The friend who gave me a clump pf Northern Lady Fern in spring, 2016 told me to pot it up for a while... then plant it in the garden. By mid-summer it had begun to crowd its original pot... so I moved it up to a 17 inch double-walled plastic pot. That fall it looked so good in the pot I decided to leave it there through the winter. [It is, after all, hardy to zone 2.] By summer, 2017 this fern had exploded into a huge, beautifully shaped fern that completely filled the larger pot.

That fall I dug it out of the large pot and divided the creeping rhizome into several sections and gave them to friends. The one section I kept was planted in my shade garden... but sadly did not survive that winter.

Now that I've found a reputable source for potted hardy ferns, I'll be getting another Northern Lady Fern next spring... I have just the place for it.

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