Easy Gardener • Pat Howell
	Shady characters

Spring is just around the corner. Bulbs and perennials have been getting their winter hibernation, which energizes them to be ready for a really big show (quoting Ed Sullivan). By the time you read this, you may see some signs of emerging life in your earth.

As of February 23, a survey by Easy Gardener sees fat buds on the tree peonies (Paeonia suffruticosa), the winter jasmine (Jasmine nudiflorum), and Mahonia; healthy leaves on the butterfly bush (Buddleia 'Dark Knight'), a few crocus tips peeping out, and snowdrops (Galanthus species) blooming confidently. The species azaleas (deciduous, sun-loving shrubs with brilliant yellow and orange blooms) look ready to burst into bloom, but will actually hold off until early summer, when sunglasses will be needed to appreciate their gifts.

We are all hoping for more sunshine this year than last. Yikes, far too many gray, cool days in 2003. Did we read somewhere that November was the warmest month of the year? That can't be true. Or can it...?

Last year at this time, we predicted that the theme for articles in 2003 would be sun-loving plants, because some of you do have sun in your gardens, if only for a part of the day. But the sun did not oblige us with much warmth, and sun-loving plants did not thrive. (Some didn't grow at all.) We can't write about plants we can't see.

Maybe this year will be the Year of the Sun.

In the meantime, we are once again enjoying the shady characters who inhabit our 40+ acres. The evergreen plants have had a good winter, with plenty of moisture, a periodic snow blanket, and some recent warmth.

The Perennial Plant Association (www.perennialplant.org) has announced the Perennial Plant of the Year: the Japanese painted fern (Athyrium niponicum "Pictum"), and it will be promoted heavily by your local retail nurseries. This fern is tailor-made for Takoma gardens: it grows in USDA Hardiness Zones 3-8 (we are Zone 7b); prefers part to full shade and well-drained, compost-rich soil (neither arid nor water-logged); is versatile and low-maintenance; and it flourishes where moisture and humidity abound.

The fronds or "leaves" grow 12-18 inches long, so the plant stays low enough to be used at the front of the border. Over time and with enough water, it multiplies into a clump that is more than two feet wide.

The color is what makes this plant so adaptable: a soft, metallic, silver-grey-green frond with hints of pink (actually, more of a burgundy) and blue. It has wine-red stems that bleed over into the "gray" fronds. Call it gray, silver, dove, pewter, ash, or steel; by any name, the color blends beautifully with an array of shade-lovers.

The exquisite fronds seem to grow more beautiful as the season progresses (again, assuming good watering pratices and protection from afternoon sun). The plant's texture, color, and habit make it invaluable in plant combinations (the heart of a good design). It is showy without being gauche.

"Pictum" offers countless opportunities for winsome groupings in spring with primroses, hardy orchids (Bletilla striata), silver spotted lungworts (Pulmonaria longifolia), double blood-root (Sanguinaria canadensis), and in autumn with begonia grandis in white or pink, or with toad lilies (Tricyrtis). The gray fronds are a perfect foil for the purple foliage of Oxalis regnellii "Atropurpurea"; for purple-leaved coral bells (Heucheras) such as "plum puddin" and "pewter veil"; or for a purple cutleaf maple.

For contrasting texture, try pairing Japanese painted fern with the large-leaved hostas, hellebores, or pachysandra, particularly Pachysandra procumbens, a far-superior ground-cover to the ubiquitous P. terminalis.

The yellow grassy leaves of the sedge carex "evergold" thrown into the mix makes the whole grouping glow.

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If you are a fan of Pamela Harper's books, especially Time-Tested Plants: Thirty Years in a Four-Season Garden, you know that she is a transplanted English gardener who has been gardening on two acres, intensively planted, in the Richmond area. She has written four books, and is a highly regarded photographer. Most of her pictures come from her own garden.

Pamela's garden is virtually never on display. But now, an opportunity to see one of the premier gardens on the East Coast will be available. The Potomac Valley Chapter of the North American Rock Garden Society (PVC-NARGS) has been invited by Pamela to visit her garden on Saturday, April 17. This will be a day-long bus trip, with details to be worked out as to cost, departure point, and times. Bring a lunch. In the afternoon, the group will visit the Lewis Ginter Gardens, and Sandy's Plants, a fabulous 22-acre nursery in Mechanicsville, VA.

To attend, you must be a member of NARGS, Potomac chapter. Send $10 made out to PVC-NARGS to Cecie Phair, 14700 River Road, Potomac, MD 20854. If it gets close to departure time and you haven't received a newsletter from the chapter, contact Easy Gardener at 301-270-4456.

Pat Howell is a Takoma Park gardener and landscape designer/garden-builder, and welcomes comments, advice, suggestions, complaints. She is available for hand-holding and answering questions through Deephaven Landscapers.