Description of Athyrium niponicum 'Ursulas Red'

Athyrium niponicum 'Ursula's Red' is a painted lady fern picked for coloured fronds. New growth comes up purple-bronze, then shifts towards silvery green as it matures. It’s mainly sold as Japanese painted fern, and it suits damp shade.

Appearance

Fronds are finely cut and arching, with darker red stems and a darker band of colour along the middle. Expect a neat clump rather than a big fern, usually around 30 to 50cm high depending on the site.

The colour is strongest on fresh spring growth, so it’s worth placing where you’ll see it early in the season.

Care Guide

This fern is easy if you get the basics right: shade, moisture, and soil with organic matter.

• Sun: Part shade to full shade. A little morning sun is fine.
• Soil: Humus-rich soil that holds moisture but doesn’t sit sour and stagnant.
• Water: Keep it evenly damp, especially in spring and early summer.
• Mulch: Leaf mould or compost around the crown each spring keeps colour and growth strong.
• Tidy up: Remove old fronds in late winter before new ones unfurl.

Divide in spring if you want more plants. A small piece with a few buds will establish quickly in damp ground.

Suitability for Bog Garden

This is a good front-edge bog plant for shady areas. Use it to add detail under taller plants like royal fern, or next to plain green leaves where the silver and red tones show up.

It also works in a pot sunk into a bog, especially if you want to control slug damage and keep the crown clean. In a mixed bog planting, it’s a nice bridge between flowering plants and grasses.

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