Beautiful, lacy, vigorous these terms describe the lovely Lady Fern. It is perfect for the woodland garden. The bright green fronds unfurl in the spring and open to very lacy texture fronds. This fern does spread by rhizomes and in a rich moist soil will colonize quickly.
 
Lady Fern tolerates shade or semi shade. It does prefer a moist soil moist soil and can be used to fill the void when many spring wildflowers are dormant. Take care that they are not crowed out by placing lady fern to the rear of the planting and dividing as necessary. Lady fern Grows to about  12 to 30 inches depending on where it is planted. It will stay shorter and not spread as much in drier soils.

Lady Fern is a great companion around New England or New York Asters where it will hide the asters bare stems in the fall. This will work in shade or semi-shade. Other companions include False Solomon's Seal, Wild Geranium and Wild Ginger, Red and Blue lobelias. It works well under maples if you make sure to water it the first year while it establishes