Mucho to love with Macho

Macho fern gets a few rays of actual sunlight for moments each day. It’s in a 2-person-sized pot to be sure. All images are clickable for a larger view.

This plant and I go back 10 or more years. It’s spent those summers right here in this shaded spot in our landscape and winters toasty warm in my greenhouse. Judging from its size and vigor, I’d say it’s happy.

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Fronds of Macho ferns are long, graceful, and dramatic. It takes command of its part of the landscape or large garden room setting. You can see where the spores are forming on the backs of the leaflets even when viewed from the tops.

So, I thought I’d share some details of it with you this week. And for that, I thank you. I learned several things.

You can get a feeling for the relative size of Macho fern on the right and Boston fern across the drive to the left at the base of the antique English chimney pots. People refer to Macho as “looking like Boston fern on lots of vitamins.”

Macho fern, for example, is not a selection of Boston fern (Nephrolepis exaltata), but a different species (N. biserrata). That species is native to Florida, Louisiana, Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean, huge parts of South America, Africa, and Southeast Asia.

In spite of that, Macho ferns were officially brought into the nursery and greenhouse trades less than 25 years ago.

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I spent a couple of hours looking through international websites, both botanical and horticultural. Use the scientific name and you’ll find a lot of information on its distribution. Use the common name and you’ll find a lot of suggestions on its care and uses – like indoors on tabletops. Really? That would be a really big table.

Here’s what you should know…

• Scientific name: Nephrolepsis biserrata.
• Common name: Macho fern, giant sword fern, broad sword fern.

Perhaps our car in the foreground will give you a better perspective of the size of this giant fern. Granted it’s on a slight rise, but the plant is huge to start with.

• Size in pots: 4 or 5 ft. tall, 5 or 6 ft. wide.
• Hardiness Zones: 9-11. (Consider it to be tropical. Protect from frosts.)
• Preferred temperature range: 50-90F.
• Lighting requirements outdoors: Shade, no direct sun after 9 a.m.
• Lighting requirements indoors: Bright light such as a sunroom or bright atrium. Leaflets will yellow and drop if kept in dark settings.
• Soil preference: Highly organic, well-draining.
• Moisture preference: Consistently moist, never wet for prolonged periods.
• Methods of propagation: Primarily by division.
• Pest problems: Rare, but scale insects may appear.

Posted by Neil Sperry
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