My favorite fern is Royal fern. When it emerges in the spring the fronds are is yellowish brown in color and looks like they are lit from within.The leaves fully expand to a bright green color. The  fronds have rounded leaf blades which make them easy to distinguish from other ferns. They can grow 3 to five feet tall. This fern forms hummocks at its base elevating the plant. This maybe because it naturally grows in wet areas but forms these heavy roots even in ordinary garden soil. Royal fern sits on a throne( the Hummock).  Royal fern forms thick luscious stands in moist soil high in organic matter. This great plant can also tolerate drier soils.

One of the easier ferns to identify when the spores are on the frond. The spores look like tassels are a high up on the plants. Royal fern can be added to your woodland garden for filler after early spring flowering plants have stopped flowering or gone dormant. It is an elegant fern that really adds great color and form to your garden. Good companions are Jack-in-the-pulpit, cinnamon fern, Virginia water leaf, Virginia blue bells, trout lilies, wild columbine, wild ginger, early meadow rue and wild geranium, and asters.

Interrupted fern is relatively easy to grow from spores but unlike most other ferns the spores should not be stored but sown immediately. This is also true of Interrupted Fern and Cinnamon Fern. At Amanda's Garden we have found that sowing immediately produces robust plants in a year.