The 15 Most Popular Indoor Ferns and How to Choose One

Read the Frond First

Thin, finely divided fronds lose water fast and brown the moment the air dries out. Thick, glossy, waxy or undivided fronds hold on to moisture and forgive a dry room. If your home runs warm and dry all winter, start with the second kind.

Terrestrial or Epiphytic

Most ferns grow out of damp forest soil and want their pot kept evenly moist. A second group, the epiphytes, grow on tree branches and have creeping, often furry rhizomes that rot in wet compost. Staghorn, blue star and rabbit's foot ferns are in that second group. If a rhizome crawls over the pot rim, treat the plant as an epiphyte: chunky bark mix, a soak, then a partial dry-out.

Check It Is a Real Fern

A few popular "ferns" are not ferns at all, and they want brighter light and less water. The asparagus fern is the usual one. Skip to plants sold as ferns if the tag has you unsure.

Check the Plant Before You Buy

Look into the centre of the pot first. Brown, crumbling fronds in the middle mean the fern already dried out in the shop, and it rarely gets its shape back. Turn a frond over and check for the fine webbing and pale speckles of spider mites, which ferns pick up in dry retail spaces. Then lift the pot. If it feels feather-light, the plant has been thirsty for days, and I would pick a heavier one.

Why It's Popular

The classic. Arching, frilly fronds that spill out of a hanging basket, sold cheaply in every garden centre each spring. It is the fern most people picture when they hear the word, and the one they most often give up on by February, when the heating has been running for months.

Care Notes

• Struggles in dry winter air and sheds leaflets all over the floor.
• Wants its soil kept evenly damp, never bone dry.
• Loves a shaded porch in summer.
• Dozens of cultivars exist; see our Boston fern varieties.

Full details in our 👉 Boston Fern care guide.

Why It's Popular

It looks like a Boston fern that has been to the gym. The fronds are narrower, stiffer and more upright, and the leaflets stay on the plant instead of dropping. People who killed a Boston fern usually succeed with this one.

Care Notes

• Copes with ordinary room humidity.
• Takes brighter light than most ferns, including some gentle morning sun.
• Can be divided at repotting to make two plants.

Full details in our 👉 Kimberley Queen Fern care guide.

Why It's Popular

It does not look like a fern at all. Broad, glossy, apple-green fronds unfurl from a central rosette, a bit like a banana leaf in miniature. That solid leaf loses far less water than a divided one, which makes it one of the easiest ferns to keep.

Care Notes

• Water the soil, not the central cup, or the crown can rot.
• Handles medium light well.
• Grows from a single crown, so it cannot be divided.

Full details in our 👉 Bird's Nest Fern care guide.

Why It's Popular

Matte, blue-grey fronds with deep lobes and a waxy coating. The colour is unusual for a fern, and that coating is why it copes with dry air better than almost anything else on this list.

Care Notes

• An epiphyte: use a bark-heavy mix and let the top inch dry.
• The fuzzy rhizome sits on top of the soil. Do not bury it.
• Tolerates medium light.

Full details in our 👉 Blue Star Fern care guide.

Why It's Popular

Antler-shaped fronds reaching out from a flat shield, usually mounted on a board like living wall art. It looks like an expert's plant but is surprisingly forgiving, because a mounted fern can never sit in soggy compost.

Care Notes

• Soak the whole mount in a sink, then let it dry partly.
• Leave the brown shield fronds at the base alone. They are meant to look like that.
• Several species are sold; compare them in our staghorn fern varieties.

Full details in our 👉 Staghorn Fern care guide.

Why It's Popular

Wire-thin black stems and tiny, fan-shaped leaflets that tremble in a breeze. It is probably the prettiest fern you can buy, and the one people fail with most often.

Care Notes

• One missed watering on a warm day can crisp half the plant.
• Needs 50 percent humidity or more.
• Happiest in a bright bathroom or under a cloche.

Full details in our 👉 Maidenhair Fern care guide.

Why It's Popular

The furry, silver-brown rhizomes creep over the pot edge like little paws, and kids love them. The fronds above are fine and lacy, but those fleshy feet store water and buy you a few forgetful days.

Care Notes

• Treat it as an epiphyte: shallow pot or basket, airy mix.
• Never bury the rhizomes.
• Related furry ferns are compared in how to tell similar ferns apart.

Full details in our 👉 Rabbit's Foot Fern care guide.

