It's not the ideal time to transplant them. Do you have or could you make a shady holding bed? I would plant them in such a bed that had access to water. Mulch them well and give them a good soalking once or twice a week. Then in the fall move them to their permanent site.Space them equidistant. They send out stolons which pop up so in a few years you double your number.

During work just done on our house, our beautiful bed of ferns was badly trampled, breaking many fronds and generally creating a mess. We also see now that some of the crowns are butted up to the house. Will the damaged ferns regrow new fronds at this time of year? Is it safe to transplant now given the damage? What is the best way to handle the damaged plants?

I can only speak from MY experience and only with Ostrich Ferns. These were dug out of a wooded property we owned and transplanted under a row of 50' spruce along a retaining wall at the back of our house about 35 years ago. Over the years, the spruce have been limbed up and now the ferns are thriving in virtually full sun conditions and the only water they get is from rainfall.

There may be an argument here, but I've dug some up, moved them, stepped on them, and broken fronds - literally anything one could do to a fern, and they come back each year better than the last. Since the damage has already been done to yours, and some are wedged against the house, my thought would be to move those out now and not wait till fall. Give them the bulk of the growing season to reacclimate. Dig deep to get the entire crown and as much attached root material as possible; put them in a new spot at the exact depth they were - crown above the soil line. Water well at first and periodically thereafter. If they don't put out new fronds - and they may not - they'll be lurking until next season.

If what you have is a fern other than the Ostich, I can't say. Perhaps, then the advice to wait until early fall would be the best to take.