I don’t think there’s a plant more suited to life in a terrarium than a fern. They’re typically a high-maintenance plant to take care of because they grow in moist, humid, and warm places.
That makes a closed terrarium the perfect environment for ferns, where the warmth and moisture are trapped, and the humidity is always high.
Ferns also grow everywhere, in the dirt, on tree trunks, and between rocks. In terrarium conditions where you have limited room, these little plants give you plenty of placement choices.
They also come in a massive variety of shapes, sizes, and textures. So in this article, I’m going to share what I think are the best ferns for a terrarium, show you how they look, where to get them, and how to plant them!
It’s then up to you to decide which ones you’ll use in your next terrarium build. Let’s get to it.
Most of the time, you’re going to be looking at small ferns for your terrarium. Not that you can’t use larger ferns and separate & propagate them, but small ferns come in greater variety and are ready to plant as soon as you buy them.
We can categorize small ferns into two major groups:
Dwarf, or Miniature Ferns, are a smaller variety of popular houseplant ferns that are the perfect size for terrariums. They grow to about 12-15 inches tall, making them great for medium and large-sized terrariums.
The Lemon Butter Fern is a small and super versatile fern that can be grown in any terrarium setting. The best thing about it is that it can be divided into tinier plants and placed in tight spots.
The Button Fern, also known as the Round-Leafed Fern is a fern known for its signature leaf shape and dark forest green color.
The Fluffy Ruffles Fern is a very popular terrarium plant because of its fluffiness and light green color, two because it’s small and can fit in most terrarium builds.
The Mini Rabbit’s Foot Fern is a super popular pick that can be planted terrestrially and epiphytically, so it’s super easy to plant in any terrarium. It generally grows horizontally and spills its fuzzy rhizomes over the surface it’s planted in.
The Heart Fern is a popular terrarium fern because of its signature leaf shape. It’s astonishingly beautiful, and even though it can grow relatively large in a pot, the bulk of the plant is super small and very compact when put in a terrarium.
The Crispy Wave Fern is a tropical fern species, that in nature can be found growing on forked tree branches. It’s a big larger fern than most of the others on this list, but in a closed space it will not grow large as it otherwise would.
The Dwarf Maidenhair Fern is a super popular houseplant and is also very common in terrariums as it is very versatile and adaptable to the size of any container. It has a very unique and vibrant look, as it forms a dense cover of leaves over its planted area.
The Eyelash Fern is another popular terrarium fern with a very distinct look. It has very delicate leaves that fan out kind of like eyelashes, thus the name.
Micro Ferns are the tiniest of ferns out there. They are very delicate and often struggle to survive in nature. They’re ideal for super tiny terrariums and perfect for adding texture to ground cover. They typically don’t grow more than a few inches tall and are ideal for small builds and medium terrarium builds.
The Mini Asian Water Fern is a tiny, semi-aquatic plant that can also grow terrestrially. It’s a popular plant for many aquascapers, but it is also very prevalent in small terrarium builds. One thing that it needs more than any other Fern on this list is humidity, as much as possible.
The Dragon Scale Fern (Pyrrosia piloselloides) is a creeping fern with cute round and fleshy leaves. In nature, it will wrap around and completely cover trees giving them a “dragon skin” look with its leaves that look like dragon scales.
The Dragon Scale Fern is very adaptable to terrarium settings and should be applied around driftwood branches or on the background.
A terrarium without a fern is almost unheard of these days. They’re exceptional, hardy plants, that love the terrarium environment and thrive in it.
They come in all shapes, sizes, textures, and shades of green. There’s a fern out there for every terrarium build, and I hope you found the perfect one for yours here!
