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The
Perennial Plant Association named Athyrium
niponicum Pictum the 2004 Perennial Plant of the
Year. This perennial low-maintenance Japanese
painted fern is one of the showiest ferns for shade
gardens.
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Japanese painted fern takes
top 2004 honors
By
Norman Winter
MSU
Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center
The
Perennial Plant Association has been one of the hardest
working and innovative promotional organizations in the
country. They keep you on your toes because you never know
whether the winner will be a flower, grass, or in this
year's case, a fern.
The
Perennial Plant Association has named Athyrium niponicum
Pictum the 2004 Perennial Plant of the Year. This perennial
low-maintenance Japanese painted fern is one of the showiest
ferns for shade gardens.
It is
popular due to its hardiness nearly everywhere in the United
States, except in the desert and northernmost areas in zone
3. In Mississippi gardens it has become one of the showiest
shade plants.
Pictum
grows 18 inches tall and can multiply into a clump that is
more than 2 feet wide. Pictum produces 12- to 18-inch fronds
that are a soft shade of metallic silver-gray with hints of
red and blue.
This
lovely fern, which prefers partial to full shade, makes an
outstanding combination plant for adding color, texture and
habit to landscape beds and containers.
The
magnificent texture and color of the fronds electrify shady
areas of the garden and make the fern a wonderful companion
for a variety of shade plants. Japanese painted fern
provides a nice contrast to other shade-loving perennials
such as hosta, heuchera and other ferns.
A
popular combination is Japanese painted fern with Patriot
and Ginko Craig hostas. For something different, try Hosta
sieboldiana Elegans. Another friendly companion plant for
the Japanese painted fern is Tiarella (foam flower), which
is also finding its way to Southern gardens including the
hybrid with the heuchera called heucherella.
One of
the most unique possibilities is to use this fern with
sedges. Carex (sedges) are shade-loving, easy-to-grow,
grasslike plants. Try Carex morrowii Variegata or Carex
siderosticha Silver Sceptre.
Other
selections that are excellent compliments to Japanese
painted fern include Lamium maculatum Orchid Frost and
Purple Dragon. Use these selections with white flowers or
variegated leaves to echo or pick other colors for contrast.
Most any plant will make a great counterpart to the
graceful, attractive and versatile Athyrium niponicum
Pictum.
This
fern needs a well-drained, compost-rich soil and flourishes
where moisture and humidity abound. Pictum grows best in
part to full shade. The best frond color results in light
shade. In the South, a few hours of morning sun will bring
out the high colors.
Add 2
to 3 inches of compost or peat moss to the beds each spring
or fall. This fern is extremely reliable when grown in the
proper environmental conditions. Its colorful foliage should
be vibrant from early spring until frost, when it will go
dormant and reemerge with its excellent foliage the next
spring.
The
Japanese painted fern may be propagated by dividing the
clump. It is easy for a homeowner to buy the more colorful
and uniform plants in the quantity needed or buy a few and
divide the clumps yearly as needed. A well-grown plant can
be separated in early spring into three to four divisions
and replanted. Fertilize at one-half the rate of other
perennials with an organic or time-release fertilizer.
-30-
Released:
January 1, 2004
Contact: Norman
Winter,
(601) 857-2284
Editor's
Note: Ideal publication dates of Southern Gardening columns
are within one month of their release. Editors should
examine older columns carefully for any information that
could be time sensitive.
Publications
may download
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