Bracken Fern is widespread in the Pacific Northwest. It thrives in disturbed areas and is common along the roadside. In the spring, Bracken Fern sends up single stalks which die back to the ground in the fall. It can grow up to 5 feet tall in the lowlands, but at subalpine elevations it grows just a foot or two high.
It seems to be held in low esteem by garden writers who mostly seem to regard it as a pest. The foliage is beautiful but it spreads by rhizomes and is often described with words like "rank grower" and "spreads aggressively."
Ash Creek Images
Photographs of the West by Doug Gorsline
A Glistening Wet Native Bracken Fern Displays Fall Colors in an Oregon Forest.
