The evergreen felt fern is a slow-growing fern with long shallow, creeping rhizomes. It produces upright fronds each with a tapered base that range from 12" to 18" tall. The hairs and scales give the fronds a soft felty feel. They make great container plants as well as locating on slopes, tree trunks, logs, and rocks. If locating in containers, use an orchid bark amended soil. VIDEO Created by NC State Extension's Homegrown series featuring Mark Weathington , Director of JC Raulston Arboretum .
Curated pairwise relationships between this plant and others in the library — who feeds
whom, who competes, who confuses the pests. Green reads as a good pairing, red as one to avoid.
No curated interactions recorded for this species yet.
Also noted by NC State
Related species the NC State Plant Toolbox flags for this plant — look-alikes to tell
apart, and plants that play a similar role in a planting. Ones we carry in the library are linked.
Dappled Sunlight (Shade through upper canopy all day) | Deep shade (Less than 2 hours to no direct sunlight) | Partial Shade (Direct sunlight only part of the day, 2-6 hours)
Soil texture
Clay; Loam (Silt); Sand; Shallow Rocky
Soil pH
Acid (<6.0); Alkaline (>8.0); Neutral (6.0-8.0)
Soil drainage
Good Drainage
Available space
12 inches-3 feet
NC region
Coastal
Mature size
Height: 0 ft. 8 in. - 1 ft. 0 in. | Width: 1 ft. 0 in. - 3 ft. 0 in.
Growth rate
Slow
Maintenance
Low
Canopy layer
4 - Herbaceous (1-3 ft)
Form & Appearance
Habit / form
Creeping; Mounding; Prostrate
Texture
Coarse
Foliage
Broadleaf Evergreen
Leaf color
Brown/Copper; Gray/Silver; Green; White
Leaf type
Simple
Leaf arrangement
Other/more complex
Leaf shape
Linear
Leaf margin
Entire
Leaf value
Edible
Leaf size
3-6 inches long, 1-3 inches wide
Hairs present
Yes
Leaf detail
Blade is leathery, lance shaped and tapers to a long pointed tip; lower blade is densely covered with persistent white to gray brown stellate hairs; stipe one fifth to one half the frond length.
Flower detail
No flowers.
Fruit detail
No fruits. This plants reproduces via spores.
Stem color
Green
Wildlife & Ecology
Native status
Non-native
Origin
China to Indo-China, South Korea, Nansei-shoto to Taiwan
Food & Medicine
Edibility
medicinal
Landscape Use
Landscape location
Container; Hanging Baskets; Patio; Rock Wall; Slope/Bank; Small Space; Walkways