Why it’s choice: Sword fern stays green through rain, snow, sleet and dark of night. Also in sun, shade, wet soil, dry places and drought. Ubiquitous and easy to overlook, sword fern is handsome, ...

INDIANOLA — The barren patch of ground stood out in the midst of the lush forest understory. All around, sword ferns crowded between tree trunks forming dense thickets of greenery, but in this spot, ...

Eilís O'Neill / KUOW/EarthFix Ellie and Emma are toddlers. They spend a lot of time with their dad Tim Billo in Seward Park, a fragment of old-growth forest on the edge of Lake Washington. Billo’s a ...

Did you give or receive flowers for St. Valentine’s Day? Though not a flower, your commercial floral arrangement may have included our local native sword fern. Ferns were considered magic for a long ...

Don’t give up on that seemingly uninhabitable part of the yard that’s shaded by towering evergreens. With some creative planning, this tree-filled area can transform from a dark, neglected spot to an ...

Question: Your columns often recommend planting California native plants. Are there any drought-tolerant native ferns I can plant in my garden? Answer: Ferns are a wonderful way to add interest to a ...

As with so many plant groups, once a gardener stumbles upon ferns (figuratively speaking), there's no turning back. In our abundance of shade from trees and buildings, ferns can add texture, color and ...

In the Western Washington climate, you can gamble with dahlias and leave them in the ground over the winter. Cut the stems off at ground level then cover the soil (with the tubers still buried ...

Cool green shade and trickling water or waterfalls cascading from verdant canyons often come to mind when we think of ferns. But ferns are ancient plants that have learned to adapt to a much wider ...

Fossil records of ferns can be dated back to about 360 million years ago (late Devonian period), with their descendants from 145 million years ago being more closely related to the current day ferns.