Japanese Painted Fern

Other Names: Crested Japanese Painted Fern

Ornamental Features:

Japanese Painted Fern's attractive ferny bipinnately compound leaves emerge indian red in spring, turning olive green in colour with showy silver variegation throughout the season. Neither the flowers nor the fruit are ornamentally significant. The burgundy stems are very effective and add winter interest.

Landscape Attributes:

Japanese Painted Fern is a dense herbaceous deciduous fern with a shapely form and gracefully arching fronds. It brings an extremely fine and delicate texture to the garden composition and should be used to full effect.

This is a relatively low maintenance fern, and usually looks its best without pruning, although it will tolerate pruning. Deer don't particularly care for this plant and will usually leave it alone in favor of tastier treats. It has no significant negative characteristics.

Japanese Painted Fern is recommended for the following landscape applications;

• Mass Planting
• Border Edging
• General Garden Use
• Groundcover
• Naturalizing And Woodland Gardens

Plant Characteristics:

Japanese Painted Fern will grow to be about 18 inches tall at maturity, with a spread of 24 inches. Its foliage tends to remain dense right to the ground, not requiring facer plants in front. It grows at a slow rate, and under ideal conditions can be expected to live for approximately 15 years.

This fern does best in partial shade to shade. It prefers to grow in moist to wet soil, and will even tolerate some standing water. It is particular about its soil conditions, with a strong preference for rich, acidic soils. It is somewhat tolerant of urban pollution, and will benefit from being planted in a relatively sheltered location. Consider applying a thick mulch around the root zone over the growing season to conserve soil moisture. This plant can be propagated by division.

This is a selected variety of a species not originally from North America, and parts of it are known to be toxic to humans and animals, so care should be exercised in planting it around children and pets.