2004 Perennial Plant of the Year
Japanese painted fern
The Perennial Plant of the Year winner for 2004 is the lovely Japanese painted fern (Athyrium niponicum 'Pictum').
An attractive low-maintenance shade garden plant, this fern is also very showy. The leaves are a soft shade of metallic silver-gray with hints of red and blue.
Japanese painted fern grows about 18 inches tall and makes a clump more than two feet wide.
How to grow Japanese painted fern
(Athyrium niponicum 'Pictum')
This fern thrives in part- to full shade where moisture and humidity are plentiful and the soil is compost-rich and woodsy.
To keep the soil rich and fertile, mulch the planting bed with 2 or 3 inches of compost or leaf mould each spring or fall.
The fronds show their best color in light shade.
This fern will tolerate a small amount of morning sun in southern gardens, and in northern gardens it can take more morning sun without leaf scorch. It is hardy in USDA Zones 3 to 8.
What to plant with Japanese Painted Fern
Japanese painted fern makes for an interesting textural contrast when combined with other shade-tolerant perennials.
Experts at the Perennial Plant Association recommend planting it with bleeding heart, columbine, Lamium, Astilbe, Hosta and coral-bells.
This fern also combines beautifully with:
- White variegated hosta varieties, such as 'Patriot' and 'Ginko Craig'
- Foam flower (Tiarella) species and cultivars
- Shade-tolerant ornamental grasses, such as the variegated sedge Carex morrowii 'Variegata', or Japanese Hakone grass (Hakonechloa macra 'Aureola')
- Heart-leafed brunnera cultivars (Brunnera macrophylla 'Langtrees', 'Silver Wings', or 'Jack Frost')
- White flowered Astilbe 'Snowdrift' or pink Astilbe simplicifolia 'Sprite'
Related information:
Geranium Rozanne, 2008 Perennial Plant of the Year
2007 Perennial of the Year, Nepeta 'Walker's Low'
Dianthus Firewitch, the 2006 winner
Helleborus × hybridus, the 2005 perennial of the year
