Description

This fern grows in shady settings in California’s coastal mountains from Oregon to Baja. It is one of several plants which thrive in the portion of the Sierra foothills cooled in the summer by the marine air that rushes daily through the Golden Gate. With the cool winter months, apple-green fronds appear from a slowly spreading rhizome. These brighten hillsides and canyons until the heat of late spring causes them to go dormant. California polypody accepts a variety of garden conditions as long as it is protected from the sun. Summer water is tolerated but does not appear to prevent this fern from going entirely dormant.