Athyrium filix-femina

lady fern

• Position: full or partial shade
• Soil: moist, fertile, neutral to acid soil
• Rate of growth: average
• Hardiness: fully hardy
  
  This is the lady fern, with graceful, bright green, filigree-like leaves. One of our recommended plants, it looks great planted in bold swathes with other shade-loving plants in a sheltered, shady woodland edge, shrub or mixed border. It is deciduous, and begins to look tatty in the autumn, so try it among evergreen ferns or late-flowering perennials.
  
  
• Garden care: Incorporate lots of well-rotted leaf mould, composted pine needles or garden compost into the planting hole. In cold areas in late autumn protect the crown of the plant with a dry mulch of straw or bracken.