I've only seen them growing in normal garden soil conditions. Never in damp soil. Never in deep shade. They may take a year or so to get their footing before they take off and spread.

Trianglejohn - Thanks for responding. I may just have to wait patiently on the one that already planted (it has grown, but very little) but I think I'm going to give the other one a try near the damp soil - just by letting it sit there first. Judy

Most of the gardens where I have seen them they were rarely a very robust clump of ferns - most often a few fronds mixed in with other shady plants. I planted some in my dry shade and they survived for years but never really took over the area. I'd have to do some serious weeding to find them now if they're even still there.

I'm pretty sure there's some of those out in the fair garden up on the hill. They aren't going gangbusters, but they are pretty.

Mine does fine in a shady damp spot, but it's not a fast grower and it's never spread in about 4, maybe 5 years. I have a fern that runs and it's beautiful. Sorry, don't have the name in front of me right now, but I think it's a Japanese Beech Fern.

Mine has done well in medium shade in my woods under pine trees. The soil stays on the dry side during the summer. It took few years but is now spreading enough that every spring I can dig some up and try it other places.

Hosta200,

Thanks so much for the information. I looking forward to the day that my East India Holly Fern spreads and I'm able to divide and move to other garden spots. How may years did it take to get to that point? Thanks, jdbheartease

I planted it with two fronds about 13 yrs ago and it took about five yrs before it started doing much. This past spring the clump was about three and a half feet across before I divided it.

Hosta200, That's great information. I'll just keep my fingers crossed that in about 12 years I'll have some ferns to share. Thank you for the info. jdbheartease

I've had mine for 5+ years and it really is a slow grower. Mine gets some morning dappled sun and is in a slightly moist situation - not too wet or dry. It seems happy. Once I moved it to an area with more sun and drier soil and it promptly let me know it wasn't happy there, lol.

Hi patlovesdirt,

Thanks so much for the info. I have planted 3 of the East India Holly Ferns in different location. The one planted in shade with slightly moist soil has done the best. I have one planted in drier soil with sun/shade that I had forgotten about and it has done very poorly - no bigger than the day it was planted, actually it looks smaller and stressed, probably my neglect cause that. I'm going to moving it this week so that I can keep a better eye on it. The fern planted in the wet soil is doing ok. So, I'm thinking in the future I'm going to move all of these ferns to the shade with slightly moist soil area.