Japanese painted fern is the shade garden's silver accent: soft fronds brushed pewter and sage with wine-red midribs, forming a low mound about a foot tall and up to two feet wide. The color reads almost metallic against dark mulch, and deer and rabbits leave it alone.

Give it shade to part shade and soil that stays moist but drains freely; a little morning light deepens the silver. It dies back in winter and returns each spring. Pair it with hostas, heuchera, or hellebores under trees, and water through dry August spells its first year.