From Oregon Flora, Gardening with Natives:
Lady fern is a large deciduous fern species whose delicate and intricate twice pinnately compound fronds bely its relative adaptibility and vigor. Like many other ferns, it is deer resistant and prefers moist to wet soils in shade or partial sun. Once established it can spread through spores and rhizomes creating a lush and textural groundcover in woodland gardens or at the edges of water gardens.