It will droop and the fronds will fall flat to the ground, but a good drink will revive it. Give this fern a home in deep, organic soil that stays moist and medium to deep shade. Japanese Painted Ferns are deciduous and rated hardy to USDA zone 5. I particularly like teams Pictum Red with Heuchera Palace Purple , which accentuates the wine tints in the fern. Placing Japanese Painted Fern where early morning or late afternoon sun can dapple the fronds enhances the variegated effect.
Easiest propagation is by division in early spring before growth gets underway.
You really have to pay attention to this fern as it surfaces in spring. The emerging croziers are cloaked in broad black scales and elongate to a purple stipe and rachis that network each spear-head shaped frond. The new frond color is a chalky lime-green. This Technicolor display lasts only until the fronds are fully out, when they become a muted gray-green. But the stipes and caudex retain a soft purple-red color all season.