i kinda figured the clematis might not work ... but i was trying to get this newbie to think outside the fern box she has created in her mind.. there are a multitude of understory plants... perhaps within the WOODLAND category which will fit the given location... IF she can get past this fern fixation ... its not that fern itself is bad.. or the ostrich in particular ... but there are thousands of options beyond such ... i would also caution.. since she has only been in this garden for a short time ... that just because it was damp last year.. does NOT mean that is how it will be next year ... weather tends to cycle.... and you should NOT make assumptions too easily ... when i moved here 10 years ago .. i planted 40 bare root six to 8 foot oaks,ash, redbuds.. etc ... and thank God.. it rained every 4 days all summer. ... the ONLY thing that helped me PROPERLY water them on 5 acres ... i learned a lot about dragging hoses that year.. lol ... since then .... that has never happened again ... and i am glad.. i invested in some irrigation lines with spigots around the yard... rather than bank on ma nature ... soooo ... to the newbie ... dont make presumptions... and dont get fixated ... a new post giving the parameters ... without fern in the title.. might get you 1000 more options.. or not.. who knows.. lol ... the water issue might be directly related to the home building.. and the impact on soil structure.. and that might change over time ... ken

I doubt very much that your fern is dead from a short freeze. They are very hardy even in my cold wet clay in Michigan. My ostrich ferns (tag when planted in 2003 said they were Matteuccia struthiopteris or M. pennsylvanica) are up about 2-3 inches, as are the Northern Maidenhair ferns. The Cinnamon ferns are showing their knobby beige fiddle heads a bit too, but no sign of the other kinds yet. My ostrich ferns run quite a bit so I am not surprised that you found one of yours a bit away from where you think the plant is located. Everytime I move a plant I end up with 2 more near the old location! Works out fine in my "wet" corner where other things die off, but you need to be careful in a normal garden situation. BTW, I have mine planted in full sun & because of all the wet they do just fine.

To dig one up, just take a sharp shovel and cut between two of them (they grow on creeping rhizomes) - this is really just propagating by division. Many people get their starts this way. You can try growing it indoors and if it seems to decline, plant it outside. I think it would be happier outside.

Actually, I was referring to planting it in the ground rather than a pot. Ostrich is an aggressive fern and I'm thinking it will not prosper over the long haul stuffed in any size pot. It will quickly fill even a 16-20" pot w/roots. These are native ferns and will thrive in your Zone 6/7 garden. If you leave it in the pot over the winter it could become dinner for hungry voles, mice, etc. that get in the pot and eat the roots right off the poor thing and you'll have to make sure the pot doesn't dry out during thaw cycles also. There are many good ferns suitable for pot culture but, IMO, Ostrich fern isn't one of them. Again, this is due to its aggressive growth habits...this is no wimpy, delicate, 'help me or I'll perish' plant. They are awesome interplanted with Oriental lilies since the Ostrich fern can take 1/2 day of sun just fine if it has the classic "well-drained, moist but not wet" soil. The large fronds hide the rather ugly lily stems and the blooms peeking out of the ferns is lovely (smells lovely too!). I like omphalodes cappadocica 'Parisian Skies' planted at the feet of Ostrich ferns too. Anyway, don't worry about your fern...it will do fine.