Fern Frenzy

To Cut or Not To Cut, That Was the Question

When Arborist Ken Little and Grounds & Horticulture Associate Tobin Tripp were working on the boardwalk trail a few weeks ago (before our closure), they got frequent questions from our guests as to why they were cutting back the ferns. Some guests even seemed shocked and wondered if it was something that they should be doing to the ferns in their gardens at home.

Here’s Tobin’s explanation:

As a part of the effort to maintain the trails for the Reserve, the ferns (polystichum munitum) that are growing right alongside our trails need to be trimmed back to the crown each year. If done at the right time of the year, this kind of cutting back will not cause any damage to the fern. It will just slow down the fern’s growth and prevent it from overlapping the trails. When we do this type of pruning, we make sure to leave the fiddleheads in place (see photo below). This promotes healthy growth. An additional reason we trim the whole fern back and not just the parts that are encroaching on the trail is because a partially trimmed fern can quickly grow too large for its location and later require dividing and replanting.

Here are pictures of a fern pre- and post-trim and a close-up of its fiddleheads. Annual fern cutting back is something we do at the Reserve specifically to control the size of our ferns and to keep our trails clear. For the home gardener, an annual cutting back may not be necessary, but instead can be done on large ferns every two to three years as needed.