Are there any ferns that can handle lots of sun? Ireally want to plant some around my patio which gets blasted during the midday hours. I am in zone 6.
I have grown several types of Dryopteris in a midday sun (11-3 in summer) situation. One, I think, was a filix-mas cultivar, Grandiceps; it had no trouble at all. I do water pretty regularly, at least a little, but they were also at the feet of shrubs so had root competition. Our max temps may be lower than yours, though. You could always put an umbrella on the patio in the hottest part of summer to give them a little relief.
Bracken fern do well in the sun, they seem pretty drought tolerant once established as well. Dennstaedtia punctilobula (native to Ohio) Good Luck!
Dennstaedtia is the hay-scented fern, bracken is Pteridis... something or other. Both are invasive; run like mad that is.
As a forest ecologist, I sometimes do not get into the landscaping frame of mind, yes the brackens (pardon my purposeful exclusion of Latin) do have deep creeping rhizomes and may not be suited to a small area. I know nothing of the Hay-scented except that I heard it was native to Ohio, or rather read. Weed and invasive are words that can be applied to almost any plant if it is not where a person desires it.
