Bird's Nest Fern
Asplenium nidus
also called asplenium nidus
The central rosette is both its shape and its weak point — water left pooling there is what starts the trouble.
Spacing & sowing
- Plant spacing
- 23.6 in
- In-row spacing
- 23.6 in
- Between rows
- 2 ft 6 in
- Square-foot density
- Not suited to SFG
Growing
- Type
- Houseplant · Perennial
- Botanical family
- Mixed / other
- Sunlight
- Part shade
- Feeding
- All-purpose balanced
- Frost tolerant
- No
Through the year
- Mar–Dec Spring Growth
- Jan–Mar Spring Growth
Pests & problems
- Scale insects Scale insects lined up along the undersides of the fronds
- Blight Bacterial leaf blight where the rosette is left waterlogged
- Browning frond tips from dry air or a spell of direct sun
Garden allies
Beneficial predators that hunt this plant's pests — grow their favourite flowers nearby to recruit them. companion plant
- Hoverfly SyrphidaeHunts Scale insects
Bee-mimicking flies whose legless larvae graze aphid colonies clean while the adults pollinate. A ribbon of shallow, nectar-rich flowers kept in bloom all season recruits wave after wave of them.
- Ladybird (lady beetle) CoccinellidaeHunts Scale insects
The gardener’s favorite ally: adults and their alligator-shaped larvae each eat thousands of aphids, plus scale, mealybugs, and other soft-bodied sap-suckers. Grow flat, open flowers for the adults and never spray a colony that ladybird larvae are already working.
The Cottage Garden Companion — the gardener's herbarium at cottagegardencompanion.com