Interesting. I never had known a fern to stay green in the winter. It looks like a Braken fern, which dominates my woods in NW Wisconsin. But they die back in the fall. I know deer do eat the Braken ferns in the early stages of their growth, but don’t touch them once they develop.
Google says these ferns stay green all year, but I don’t know anything about them.
Heucheras, hellebores and pachysandra