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Tried and True Native Plant Selections
for the Mid-Atlantic
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Matteuccia struthiopteris (Ostrich Fern)
Native mostly in the northern half of the Mid-Atlantic Region,* Ostrich Fern is indigenous in only three places in Virginia, including along the Potomac River in Arlington and Fairfax counties. It requires a large landscape to show off to full advantage its long, finely dissected fronds, suggestive of ostrich plumes.
*It is native to Arlington and Fairfax counties, DC, northern and western MD, and much of PA. It is adventive (non-native; an escape from cultivation into natural areas) in the DE Piedmont.
Learn more about other Mid-Atlantic plants:
Tried and True Native Plant Fact Sheets