{"id":2748,"date":"2019-05-17T00:04:36","date_gmt":"2019-05-17T07:04:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/pal\/pal-question-533\/"},"modified":"2025-10-16T16:55:10","modified_gmt":"2025-10-16T23:55:10","slug":"pruning-and-maintaining-sword-ferns","status":"publish","type":"pal","link":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/pal\/pruning-and-maintaining-sword-ferns\/","title":{"rendered":"pruning and maintaining sword ferns"},"content":{"rendered":"

We leave for about 5 months in the winter and by the time we<\/strong>
\nget back our sword ferns have sprouted and it’s hard to prune the old<\/strong>
\nfronds out without cutting off the new ones. These ferns are in a fairly<\/strong>
\nprotected area, so I was wondering if it would be okay to cut off the old<\/strong>
\nfronds in October before we leave? Also would it help if we just cut the<\/strong>
\nold fronds and lay them over the plant to help protect it over the<\/strong>
\nwinter?<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

There are some slight differences of opinion on cutting back sword ferns.
\nIt might be fine to cut the old fronds this fall and leave them as
\nprotection over the winter, but it isn’t really necessary to cut them
\nback until early spring, if at all. The local web site for Great Plant
\nPicks<\/a> recommends cutting sword ferns to the ground in late winter, or
\nonly cutting back every 3 years or so on plants growing in poor soil:<\/p>\n

Paghat’s Garden, another local gardening site<\/a> recommends only cutting away dead fronds. Excerpt:<\/p>\n

It was once believed it was necessary to cut all the fronds off in
\nFebruary immediately before new growth begins, but it is now the
\nrecommendation to only trim dead fronds. By April when the fiddleheads
\nare thickly erupting, any of last year’s fronds that have lost their
\nbeauty should be removed, but only for looks’ sake, removing up to as
\nmany as all of them. They’ll soon enough be replaced by new. Just don’t
\nremove the fronds before winter’s final frosts, as the reason this fern
\nadapted itself to keeping its fronds green at least until winters’ end is
\nto shelter & protect the humping crown from excessive cold or from
\nsunlight in winter when deciduous trees might not adequately shade the
\nrootcrown.<\/p>\n

Since your plants are in a protected area, you might be able to go ahead
\nwith your October trimming, but really the main reason to trim is an
\naesthetic one, so it isn’t absolutely necessary.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We leave for about 5 months in the winter and by the time we get back our sword ferns have sprouted and it’s hard to prune the old fronds out without cutting off the new ones. These ferns are in a fairly protected area, so I was wondering if it would be okay to cut off the old fronds in October before we leave? Also would it help if we just cut the old fronds and lay them over the…<\/p>\n

Continue reading pruning and maintaining sword ferns<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","keyword":[221,104],"class_list":["post-2748","pal","type-pal","status-publish","hentry","keyword-polystichum-munitum","keyword-pruning"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pal\/2748"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pal"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/pal"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2748"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"keyword","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/keyword?post=2748"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}