Goldie's wood fern
Dryopteris goldiana ·
The giant of the native wood ferns: broad, arching fronds over a metre long, with a golden-green tint. It needs rich, moist soil.
- Size
- 4 ft tall, 4 ft wide
- Zones
- 3 to 8
- Light
- Part shade to shade
- Flowers
- Grown for its leaves
- Pets
- Not checked
- Job in a bed
- Specimen
A bed built around Goldie's wood fern
The planner designed this bed around Goldie's wood fern when this page was made: a 12 × 6 ft (3.7 × 1.8 m) English border in zone 6, part shade. It chose the other plants from the 513 that suit those conditions, and says below why Goldie's wood fern stands where it does.
The plants
- 1 Goldie's wood fern × 1, green leaves
- 2 Moor grass 'Greenlee' × 6, tan
- 3 Polyanthus primrose × 11, yellow
- 4 Turtlehead 'Hot Lips' × 3, pink
- 5 Gray's sedge × 3, green
- 6 Wild geranium × 3, pink
- 7 Giant snowdrop × 12, white
- 8 Grecian windflower × 12, blue
Why this plant
- The only plant grown for its leaves. Leaf lasts all season, where a flower lasts a few weeks.
Why here
- Anchors a back corner. At 4 ft it is the tallest plant here, and the tallest close the ends of the bed, where they stand in front of nothing.
- A step in the back row. Next to Gray's sedge (2½ ft): no two neighbours there are the same height, so the back steps up and down like a skyline.
- One plant, alone. A feature plant is seen as an object, and needs clear ground around it.
Why now
- Here for its leaves, spring to frost. They cover the 10 weeks between early March and late November when nothing on the plan is in flower.
Planned as an English border: 8 of the 8 groups (100%) are drifts, longer along the bed than they are deep. The back corners are held by Goldie's wood fern and turtlehead 'Hot Lips', the tallest plants on the plan. The bed is balanced: the left half carries 47% of the visual weight and the right half 53%.
The planner's own design check: 10 Excellent, 7 Good. It flags one thing to watch: Nothing on this plan is highly poisonous or an aggressive spreader.
Open this bed in the planner Change its size, the sun or the style, move plants about, or swap one for another.
Where Goldie's wood fern goes in a border
At 4 ft it belongs at the back of a bed. In the planner's ten height classes it is moderately tall (3 to 4 ft).
Its job: specimen. A feature plant with a shape of its own. It stands alone with room around it, and repeats only at a distance.
It is in scale with the largest hostas and can anchor a shady bed as a shrub would. Give it deep, moist soil and shelter from wind.
- A large specimen for moist shade
- Native woodland gardens
- With big hostas
What to plant with Goldie's wood fern
Plants recorded as good partners for it, and what each pairing does:
- Hosta 'Empress Wu': bold leaves against its medium ones; happy in the same moist soil.
- Black cohosh: adds the flowers, early July to early August; happy in the same moist soil.
- Solomon's seal: adds the flowers, early May to late May; happy in the same moist soil.
Questions about Goldie's wood fern
Does Goldie's wood fern need sun or shade?
Goldie's wood fern grows in part shade (2 to 4 hours of sun, mostly in the morning) and shade (less than 2 hours of direct sun, or bright dappled light).
It wants soil that stays evenly moist, rich in organic matter, and a good soak in dry spells.
What zones does Goldie's wood fern grow in?
USDA zones 3 to 8. It is hardy to zone 3, which means it survives winter nights down to about −30 °F (−34 °C).
Above zone 8 it struggles: the zones measure winter cold, but a plant's top zone usually means the summers are too hot or the winters too mild for it to rest.
Gardening in Canada? Use the USDA zone for your town: Canada's own zone map uses different numbers.
How far apart should Goldie's wood fern be planted?
3 ft (90 cm) apart, from the middle of one plant to the middle of the next. That is a little closer than its full width of 4 ft (120 cm), so a group knits into one patch.
It grows 4 ft (120 cm) tall. Give it the full distance from anything taller, or it will lean out towards the light.
How many Goldie's wood fern plants do I need?
At 3 ft apart, set out in staggered rows:
- 1 to fill 10 square feet (about 1 m²)
- 4 for a single row 10 ft (3 m) long
- 4 to fill a 4 × 8 ft bed on its own
In a mixed border, plant it as one, with clear ground around it: a feature plant is seen as an object, and a group of them is a thicket.
In the bed above, the planner used one in one group.
Is there a native plant like Goldie's wood fern?
Goldie's wood fern is not native to North America. These North American natives come closest to doing its job:
- Wallich's wood fern: the same job in a bed; 6 in narrower.
- Interrupted fern: the same job in a bed; 8 in shorter, 6 in narrower.
- Western sword fern: the same job in a bed and the same size; keeps its leaves in winter, wants average soil.
Matched the way the planner's Swap button matches plants: the same job in a bed, then size, then flowering time.
What does Goldie's wood fern look like in winter?
Goldie's wood fern dies down to the ground and there is nothing to see until spring. The old stems can be cut in autumn, or left until spring as shelter for overwintering insects.
More Dryopteris
- Autumn fern Dryopteris erythrosora
- Autumn fern 'Brilliance' Dryopteris erythrosora 'Brilliance'
- Champion's wood fern Dryopteris championii
- Dixie wood fern Dryopteris x australis
- Evergreen wood fern Dryopteris intermedia
- Golden-scaled male fern Dryopteris affinis
- Log fern Dryopteris celsa
- Male fern Dryopteris filix-mas
- Marginal wood fern Dryopteris marginalis
- Southern wood fern Dryopteris ludoviciana
- Wallich's wood fern Dryopteris wallichiana
In these guides
Zone guides: Zone 3 · Zone 4 · Zone 5 · Zone 6 · Zone 7 · Zone 8
Every fact on record
- Type
- Fern
- Size
- 4 ft (120 cm) tall, 4 ft (120 cm) wide
- Plant
- 3 ft (90 cm) apart
- Height class
- Moderately tall (3 to 4 ft)
- Place in the bed
- Back
- Flowers
- None: grown for its foliage
- Leaves
- Medium texture, herbaceous; green
- Shape
- Vase-shaped, clumping
- Hardy in
- USDA zones 3 to 8
- Light
- Part shade, shade
- Soil
- Rich, evenly moist
- Water
- Moderate
- Feeding
- Light, in spring
Not yet checked against an outside reference: its figures rest on general horticultural knowledge. Flowering times are for zone 5: later in colder zones, earlier in warmer ones. Toxicity and spread information is a general gardening guide, not veterinary or medical advice, and invasive status varies by region. If a person or pet eats a plant, contact poison control or a vet. Check your local invasive species list before planting anything with a spread warning.