My personal experience with them. They get heavy and lopsided, so you'll want to mount them on something or find some way to weigh them down to keep them from flipping over. Mine's in a metal basket with a coconut coir liner and a bunch of sphagnum moss, which doesn't hold enough water to rot it or anything. They don't seem to care about humidity that much. Having some humidity is probably a good thing, but it's not like some ferns that start falling apart if the relative humidity in your home dips below fifty. Light's also not a huge issue. They won't die in lower light, though they won't grow. They don't really grow regularly throughout the year, but sort of in spurts. Shield fronds normally turn brown. Fertile fronds only last about three years before dropping off. Water I've never honestly figured out. I initially heard they were rot prone and that you shouldn't water them until they wilt. I used to do this and ended up killing one. This was when I was new to plants, though. The typical water-when-dry method seems to be the best bet. What's odd though is that they're sort of succulent, especially when they get older because the mass of shield fronds acts like a sponge and stores water (and the fertile fronds seem succulent too, but I'm not sure). So, the one I have that I didn't accidentally kill... well, it's outside, it hasn't wilted or behaved strangely at ALL this summer, and I haven't been watering it that much. So I'm going to guess that smaller plants need more water and larger plants don't.

So much of "easy" or "difficult" depends on growing conditions. Carlisleliverpool finds "Boston" ferns easy in the UK; I bet folks in Tucson would have a very different view! Since you're Z5, I'll assume your conditions are similar to mine. Dry air is my ferns' biggest enemy much of the year. As a general rule, the thicker and more leathery the fronds, the lower humidity the plants can tolerate. The commonly available staghorn ferns with their big thick antler fronds can get flat out dry in humidity that's low enough to be uncomfortable for us humans, and they sail right along. (But give one to an Excessive Nurturer - i.e. overwaterer - and it won't last so long.) The most commonly available Pteris ferns, though (and there are something like 250 different species, so this is a generalization), with their paper-thin fronds will tend to look ugly pretty fast when the humidity is low. I grow in conditions of very good light (including some direct morning sun), humid summers with cool nights, quite cool winters with low humidity, and I let all but the most delicate ferns dry out a bit between waterings. That said, in my conditions, most difficult to easiest, with some duplicate commonly-grown forms separated out: 1) Adiantum (raddianum & similar sp.) 2) Pteris 3) Adiantum (again...hispidulum and similar species) 4) Nephrolepis (Boston types and curly cv's thereof. Not so difficult to keep alive as difficult to keep looking nice. They need a fair amount of grooming & cleaning up after.) 5) Asplenium (Look for the thicker-fronded species and cv's to be more durable than those with thin, broad fronds.) 6) tie- Nephrolepis (Lemon Button or Kimberly Queen - a little messy, but very tolerant) 6) tie- Phlebodium aureum (syn. Polypodium aureum Some of the crested or fringed cv's are a little touchier. I left my huge P. pseudoaureum dry in the dark garage all last winter. It froze, it died back to ground level, but it came back like a trouper this spring.) 7) tie for easiest- Davallia (..and again, there are many species, some of which I find quite difficult, but I'll assume we're taling about the one most common in cultivation, a variety of D mariesii often mistagged as D. trichomanoides. Easy if you're careful not to rot them. If it gets too dry, they'll go dormant, but they come back out of it nicely. It's not a bad idea to let them dry a little in late fall as they're normally semi-deciduous. 7) tie for easiest - Platycerium bifurcatum (They'll tolerate heat, cold, dry, almost anything but soggy poorly-aerated substrate or prolonged cold/wet. Hey Toni-- how goes it? Still got the large (and beautiful) citrus collection? Microsorum musifolium (Crocodile) is pretty durable (the fronds are used in flower arrangements, so you can tell they're not overly delicate) but they are vulnerable to leaf spot & die back from overhead watering. I know you like to mist but it's not this particular fern's favorite thing. If you are going to mist it, I'd suggest limiting it to times when you know the plant can dry again quickly (like mornings) and using distilled water.

thanks, Peachiekean. I am a little bit confused with the blueberries? Can they be companions of roses? Won't their roots interfere with those of the roses? How about forget-me-nots? They seem so beautiful. Does anybody grow them with roses. Dear Gary, I grow Old roses like Damasks: Ispahan, Mme Hardy and Kazanlak, Portland Jacque Cartier, Bourbons: Louise Odier and Mme Pierre Oger (sorry for wrong spelling), Austins Pat Austin, Graham Thomas; Lavender Dream, Alba Meilland (?), Jeanne d'Arc (from Netherlands), Magic Miracle and some Japanese HTs (Momoka, Yuka, Yumeka) and floribundas, also Blue Boy (I think), Niagara Falls which is a climber and climbing America. My plans are to see all of them bloomÂ@together with the other plants, especially the tree called Summer Camelia (Natsutsubaki) which is not a rose. I want to see my garden with many flowers. I have planted for the first time chrysanthemums, daisies, lilies, irises, safran, gladiols, so I hope they bloom. Yesterday I planted marigolds. I planted hyssop, geraniums and other herbs like salvia, thyme, camomile, lavender, lemon balm and mint. thanks for the ideas and advice. Hopefully I won't kill my plants. They are my medicine from depression.

A good fern that spreads but is dormant in the winter would be Thelypteris kunthii (southern shield fern). It is often featured in Southern Living. It quickly grows tall and lush and spreads from the sides. Autumn Fern is evergreen and does spread some. I'd suggest having more than one type of fern for more interest.