Japanese painted fern
Silvery and purple shades of Japanese painted fern foliage.
* Common name: Japanese painted fern
* Botanical name: Athyrium niponicum ‘Pictum’
* What it is: A low-care, trouble-free, shade-preferring perennial plant grown for its silvery-purplish, lacy (“ferny”) foliage.
* Size: 18 inches tall, spreading 2 feet wide and beyond.
* Where to use: Adds great color to any shady spot. Durable enough to withstand the dry shade and root competition under big trees. Especially at home in a wooded setting and useful for color and texture along shady northern house foundations.
* Care: Keep well watered the first full season until roots establish. Then water needed only in drought. A scattering of balanced, granular organic fertilizer in spring is useful but not necessary. Cut off dead foliage at end of winter. Can be dug and divided in early spring or early fall.
* Great partner: Lime-colored or light-green hosta or coralbells.