off dead foliage back to the ground at end of winter. Can be dug and divided in early spring or early fall.

* Great partner: The frilly texture pairs well with rounded shade perennials, such as hosta, coralbells and brunnera.