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Japanese Painted Fern
Japanese painted fern (Athyrium filix-femina) is a small, well-behaved fern that makes a graceful addition to shade garden plants. It won’t grow too big or too rambunctious. Instead, it beckons you to take a closer inspection of its multicolored foliage, which is an attractive mix of green, silver and maroon. Hardy in Zones 3 to 9, it grows 2 to 3 feet tall and wide.
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Columbine
The fern-like green to gray-green foliage tells you this is a shade plant, but the bright bi-colored flowers look as if they belong in a sunny meadow. Indeed, columbine (Aquilegia) is an adaptable perennial that takes anything from full sun to shade. It seems to do best in part shade, where it can grab a few hours of sunlight each day. The intricate flowers come in a rainbow of colors and appear in late spring and early summer. Columbine is hardy in Zones 3 to 8.
Tip: If you have difficulty with heavy shade, try planting some spring-blooming bulbs in the fall. Most will soak up the sun and bloom before trees are fully leafed out, so heavy shade isn’t a problem.
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