• Image of Woodwardia virginica taken at Juniper Level Botanic Garden, Raleigh NC by JLBG
    Juniper Level Botanic Garden, Raleigh NC by JLBG

Woodwardia virginica

Virginia Chain Fern

This plant is not currently for sale. This is an archive page preserved for informational use.

Shop Available Woodwardia

Item #: 4891

Zones: 4a to 9b, at least

Dormancy: Winter

Height: 18" tall

Culture: Part Sun to Light Shade

Origin: United States

Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)


This wonderful US native, from ME to TX, is strangely missing from gardens despite being a great, easy-to-grow garden specimen. W. virginica is usually found in bogs...often in very acidic, mucky soils, but we have found it quite adaptable in our average moisture, compost amended sandy loam. W. virginica has a long, striped, creeping rhizome that is topped during the growing season with 18 inch tall, upright, green fronds that often emerge coppery red. W. virginica is a nice spreader, but nothing like the weedy bracken fern. Our 5-year-old patches are 4' wide.