athyrium lady in red is a new fern that was discovered by the New England Wildflower Society member John Lynch. i think it may have been an introduction.

Here is a link that might be useful: lady in red

Likely a discovered plant that had exceptionally red stems (because lady fern can naturally have red or green stems). This plant was then cloned and reproduced for the trade.

It is a selection of Athyrium filix-femina, ssp. angustum, forma rubellum(Syn. Athyrium angustum, var. rubellum), which occurs naturally in populations of the Northern Lady fern throughout it's range in the Eastern US. It is being tissue cultured to provide huge quanities for the nursery trade in the US and Europe. A similar red stemmed form is common in populations of Athyrium filix-femina, ssp. asplenioides, the so-called Southern Lady Fern. The ranges of these two sub-species overlap in many states from the mid-Atlantic to the mid-West.

thanks for the info!

I'm glad its a natural plant. "Lady in Red" seems better/neater/more distinctive than the common form i see for sale, hopefully i'll be happy with ... thou maybe i should have got something that would give some winter interest

I've also found that my location is perhaps the most southern leg for the lady in red. Often a warm snap in winter will kill off a good many.

I've found 'Lady in Red' to have more evenly and more closely spaced pinnae than your average lady fern. That said, v. asplenioides seems to have deeper coloration than 'Lady in Red', at least in the southeast. I have a selection of v. asplenioides with significantly deeper coloration than 'Lady in Red' - deeper red stipe and darker pinnae - though similar in other aspects.

I have two Lady Ferns in my garden and I'm not sure if either one is a lady fern. We bought them at a plant sale at a large nursery in the fall so there was no foliage in the pots, just the soil and the fern ?rhyzome? (is that what ferns have?) At any rate, you can see the one Lady Fern on my webpage where I just threw up some plant pictures I took this morning. The younger foliage looks more like "tatting fern" to me and underneath is more "lady fern-style" fronds. Is it possible there were 2 ferns in this pot? Or does lady fern start out with that tatty look when the fronds are young? To avoid confusion I have not posted a picture of the second "Lady Fern". It's entirely different looking than this first one and I don't want to confuse anyone by posting it just yet. Here is the page with the first "Lady Fern" on it:

http://www.geocities.com/knottyceltic/BarbsGarden.html

Mouse-over the pictures to see the common names and note the odd appearance of my "Lady Fern".

Thanks,

Barb
Ontario, CANADA

athyrium lady in red is a new fern that was discovered by the New England Wildflower Society member John Lynch. i think it may have been an introduction.

Here is a link that might be useful: lady in red
wow, that is a fine looking fern!

Barb, the mouse over does not work for me, but one picture with those ferns does look like it has a button fern in with it.

REALLY! hahaha... well that might explain why it looks so odd. I'll have to find me a book on ferns that has multiple view pictures and closeups so I can learn to identify them myself. It's so hard to find a REAAAAALY good book though that covers everything you want to know.

Oh, for the mouse-over you have to put your curser on the picture and stop for a second for the name to show up.

Thanks for your thoughts on that odd fern Esh! :o) I will look it up.

Barb
Ontario, CANADA