Ferns For The Shade Garden - Part I
cm) in height and more in diameter, depending on the age of the clump - they are not particularly fast growers. This is one fern that will tell you in no uncertain terms should the soil get too dry for its liking. It will droop and the fronds will fall flat to the ground, but a good drink will revive it. Give this fern a home in deep, organic soil that stays moist and medium to deep shade. Japanese Painted Ferns are deciduous and rated hardy to USDA zone 5.
An association I particularly like teams 'Pictum Red' with Heuchera 'Palace Purple', which accentuates the wine tints in the fern. Placing Japanese Painted Fern where early morning or late afternoon sun can dapple the fronds enhances the variegated effect. Easiest propagation is by division in early spring before growth gets underway.
Athyrium otophorium (English Painted Fern or Auriculate Lady Fern)
You really have to pay attention to this fern as it surfaces in spring. The emerging croziers are cloaked in broad black scales and elongate to a purple stipe and rachis that network each spear-head shaped frond. The new frond color is a chalky lime-green. This Technicolor display lasts only until the fronds are fully out, when they become a muted gray-green. But the stipes and caudex retain a soft purple-red color all season. Originating in Japan and China, A. otophorium is rated hardy to USDA zone 6. This deciduous Lady Fern can reach two to three feet in height. Mine seems to stay about 18" tall. I've had my plant for a number of years and it has not increased much in size. It might increase faster in soil that stayed more consistently moist. Mine is in fairly deep shade. Propagation is by division in early spring or spore.
There are more ferns on my list, so we'll continue this topic next time. See ya' later.
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