“With its upright arms of bright green, needle-like leaves, asparagus fern brings such a wonderful pop of color and texture to any room in your home. What I love about it is how easy it is to care…”
Hosta
Hosta sieboldiana
With its upright arms of bright green, needle-like leaves, asparagus fern brings such a wonderful pop of color and texture to any room in your home. What I love about it is how easy it is to care for, and its fresh color and fuzzy texture make it a surprisingly perfect fit for winter holiday decor.
Common name:Asparagus fern
Botanical name:Asparagus densiflorus
Exposure:Medium to bright light
Season:Year-round, for foliage
Foliage:This evergreen beauty gives you bright green color and fuzzy texture all year long with its tiny leaves that densely cover its upright stems. I just can't get enough of that soft, feathery look.
Habit:Asparagus fern can reach 2 to 3 feet tall and 3 to 4 feet wide. I've found that pinching back the stems or even cutting some down to soil level encourages a nice, stout, compact habit.
How to grow asparagus fern:Give it a spot in medium to bright light without direct sun. Trust me, asparagus fern is not a true fern and it doesn't require high humidity, making it so easy to please even in the drier air of winter. Provide moderate water, watering when the soil approaches dryness.
Asparagus fern can be grown outdoors as a perennial in USDA Zones 9 and warmer, but it is reported to be slightly invasive (by reseeding) in parts of Florida and Hawaii, so I'd recommend keeping it as an indoor houseplant everywhere—it's happier that way and so are your local ecosystems.
Image credit:Megan Hansen/CC BY-SA 2.0 DEED
