Kadsura Tree

The Japanese Painted Fern which was imported from East Asia at the turn of the century, is a delicately coloured hardy herbaceous perennial. It doesn’t sound too wonderful, put like that, does it? But in fact this pretty plant is ideally suited to the kind of border most of us have in the United Kingdom, a bit damp, a bit shady, a bit chilly. The plant grows eighteen inches tall and in ideal conditions can multiply into a clump that is more than two feet wide – and once well established it can be split in autumn to provide new plants. It has deeply cut foliage, like any fern but it’s a soft silvery grey, catkin coloured rather than metallic from which a purple mid-rib gently shades into mauve as it extends along the fronds. Perhaps its versatility is what makes this plant a real wonder. Planted with white Astilbes and pink Cyclamen, the Japanese Painted Fern becomes a Victorian classic, while set in front of black bamboo and picked out at night with a solar powered light, it becomes a contemporary work of garden art.

The plant can tolerate most conditions from brightish sun (but not too much heat) through to deep shade, but for the most perfect colours you need to find a location that has dappled shade and rich soil what will hold a good, year round moisture level. Burgundy Lace and Ursula’s Red are new hybrids just arriving from the USA with even brighter central ribs, but the original can’t be beaten for subtle beauty.

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