Golden Feathers is a Jacob's ladder with ferny, ladder-like leaflets variegated in gold and green, so the foliage carries the show even out of bloom. Short stems of violet-blue bells appear in spring above the low, foot-wide clumps.

This is a shade plant here: morning light at most, with rich, well-drained soil that doesn't bake dry. It brightens woodland edges and shaded borders the way a variegated hosta does, at a smaller scale. Bees and butterflies visit the spring flowers.