Why I Oughta...

My journey with Staghorn Ferns starts where a bunch of my gardening, craft and DIY interests came from:  Martha Stewart.  Back in the aughts, we used to get Martha Stewart Living magazine delivered in print.  In one of those editions, she covered Staghorn Ferns.  That was my first exposure.  I found this old, 2008 Martha Blog post about her Staghorn Fern that might have been *around* the time of the print piece.  Since then, they've been on my radar.  She posted again in 2018 when she talked about mounting a few new Staghorn Ferns and how she puts them on her front porch.   In March of 2021, I bought my first Staghorn Fern - a six-inch container from Home Depot for $10.  In that post, I talked (again) about Martha .  I kept this one in the container and moved it outside during the Summer where it spent a few months on our front porch - just like Martha.  Because I left it in the container, I decided to drill a bunch of holes in the plastic nursery pot to make it more basket-lik

Over the weekend, I posted some photos and an update on our potted Maidenhair Fern .  After having this delicate plant in our house for close to a year, it was time to give the soil a little refresh and to give it a closer look as Winter and the dry air in our house was taking a toll on it.  In that post, I also talked about a little bit of digging around the Web that I did in order to figure out how I can best help the fern live its best life.   If you read anything about Maidenhair Ferns, you'll find that most people recommend that they do best with very humid environments and that some people even talk about misting the fronds of the Maidenhair fern 'multiple times a day' .  Who the heck has time for that?!?   But, as I kept poking around on ferns and houseplants, I continued to come across resources talking about terrariums.  There are all sorts of terrariums.  Open ones.  Closed ones.  Succulent ones.  Orchid ones.  And, variations on those ideas.  You can't swing

We're coming up on my one-year anniversary of living with a Maidenhair Fern in our house.  I picked up a tiny one at Wannemaker's in February of 2021 and re-potted it into a larger clay pot .  If you go back and look at that original post , you can see that the fern was quite happy.  Feather-light and green.  A month later (March of 2021), it was thriving .  I seemed to have figured out how to keep it happy in terms of light and moisture and feeding.  After that post, I don't seem to have shared any further updates on the fern.  But, it has *been* a journey.  When people talk about Maidenhair Ferns being finicky, they're not lying.   During the life of this potted fern, I've kept it inside.  Either in our family room or screened porch.  And, it has been a series of ups and downs.  After that March post, I think I saw some decline.  Followed by me tending to it, watering it and feeding it.  Which lead to a period of happiness.  Then, typically followed by another cyc

On Friday, I posted a photo of my blue (foliage) grow light that I've set up for some of our houseplants this Winter.  These are all containers that I've kept outside during the Summer (mostly in spots with indirect light) or on our screened porch (that is enclosed) during the edges of the growing season.  One of the containers that I've had for 10 months now is my one-and-only (and first ever) Staghorn Fern.   I bought it - on a whim - from Home Depot for $10 last March .  It came in a nursery pot and despite researching how they're supposed to be *mounted*, I've left it alone.  The last time I showed a photo of the fern was in August of last Summer when it had spent a few months outside on the front porch - in shade.  At that time, I also made a move that I (sort of) consider a compromise between mounting Staghorn Ferns and keeping them in a container. There's plenty of folks who keep them in what I'll call a 'basket'.  My solve to get my contain

We keep the majority of our potted plants/containers/house plants in two places for *most* of the year. The first is outside.  And that usually is between about June and September.  The second is our screened porch.  And that's from September to January.  And again from about March to June. On the porch, we have a corner table that holds a few containers and the top of one of our firewood racks is the other spot for the pots.  The porch is useable for about 300ish days a year for us and about the same for our plants.  The porch gets a TON of natural light and the plants don't seem to dry out as much out there as they do once we bring them in the house. In year's past, we've brought them in the house in January and they've struggled.  These came in about three weeks ago and (knock, wood), they're doing ok (so far).  We've tried a few places - upstairs in a south-facing window. Downstairs in same facing.  Indirect light, direct light.  It seems that the best o

Just about one month in and (knock wood), our Maidenhair Fern is still green.  And, showing some signs of growth in terms of width and height.  Here is the post showing off this delicate fern that we brought home in late February and have been careful to keep happy. I have a couple of brown tips, but also new growth.  Thus, a mixed bag so far after one month.   If you poke around the Web just a bit, you'll find people talking about how difficult these ferns are to take care of as indoor plants.  And, while I'm certainly no pro, it seems like the key for this fern (SO FAR) is to keep it mostly watered.  For me, that means a couple of times per week.  And a good soaking in terms of watering.  I place the pot in our sink and soak it pretty good - letting the water run out the bottom for a bit before putting it back into the little plastic tray.   Once the warm days of April begin to appear, I'm going to plan on putting some of our containers out for little parts of the day to

 Over the weekend - without much thought - I picked up a tiny Maidenhair Fern and potted it up in a six-inch clay pot and added it our little collection of house plants.  My thought was that this would MOSTLY replace the dead fern that I tried to bring back this Winter  and would live next to the potted-up wire vine that I treated similarly .  I opted against using the traditional clay saucer for this one, opting instead for a small plastic container to keep the water from running out AND keeping the humidity level up higher.  One of the things I know about Maidenhair Ferns is that they're temperamental and like to have a higher degree of humidity around them.  Being in clay pot isn't ideal, but it is the cheapest of the pots, right?  It was just $2.99 and quite small, but looks nice potted up.  Here, below, is where its stands as of today.   Like, umm, everyone, I was naturally drawn to the light, airy leaflets of the Maidenhair that kind of dance when you blow on them.   Wha

 It seems that I *may* have made a mistake with the fern that I tried to rescue by transplanting it into a different container and giving it a haircut.  Back a couple of weeks ago, I posted a photo of this small (miniature?) fern that I had brought inside before the frost and neglected all Fal l.  It was dry, brittle and showing a lot of stress.  I decided to try to bring it back by feeding it with some composted manure and trimming off all the dead fronds.  I then put it out on the screened porch where the humidity level is a bit higher than in the house.   Unfortunately, it seems like we've seen no positive growth since the transplant and haircut.   There are still come greyish-green fronds hanging around that aren't totally brittle, but no new growth.  This is what it looks like 15 days post haircut.  Not promising.   I brought all three of the containers that were on the screened porch INSIDE the house late last week since the forecast was calling for negative temperatures

One of the girls bought a small/miniature fern for their fairy garden in the Summer of 2019 and I somehow was able to yank it out of the garden, pot it and keep it alive all last Winter into this past Spring.  When the warm weather arrived, I put the pot out on the back stoop and the fern seemed to be happy.  I brought it in this fall and promptly neglected it.  I came across it and noticed that it was dried out, brittle and rootbound.  I repotted it and moved it to something larger, fed it with some composted manure and put it out on the screened porch.  It looked like this after repotting: It isn't happy looking.  That's (I think) a combination of neglect and the stress of coming inside to deal with the dry, indoor air and what I'm guessing is some level of dormancy-induced decline due to Winter.  All of the leaves are dry and a lot of the fronds are brittle.  If you pinch them and slide up/down, you can peel off the leaves on about 1/3rd of the fronds.   I decided to do