9 Top Ferns to Grow as Houseplants

Ferns offer a wide range of colors and textures. Try these versatile houseplants in your home.

view all thumbnails

Crocodile Fern

Lemon Button Fern

Maidenhair Fern

Rabbit's-Foot Fern

Staghorn Fern

Bird's Nest Fern

Silver Brake Fern

Kangaroo Paw Fern

Boston Fern

Related Links

24 of the Easiest Houseplants You Can Grow

Grow these no-fuss houseplants to bring life and c...

Houseplants for the Forgetful Gardener

Love houseplants but often forget to water them? I...

24 Beautiful Blooming Houseplants

Find fragrance and beauty in flowering houseplants...

Grow Houseplants from Produce

You don't have to go to a nursery or florist to fi...

Your Comment:

Crocodile Fern

We love this fern's interesting texture. The bright green fronds have a decidedly reptilian look and it's not tough to see where the common name comes from. It makes a bold statement: At maturity, each frond can reach 3 feet long.

Name: Microsorium musifolium 'Crocodyllus'
Growing Conditions: Medium to bright light and high humidity
Size: To 4 feet tall and wide

Lemon Button Fern

Lemon button fern produces cute, golden-green fronds with rounded edges (that give it the buttonlike appearance). It's an easy-to-grow fern that fits in well with a lot of decorating styles.

Name: Nephrolepis cordifolia 'Lemon Button'
Growing Conditions: Medium to bright light and high humidity
Size: To 3 feet tall and 4 feet wide

Maidenhair Fern

Among the most loved ferns, maidenhairs offer fine-textured fronds on black stalks. The arching fronds emerge light green and darken a bit as they age.

Name: Adiantum raddianum 'Fritz Luth'
Growing Conditions: Medium to bright light and high humidity
Size: To 2 feet tall and wide

Rabbit's-Foot Fern

This slow-growing fern offers dark green, fine textured fronds and fuzzy stems that creep down over the pot or along the soil. These stems are what gives the fern its delightful common name.

Name: Humata tyermanii
Growing Conditions: Medium to bright light and high humidity
Size: To 2 feet tall and wide

Staghorn Fern

Among the most spectacular of ferns, staghorns don't need to be grown in soil so you often see them mounted and grown on walls or posts. They offer deep green, antlerlike fronds that definitely make a statement in your home's decorating scheme.

Name: Platycerium bifurcatum
Growing Conditions: Medium to bright light and high humidity
Size: To 6 feet tall and wide

Bird's Nest Fern

Another of our favorites, bird's nest fern is a slow-growing plant with bright green fronds that radiate from the center of the plant, creating a vase or bird's nest shape. It's versatile and easy to grow.

Name: Asplenium nidus
Growing Conditions: Medium to bright light and high humidity
Size: To 5 feet tall and wide (but usually 1-2 feet indoors)

Silver Brake Fern

Create a distinctive look in your home with this fern. The crested fronds are almost spidery and bear a bright silvery stripe down the center.

Name: Pteris cretica 'Mayi'
Growing Conditions: Medium to bright light and high humidity
Size: To 2 feet tall and wide

Kangaroo Paw Fern

This interesting fern offers shiny, dark green fronds in an unkempt mound reminiscent of Medusa's hair. Like rabbit's-foot fern, it bears creeping stems that may grow down the side of its container!

Name: Microsorium diversifolium
Growing Conditions: Medium to bright light and high humidity
Size: To 2 feet tall and wide

Boston Fern

The most common indoor fern, Boston ferns are long-lived plants that can reach more than 5 feet tall and wide at maturity (though indoors they rarely reach that size). Fern breeders have released a large number of varieties -- from selections with golden fronds to fantastically frilled fronds. Shown here is 'Fluffy Ruffles'.

Name: Nephrolepis exaltata 'Fluffy Ruffles'
Growing Conditions: Medium to bright light and high humidity
Size: To 7 feet tall and wide (but usually 2-3 feet tall and wide indoors)

9 Top Ferns to Grow as Houseplants

Top Brands

Top Searches