Athyrium niponicum Metallicum – 9cm Shrub
- Low maintenance plant
- Unusual, metallic silvery foliage with finely-textured fronds
- Fully hardy perennial – returns every spring
- Steadily spreading to furnish awkward shady spots, without taking over
- Effective with nearby woodland bulbs like snowdrops and crocuses
Watch the contrasting and striking leaf-like fronds unfurl from hardy Japanese painted fern (Athyrium niponicum metallicum). Every frond shows off metallic grey patterning, stunning and almost luminescent in shady spots of your garden.
The fronds start to curl open in spring and make an effective backdrop to surrounding spring-flowering bulbs like snowdrops and dog tooth violets. Planted near other ferns you can build up a fern garden in just one season and fill in awkward shady spots in your garden.
We recommend that you position your fern in rich soil, adding well-rotted farm manure to give your Japanese painted fern lots of nutrients and rich soil for the roots to thrive in. Every autumn the fronds die back to leave a base which you can leave over winter. In spring new fronds will emerge and curl open.
When to plant and what to expect at different times of the year
You can plant hardy shrubs, trees and perennials at any time of the year avoiding the two extremes of heat and cold. During the summer months when it is hot and dry the need for watering becomes crucial to aid successful establishment and in the winter when the soil is frozen the plants will not be in active growth either above or below ground and risk getting cold damage. The same is true on the stage or growth you can expect your plants to be delivered in and this will be directly related to the time of year and the season.
When ordering through the year, here’s a summary of what to expect when receiving your plants:
Spring Months: Plants supplied in spring will be starting to show signs of active growth above and below ground.
Summer Months: Plants supplied in the late summer will be more advanced in size and flower stage
Autumn Months: In the autumn plants will be changing colour, showing signs of leaf colour breakdown and be preparing to shut down for winter.
Winter Months: Plants ordered and supplied during the winter months will be dormant and therefore may not be showing growth above the soil level or consist of bare branches with no leaves or bare roots with no soil.
These are all perfectly normal and natural for these types of plants growing in the northern hemisphere. All will still have a very healthy root system that can be planted when the weather is favourable by keeping the new soil level equal to the pot level and therefore not covering the crown of the plant at all. Planting during the autumn and winter months will allow for early establishment in the season and a bigger and better display throughout the main growing season. For more information on our plant sizes click here.
