The Dryopteris kinkiensis is still looking fabulous in the garden as we inch closer to spring. This little-known Chinese native fern was first brought into the country as spore by plantsman Hans Hansen in 2005. It is also native to Japan, Korea, and Taiwan. The name was originally published for the material in Japan, named after the Kinki region. The foliage is a very glossy dark green with a nearly plastic texture. We estimate hardiness to be zone 7a-9b, but we could be greatly underestimating its potential in that regard.
This is gorgeous for this time of year, unlike most evergreen ferns! Your catalog listing says this fern is semi-evergreen and hardy to zone 7A and possibly colder. Is the image above of the fern as it looks now after having gone through the precipitous pre-Christmas temperature drop down to 11 degrees that burnt the foliage of so many other evergreen ferns? Is it in a super well-protected spot, or does it normally sail through winter looking this great? Most of my evergreen ferns are not necessarily ever-beautiful through a 7B winter. If this one is that superior at weathering winter, I want it!
We’ll need to change the semi-evergreen to fully evergreen. You are so right about some ferns, which are evergreen, but become winter ugly. This is not in a protected site.