Why It's Popular

Small, round, leathery leaflets lined up along dark stems. It stays compact and looks nothing like the frilly ferns most people expect.

Care Notes

• Comes from drier, rockier ground than most ferns.
• Let the surface dry slightly between waterings. Too much water kills more button ferns than anything else.
• Fits a desk or a narrow shelf.

Full details in our 👉 Button Fern care guide.

Why It's Popular

A tiny Nephrolepis with round, bright yellow-green leaflets, rarely taller than a foot. Plant shops sell it in small pots as a cheerful desk plant, and it fits terrariums while young.

Care Notes

• Keep the soil lightly moist.
• Bright indirect light keeps the colour lemony.
• Easy to divide once the pot fills.

Full details in our 👉 Lemon Button Fern care guide.

Why It's Popular

Stiff, glossy, holly-shaped leaflets that look almost plastic. It is the toughest fern here, and the one I suggest for a dim hallway or a cool room.

Care Notes

• Tolerates low light, cool temperatures and uneven watering.
• Handles dry air better than any lacy fern.
• Slow, so it rarely outgrows its spot.

Full details in our 👉 Holly Fern care guide.

Why It's Popular

Long, strap-shaped fronds with a crinkled, net-veined pattern that really does look like crocodile skin. It is a statement plant that people photograph before they buy.

Care Notes

• Thick fronds, but it still enjoys humidity above 50 percent.
• Handles medium light, though growth slows.
• Keep water off the crown and let the top inch dry.

Full details in our 👉 Crocodile Fern care guide.

Why It's Popular

The biggest of the common Nephrolepis, with broad, coarse fronds that can pass four feet. A single macho fern fills a porch corner or a tall plant stand.

Care Notes

• Needs room. Plan on a large basket or a pedestal.
• Tougher and less messy than a Boston fern.
• Water often in summer; big fronds drink fast.

Full details in our 👉 Macho Fern care guide.

Why It's Popular

A sterile Asplenium hybrid bred for growing indoors. It has thick, dark green fronds, stays around a foot and a half across, and drops no spore dust. These days it is the fern I recommend most.

Care Notes

• Copes with ordinary room humidity.
• Medium to bright indirect light.
• Keep it lightly moist and it gets on with things.

Full details in our 👉 Austral Gem Fern care guide.

Why It's Popular

A bird's nest fern with deep, tight ruffles along every frond. It became a trend plant almost overnight, and the wavy texture reads well on a shelf at eye level.

Care Notes

• Same care as a bird's nest fern.
• Water around the rosette, not into it.
• Slow growing, so buy the size you want.

Full details in our 👉 Crispy Wave Fern care guide.

Why It's Popular

Slim fronds with a bright silver-white stripe down the middle of each leaflet. It adds a variegated look that few other ferns offer, at a size that suits a windowsill.

Care Notes

• Keep the soil evenly moist.
• Likes humidity; a bathroom with a window suits it.
• Too little light fades the silver stripe.

Full details in our 👉 Silver Lace Fern care guide.

The Three to Start With

The Kimberley Queen gives you the classic arching look without the shedding. The bird's nest fern takes medium light and forgives a late watering. The austral gem was bred for exactly this job. Keep one of them through a winter and you will know how your home treats ferns. How it looks in February tells you more than any care tag, and then you know whether a maidenhair stands a chance.

Easy Once You Get the Setup Right

The blue star, staghorn and holly fern are all easy, but only when you treat them as what they are. The first two are epiphytes that hate soggy compost. The holly fern just wants to be left somewhere cool and shaded.

The Fussy Ones

The thinner the frond, the harder the fern. The maidenhair fails fast in dry air. The Boston fern is sold as a beginner plant and struggles in a heated room. The Australian tree fern wants so much water, humidity and space that it belongs in a conservatory.

How Low Is Too Low

No fern grows in a dark room. The tolerant ones manage in a north window or several feet back from a brighter one, somewhere you could still read at noon without a lamp. Below that, growth stalls, new fronds come in small, and the plant slowly thins out over a few months.

The Shade-Tolerant Ferns

The holly fern leads, then the bird's nest and the crocodile fern. The Korean rock fern and kangaroo fern also cope. Maidenhairs and variegated ferns like silver lace thin out fastest in dim light, so keep those near a window.

When the Room Is Truly Dark

A small grow light on a timer fixes a dark corner cheaply, and ferns need less of it than most houseplants. For more shade-tolerant plants, browse our low-light houseplants.

