Tree ferns and friends

[KyushuCalanthe]

One my of my many fixations is ferns. I LOVE tree ferns with their ancient look and large size. I don't stop there though. My second favorite fern group are epiphytes. Having said that, I really love most of them. A sampler of my collection:

Cyathea australis, a fairly cold hardy Australian native. This one has been with me for 4 years now. It was bought as a large sporling and is has just 8" of trunk so far. Reliably hardy down to around -5 C (23 F), but it defoliates below - 3 C or so.

Another Australian native is Dicksonia antarctica. This plant was bought three springs ago as a salvaged "log" from Tasmania. I won't even tell you what I payed for it. Many within this genus can be cut down leaving a rootless trunk and crown only to be rerooted by simply burying the trunk back into the soil - kind of like a huge cutting! Hands down the most cold hardy tree fern withstanding up to -10 C (around 16 F) for short periods.

Cyathea tomentossisma, a native of the highlands of New Guinea where it can be found at over 4000 meters elevation (~13,000 feet). At these elevations it can receive frost almost any time of the year even though the region is tropical. It is a more dwarf fern getting no more than 3 meters tall (~10 feet). This little guy is another sporling who's growing fast. As the name suggests, the plant is very hairy - actually it has tons of scales.

Here are two Australian staghorn ferns that have done well, withstanding frosts to around -3 C (27 F) with minimal damage.

The common Platycerium bifurcatum, now four years growing at my place. It was much smaller back when it started!

And P. superbum, a sub-adult plant with only shield fronds (sterile) - it looks like this one could grow fertile fronds next season. This plant can get huge.

I've been working on a website about Japanese orchids and ferns for three years now. Maybe one day I'll actually get the site up for you all to see. These shots will have to do for now!

Tom

 

[Kevin]

Wow! That's awesome! How big is your property? I love tree ferns too. They are amazing plants, but very slow growing. You give the cold hardiness of the plants, but do you ever need to protect them? I'm guessing it never gets below freezing, or very rarely. I hope you get your web site up - should be great!

 

[JeanLux]

congratulations Tom!!!! super plants, and very large (or the friend is very small ) Jean

 

[Heather]

Awesome photos Tom! Love the last view of the garden and looking forward to your website one day.

 

[Clark]

Great looking yard Tom! I am a fan of the Staghorn ferns too.

I may have seen before, but what are your winter temps? Thank you.

 

[Hera]

Thanks for the tour. You have an amazing yard. Looks like you have the perfect balance of temp and humidity.

 

[likespaphs]

groovy!

 

[Elena]

Those are some luscious plants and your garden looks beautiful too.

Are the large ferns in your garden or do you have them growing in the nearby woods somewhere?

 

[Ray]

Fantastic!

Gotta be careful of those platyceriums when "in captivity". In the GH, the spores get EVERYWHERE!

My original plant was bare-root with two, 18" fertile fronds, and I put it in a coconut-fiber-lined basket. Several years later it was a 10' diameter ball.

 

[goldenrose]

:drool: :clap: :drool: :clap: :drool:

 

[NYEric]

Excellent, Thanx for sharing. I've started growing ferns from the hitch-hikers growing in with some pleuros.

 

[KyushuCalanthe]

Thanks for the comments folks! The big problem with tree ferns is that they get so BIG eventually. The species I'm growing all take a long time to grow large trunks, so it is likely I'll never see them grow to any great height, but the breadth of the fronds can exceed 3 meters even with younger plants.

To answer some questions:

Kevin and Edward - the climate is unusual here. While the native forest would suggest a subtropical region, the winters are quite cool and at times cold with snow. 2005 was the most severe winter since I got here with the temperature reaching below freezing a dozen or so mornings. Occasionally there will be days when it stays at or near freezing, particularly if there is a big snow event. The coldest I've recorded was around -4 C, but historically it has dropped lower by another couple degrees. In a typical year we get a week of frosty mornings. The first couple winters I attempted to protect them, but now I just let them deal with whatever nature gives.

Elena - good eye! Yes, the larger ferns are growing at the base of a small mountain five minutes walk from my house. The land is owned by a neighbor who's family has lived here a long time. He has been kind enough to let me start a "wild garden" in his backyard - a rare opportunity in urban, modern Japan, especially for a foreigner.

Ray - Yeah P. bifurcatum is a really vigorous plant when happy. Here is the above plant back in fall 2005 - in fact two plants wired to a crape myrtle. That winter was bad, so they were almost completely defoliated by spring. Since then though it has taken off! Question - do you get any volunteer sporlings in your greenhouse? None have shown up here so far.

Since the late 90's the local climate has warmed considerably, or perhaps more accurately, a threshold has been reached where it is now possible to grow some subtropical plants outside. It is believed that by mid century this area will be too warm to support flowering cherry trees at low elevations and so that cultural icon will disappear from southern Japan - unless a warm tolerant hybrid can be engineered!

 

[biothanasis]

Very nice ferns!!! I like the small ones... hehe...

 

[SlipperFan]

I love ferns, also -- as you can tell by looking at my garden: lots of hostas and ferns. I'm afraid if I ever get a greenhouse and can have appropriate humidity, ferns might soon overtake my orchids.

Beautiful examples, Tom. I also like seeing the guy peeking around and over the ferns...

 

[paphioboy]

Great ferns.. And nice to meet you in the flesh (if that is you, of course..)..

 

[nikv]

I have plent of ferns growing in my greenhouse. Not sure what variety they are. I should take a photo of them and post in this thread. They're sorta pretty so I leave them be.