The Autumn Brilliance Fern is an evergreen fern that changes color with every season. The Autumn Brilliance is one of the showiest ferns offered in recent years. Fronds of the Dryopteris erythrosora 'Brilliance' emerge in the spring with beautiful bright copper-bronze color tones, to dark green for summer and back to bronze again, and all on an evergreen habit that looks great in the partly shaded bed or border. Once established, you will find the Autumn Brilliance Fern is virtually self-maintaining and truly eye-catching in any setting.
The Fern Autumn Brilliance reaches 2 feet in height and wide and is one of the few perennials that will grow happily beneath large shade trees or in dry soils. It has a wonderful contrasting effect when planted near a rock or a small pond. This evergreen fern is versatile and can be used for show in pots indoors or for a patio or deck plant. Here’s a beautiful fern that will be with you season after season.
This premium fern is shipped in one-gallon trade size containers, full root system, ready to plant, and start growing. These will fill a one square foot area the first growing season.
Video: Basics on planting container grown plants
Planting Container Plants Video
Planting and caring for bare root ferns, evergreen ferns and container ferns:
Fern plants grow mostly in lightly shaded to fully shaded areas. They prefer moist, rich humus soil with a slightly acid pH (5.3 to 5.5 pH range). Sphagnum peat moss is good to add to the soil for holding moisture and will add some acid to the soil as it decomposes.
The hole should not only be large enough to hold the tuber, but allowing at least an inch or two from the top of the tuber to the top of the hole. The smaller ferns, such as Maidenhair fern, can be planted about 18 to 24 inches apart. The edible Ostrich ferns, Christmas ferns and Royal Ferns grow larger and should be planted no closer than 24 inches apart.
Top with a good layer of mulch (shredded bark mulch, aged compost or aged manure mix) or a light layer of straw for added moisture and to keep the ground cool. Water as needed to keep the soil moist. As the ground warms in late spring, the fronds will begin sprouting.
Deciding which end of the tuber is up can be daunting. Sometimes the tip is visible on the top portion and other times there will be root hairs extending from the bottom. If in doubt, the tuber can be planted in a sideways position.
Cutting the fall die back to the ground and applying a fresh layer of mulch will help to protect the fern tubers from popping out of the ground over winter freeze/thaw cycles as well as from squirrels or other critters digging them up for winter food.