Why Bathrooms Suit Ferns

A bathroom with a window fixes the problem that kills most ferns, because showers keep the air humid for hours. A windowless bathroom does not work, though. Humidity cannot replace light.

The Best Bathroom Ferns

Put the fussy ones here: a maidenhair, a silver lace fern, a delta maidenhair or the rarer mahogany fern with its coppery new growth. The crocodile fern likes the steam too. Our plants that love humidity roundup has more ideas for the same room.

Terrarium Ferns

The heart fern, frosty fern and peacock fern sulk on an open shelf and thrive under glass. With these, the container decides the outcome more than your watering does. If you love a fern that needs humidity you cannot give it, buy a glass cloche along with it. A heart fern under glass is a simple plant; the same one on an open shelf in a heated flat rarely lasts a month.

Pick the Frond, Not the Name

Thick, leathery, waxy or undivided fronds hold water and cope with dry air. Lacy fronds do not, whatever the label promises. Radiators and heating vents make it worse, so keep any fern a few feet away from both.

The Dry-Air Ferns

The blue star comes first, then the holly, staghorn, button and rabbit's foot ferns. The austral gem belongs here too. The leatherleaf fern is grown for florists because its fronds resist drying, and it makes an underrated houseplant.

Ferns for Hanging Baskets

The Nephrolepis family was made for baskets: the Boston, Kimberley Queen, macho and the trailing fish tail fern. Warm air gathers near the ceiling, so hanging ferns dry out faster and need checking more often.

Ferns for a Table or Shelf

Choose anything that grows as a compact rosette or clump. The crispy wave and bird's nest look best at eye level. The button, lemon button, Korean rock and autumn fern stay small enough for a desk.

Ferns You Can Mount

Only epiphytes can be mounted. The staghorn grows best on a board, and our staghorn mounting guide shows how. Blue star, rabbit's foot and bear's paw ferns mount well too. A Boston or bird's nest fern on a board either rots or dries out, so keep those in pots.

Boston vs Kimberley Queen vs Macho

All three are Nephrolepis and all three arch. The Boston is the softest and frilliest, and it drops leaflets at the slightest excuse. The Kimberley Queen is stiffer, narrower and more upright. The macho is simply bigger and coarser. Shops often label all three "Boston fern", so judge by the frond. Boston cultivars like Dallas, Fluffy Ruffles and the yellow-streaked Tiger fern mostly differ in frilliness and size.

Bird's Nest vs Crispy Wave vs Japanese Bird's Nest

Plain Asplenium nidus has broad fronds with a gentle wave. 'Crispy Wave' is tightly ruffled along the whole frond. The Japanese bird's nest fern (Asplenium antiquum) has narrower, more upright fronds in a tighter funnel, and its cultivar 'Leslie' forks at the tips. Care is the same for all of them.

The Furry-Rhizome Ferns

Rabbit's foot fern (Davallia) has silver-brown rhizomes and the finest fronds. The squirrel's foot fern is smaller, with darker, thinner feet. The white rabbit's foot fern is Humata, a different genus with bright white rhizomes. Bear's paw fern (Aglaomorpha) is much larger, with thick tan rhizomes. All four take the same epiphyte care.

Maidenhair vs Delta Maidenhair

Most maidenhairs in shops are Adiantum raddianum, whatever the tag says. The names describe frond shape and cultivar rather than different species, and the care is identical. Do not pay extra expecting one to be easier.

Asparagus, Foxtail and Ming Fern

The asparagus fern, foxtail fern and ming fern are Asparagus species. They flower, set red berries and grow from seed, and the fine "foliage" is actually flattened stems. They want more light and less water than a real fern, and the ASPCA lists them as toxic to cats and dogs.

Artillery Fern

The artillery fern (Pilea microphylla) is a Pilea, a relative of the Chinese money plant. The name comes from its tiny flowers, which fire pollen into the air in a visible puff. It likes more sun and less water than any fern.

Fern Allies: Selaginella and Whisk Fern

Frosty and peacock ferns are Selaginella, or spikemosses. They are lycophytes, an older lineage related to clubmosses, and they need terrarium humidity. The whisk fern (Psilotum nudum) is a primitive fern relative with no true leaves or roots, just forking green stems. Both sit closer to real ferns than any asparagus fern does, but neither behaves like a Boston fern.