Strange they don't say why not the coast for some of those ferns. It could be salt spray. Some of the mountain ones might need more cold. You can only guess. You could always get some small plants and give them a try yourself to see if your specific conditions are okay.

What kind of ferns do you want to grow? I'm in Charleston, and grow several native and non-native ferns.

Virginia

Ferns are on the finicky side. They're commonly early colonizers and tough, but they demand the conditions be to their liking.

I've an Alaskan Shield Fern that I've had for forty years, it survived but didn't thrive at my parent's house for all those years. Four years ago, my mother died and I moved it to my new house (bought a year after her passing), and I have several of the offspring now. The offspring are as large as the parents. Btw, it was all in the siting I think

The bed at my parent's house faced east and was several feet away from the house. At my new house, I planted it facing north with shelter from west winds (ie a NE facing corner) behind roofline. It thrived..what'd ya know?

Don't ask me about maidenhairs, I've killed so many. But I should try them at the new house...they just might work.

Vmr423 I was looking at painted ferns mainly, maybe an ostrich or other similar 'vase style' fern. What all are you able to grow?

bsmith, I'm sorry, but I don't know the ID's of most of my ferns. I did post photos of one that's growing well, but no response yet.

I definitely think it's worth trying some of the ferns you like. Remember that they don't surf the Internet to read the Clemson Extension web site, so I would recommend trying a few ferns in various sites in your garden to see where they are happiest.

A web site that you might find useful is http://www.namethatplant.net/index.shtml

For most plants, there's a map of the Carolinas and Georgia showing where in those states the plant is found.

One possibility that some ferns are considered to be suitable for growing upstate, but not in the coastal plain is that some probably prefer rocky habitats near streams, whereas we mostly have acidic sandy loam. I'd guess that if you could provide rocks and/or consistent moisture for an area where you wanted to grow such ferns that might work?

Good luck,

Virginia