Its native habitat in the eastern USA is thickets, shaded woods, swamps, streams, riverbanks, and acid bogs.
Athyrium filix-femina angustum (Northern lady fern) performs best in the upper United States, while Southern lady fern (Athyrium filix-femina asplenioides) takes the extreme summer heat of the south.

Both have upright arching fronds that may reach 24 to 48 inches.

How to Grow a Lady Fern.
This is one of the trickiest stages of fern spore growing. Like all ferns, it prospers in damp, shady conditions and reproduces using spores. Southern Lady Fern is a 2-3 foot fern with lacy, broad deciduous leaves. Sow the spores thinly in damp compost and cover the pot with a cling-film. Planting Instructions - Spread the spores on the surface of a humus-rich sterilized soil and cover with plastic to retain moisture.

Lady ferns prefer shaded areas.

Like all ferns, it prospers in damp, shady conditions and reproduces using spores. UP FOR SALE IS ATHYRIUM FILIX-FEMINA, LADY FERN SPORES, (SEEDS) 1000 SPORES Lady ferns are pretty, clump forming plants with a spread of 3' wide and 3' tall with delicate, light-green, feathered leaves (fronds). They belong to the lower vascular plant division Pteridophyta, having leaves usually with branching vein systems.. Spore-bearing leaflets the spore-bearing fronds are similar in size and shape to the sterile fronds Sorus shape. It lives in rocks, limestone, wall mortar and banks. Deciduous.

Grow in light shade to full shade throughout South Carolina except for the coast.

Athyrium filix-femina 'Victoriae' lady fern "This is the most spectacular of all cultivars in its magnificent frond architecture. This small fern has glossy, triangular fronds with reddish-brown or black stalks. Lady ferns prefer shaded areas. Propagate by rhizome division Ferns are unusually primitive, reproducing by spores carried in sori arranged on the undersides of the leaves.

Brenda, the Notes section describes how to ID lady fern, from the spore pattern on the backs of leaves and the scales on the lower part of the stems. Lady fern, (Athyrium filix-femina), a large, feathery fern classified in the family Woodsiaceae, widely cultivated for ornamentation. If your specimens don't match the description then you have something else, but in any case you need to look at the spore … As they grow farther and farther outwards, the centers die away, leaving a ring of Lady Ferns.

Grizzly bears like to eat Lady ferns as a major food source. Fern, (class Polypodiopsida), class of nonflowering vascular plants that possess true roots, stems, and complex leaves and that reproduce by spores.The number of known extant fern species is about 10,500, but estimates have ranged as high as 15,000, the number varying because certain groups are as yet poorly studied and because new species are still being found in unexplored tropical areas.

It is easy to grow if given the right conditions. Athyrium filix-femina Athyrium filix-femina (L.) Roth Common Lady Fern, Subarctic Lady Fern, Lady Fern, Ladyfern Dryopteridaceae (Wood Fern Family) Synonym(s): USDA Symbol: atfi USDA Native Status: L48 (N), AK (N), CAN (N), GL (N), SPM Highly variable in appearance over its range, Subarctic lady fern is typically a large, clustered fern, 2-3 ft. tall. asplenioides USDA Symbol: atfia2 USDA Native Status: L48. The Victorian fern craze, a botanical frenzy that occurred between 1845 and 1880, can at least in part be attributed to the efforts of collectors to find new and novel variants of lady fern. Many Lady ferns will grow in a group in the shape of a circle. Spores are tiny structures that contain the genetic material needed to grow a new fern.

Although it prefers constant moisture, lady fern can stand some drought. The leaves of the black spleenwort are quite firm compared to other ferns. Fiddleheads: Ostrich Fern fiddleheads are considered the best for edibility; they are more common on the east coast and are only found in BC in our region. here in Seattle they are a no maintenance plant.