{"id":15530,"date":"2025-09-29T18:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-09-29T22:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/?p=15530"},"modified":"2025-09-29T17:13:08","modified_gmt":"2025-09-29T21:13:08","slug":"arborvitae-fern-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/2025\/09\/29\/arborvitae-fern-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Arborvitae Fern"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Fresh Soft Green Fronds In Flower Garden<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Arborvitae Fern (Selaginella braunii<\/em>)\u00a0is not a true fern, but it produces spores. This ancient plant is called a club moss and spikemoss.\u00a0 A diverse group of over 700 species, spikemoss is native to China. Its thick lacy fern-like foliage resembles Arborvitae or Cedar. Spikemoss (S. braunii<\/em>) is a hardy landscape selection that forms a\u00a0low-growing matting groundcover that shades out competing weeds.\u00a0(USDA hardiness zones 6-9)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Spikemoss is a wonderful addition to a partial to full shade garden. Set in a well-drained, humus-rich soil. Established plantings demonstrate exceptional summer drought tolerance. While shady moist spots are ideal, this lacy ground cover does not tolerate standing water for long periods.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Selaginella braunii<\/em> take on bronzy appearance in late autumn (Biltmore Estates in Asheville, NC)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

This carefree plant also looks great forming a mat around taller plants in containers and hanging baskets.\u00a0 Spikemoss wants excellent drainage when grown in containers.\u00a0Clumps\u00a0can be divided any time of year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over several years arborvitae fern will develop a dense ground cover that competes against most other vegetation. Fronds take on a coppery appearance once cool temps arrive in the fall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Native to variable climates from tropical to dry and from sun to shade. Several perennial species are hardy in Tennessee and North Carolina areas (Zones 6-7). Selaginella plants are great as groundcovers around hosta, Solomon’s Seal, and other bold-foliaged perennials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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February in the garden \/arrival of new spring growth greens up landscape<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Spikemoss foliage is soft to the touch and low growing…a great groundcover filler for a woodland garden, pathway or shade container. Other species of Selaginellas thrive in terrariums and are fabulous companions to shade loving container plants. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some Selaginella<\/em> species are very drought-tolerant while others prefer marshy ground. This drought tolerant species may even turn brown and curl up during a drought but will rehydrate with no problems once rain finally arrives.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Arborvitae Fern (Selaginella braunii)\u00a0is not a true fern, but it produces spores. This ancient plant is called a club moss and spikemoss.\u00a0 A diverse group of over 700 species, spikemoss is native to China. Its thick lacy fern-like foliage resembles Arborvitae or Cedar. Spikemoss (S. braunii) is a hardy landscape selection that forms a\u00a0low-growing matting […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[444,1037,1498,778,674,800,1092,665,628,853,1571,729,777,630,1667,646,113,455],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15530"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15530"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15530\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15537,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15530\/revisions\/15537"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15530"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15530"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15530"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}