How lucky you are to get a volunteer Japanese painted fern. I have a couple of them to the left of the Epimedium, but they are still very small. Mine never grow very large in the garden. I thought, perhaps, that they were in too shady of a location, so I moved them last fall to this area that gets morning sun, but they are still very small. I have two Athyrium filix-femina that volunteered between the stones in my patio at my old house, and I had no ferns at the time. I transplanted them to my garden, and they are now 4 large lady ferns.

Helen, after seeing this Epimedium survive winter so well, I’m surprised that there aren’t more for sale around here. The purple flowers on this one are just about gone now, but the foliage is looking very good.

I do have something that volunteered and which I thought might be an Epimedium because the foliage is tinged with red and the leaf margins are ciliated, but the stem is woody, the ‘leaflets’ obovate, and the leaves don’t seem to be even obscurely tripartite as in the Epimedia. This mystery plant is into its third year and I suppose once it flowers it will turn out to be some noxious weed, but so far it has been fun watching it grow.

I did have delightful surprise this week with something that would be a good companion for a barrenwort – what looks like a volunteer Japanese Painted Fern! That makes up a bit for the one I purchased mail order this Spring (it is still very sad looking) and the two Lady Ferns purchased bare-root and of which there is no sign at all. I suppose some pixie could have planted the Painted Fern for me, but ferns don’t really look much like ferns until they get old enough to put up fronds, so I suppose I never noticed it before and I’m just glad I didn’t accidentally weed it out.