Grow and Care for Lady Fern

Grow lady fern in part shade, in soil that stays moist. Lady fern is Athyrium — Japanese painted fern is the silver kind.

Give it part shade and soil that stays moist

Lady fern is a woodland plant. Dappled shade or the north side of a building keeps the fronds green, because hot afternoon sun browns them. [1] Japanese painted fern wants the same moist shade. Light shade keeps the silver and burgundy, because too much sun washes the color out. [2] A lady fern can take a little more sun if the soil stays moist, and it stands a brief dry spell once it is established. [3] Lady fern wants that same shade.

Water a new plant, then only in a long drought

Keep the bed evenly moist — not soggy — until new fronds show. After that, lady fern takes a brief dry spell. Painted fern still wants even moisture, or the silver dulls and the tips brown. A new plant that dries out crisps from the tips. A damp pond edge or rain garden is the same moist shade, as long as the crown is not sitting underwater.

1. Water in after planting, and keep the root zone moist until new growth shows.
2. Then water lady fern in a long drought. Keep painted fern evenly moist through summer.
3. Add a thin mulch of leaf mold or compost.
4. Do not pile on fertilizer. Woodland soil is the aim.

Grow it in a draining pot on a shady patio

Painted fern can live in a pot on a shady patio if the mix stays moist and the pot drains. [4] A tall Ghost is happier in the ground if you cannot water a pot. For setting a nursery plant into a bed, see Planting Lady Fern.

1. Choose a pot with a drain hole.
2. Fill it with a humus-rich mix that stays moist but is not soggy.
3. Set the crown at the surface of the mix, in shade.
4. Water when the top of the mix starts to dry.

Cut old fronds in late winter, before new fiddleheads

Lady fern is deciduous. Fronds yellow after frost and drop. Leave the brown stipes through winter if you want them to shelter the crown, then cut them in late winter or very early spring, before the new fiddleheads unfurl. Do not cut new croziers.

1. Wait until late winter. Leave collapsed fronds on the clump through the cold if you want the cover.
2. Cut old, flattened, or brown fronds at the base, close to the crown.
3. Stop as soon as new fiddleheads show. A cut into a crozier is a lost frond for the year.
4. Pull only loose brown material. Do not slice the crown.

Not a wood fern, and not maidenhair

A wood fern or autumn fern is Dryopteris — a woodland clump, often with copper new fronds. See How to Grow Wood Fern. A maidenhair is Adiantum — thin black stipes and fan leaflets. See How to Grow Maidenhair Fern. Holly fern, Christmas fern, and sword fern are Polystichum. See How to Grow Holly Fern. A Boston fern is Nephrolepis, a hanging houseplant, not a woodland lady fern. See How to Grow Boston Fern. For which Athyrium you bought, see Types of Lady Fern.

If the fronds crisped, the bed dried out — water, do not move it into full sun.