For the shade gardener who wants to grow edible plants, this shadowy designation of how much—or how little—direct sunlight a space receives is often perceived as second best. “I have a garden, but…it’s very shady.” There is a respectably long list of edible plants you can grow in shade, and in springtime ostrich ferns stand out: These native perennials are the source of edible fiddleheads. Along with ramps, ostrich fern fiddleheads are one of the darlings of spring farmers’ markets, fancy grocery stores, and of course, social media, where a single post can grow desire for them exponentially.

Like ramps, the fiddleheads of ostrich ferns are wild-harvested. While collecting a handful for your own spring supper can be sustainable, these are wild, native plants that are experiencing a surge of interest and are in demand in the spring. When wild things fall prey to commercial-scale appetite, they—and their environment—suffer.

Growing fiddleheads to eat (or sell) is very easy (and the results are rather quicker than with growing ramps). And even if you never eat their crosiers, their tall plumes will grace a garden space, large or small, for a long growing season.

Photography by Marie Viljoen.

Ostrich ferns are Matteuccia struthiopteris. Their native range includes Eastern North America as well as temperate (cold-winter) parts of Europe and Asia. They colonize an area, making it easy for foragers to collect a lot of fiddleheads when they begin to appear in spring. The plants grow from upright rhizomes that form underground runners, which give rise to new plants. (I saw my own test patch of ostrich ferns in Brooklyn quadruple in a couple of years.) But the ferns’ roots are close to the surface, and they are highly susceptible to damage from trampling.

Collecting a crosier, or fiddlehead, means one fewer frond for the plant, and less food production to sustain this perennial through its growing season. Fronds feed the fern’s rootstock; cutting too many depletes the plant’s energy. If this treatment is seasonally repeated, the fern is compromised. (And in urban parks, cutting a fiddlehead hijacks that plant’s aesthetic value, too—its raison d’être.)

For foragers collecting fiddleheads for personal use, conservative collection of a couple of fiddleheads per plant is recommended, if that plant is in a healthy colony. But on a commercial scale it is impossible to know when and where and whether this practice is followed.

Cultivating ostrich ferns is a sustainable and low-cost way to have access to your own fiddleheads—to eat or to sell—without compromising a wild habitat.

Cheat Sheet

• Ostrich ferns can be purchased from native plant nurseries.
• Once established, the ferns will start producing runners, which will turn into new plants.
• If you have a small garden space, you can dig these new plants annually, pot up, and gift to friends. If you have a forest farm, celebrate!
• Ostrich ferns are handsome in pots, where their height offers interest, even in small spaces.
• Companion plants can range from spring tulips to native perennials like summer-dormant Virginia bluebells.
• If you’re growing ostrich ferns to eat, test your soil if in doubt: Ferns can absorb heavy metals—they are excellent bioremediators.

Keep it Alive

• Ostrich ferns are very cold-hardy and can grow in USDA zones 3 to 7.
• They will thrive in full shade and semi-shade.
• If they receive sun (morning is better), they will need extra moisture.
• Ostrich ferns are not drought-tolerant, and require consistent moisture.
• Add plenty of organic matter to the soil if you have an urban space—leaf litter or compost.
• If you grow them in pots, make sure they are watered deeply and regularly.

Safe Preparation of Fiddleheads

• Eaten as a seasonal delicacy, fiddleheads are safe to eat if cooked first in boiling water, until just-tender.
• Never eat fiddleheads raw.
• Poisoning from fiddleheads may occur from undercooking.

See also:

• 5 Favorites: Ferns for Gardens and Landscapes
• A Walk in the Woods and a Bracken Fern Forage
• Virginia Bluebells: Native, Pretty, Shade-Tolerant—and Edible Too