MOUNTING A STAGHORN FERN

If you're snickering right now, get your mind out of the gutter. If not, good for you. Mounting a staghorn fern is good, clean fun. I recently bought a young staghorn fern and after studying some mounting techniques on the Net, decided to give it a try. These hanging ferns can get huge so a reasonably strong mount is definitely needed. I bought a wood frame mount on ebay and painted it black (to match my wardrobe, of course).

Here's the main ingredients in today's project: Staghorn fern, mount, moss, 

fishing line and, unseen here, 8 screws.

I soaked the moss, which is basically going to be the only 'soil' used on the mount. It absorbs

water like a sponge and stays packed so it's an ideal medium for staghorn ferns.

I attached 6 screws to the mount. These will help secure the fern.

The excess soil gets removed since it won't be needed. The moss is a much better medium.

A healthy portion of moss is placed on the mount with an indentation created in the middle

where the fern goes and the moss gets wrapped around the base of the fern.

Here's the clever part. In order to not disrupt the delicate young fern, fishing line is strung from screw to screw, overlapping the moss and the edges of the fern, holding it firmly in place.

Et voila, a happy staghorn fern on it's new home! I picked a semi-shaded spot for it

that hopefully won't get too much sun.

WINTER IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA MEANS BUY MORE PLANTS

While most of North America is waist-deep in snow at the moment, it is uncharacteristically hot in Southern California. Not that I'm complaining, mind you. My tropical plants are OK with it too. But I decided to take advantage of the summer-like weather and recently bought some starter plants. Although my small apartment garden has a limited amount of space and already has way too many plants, I've managed to clear out one section and now have room for more plants. And I'll need every inch of space since most of the new plants will grow into monsters. Here are photos of the plants I got, as well as some "after" photos, provided courtesy of Brian's Botanicals.

Back row, left to right: Staghorn Fern, Sunset Glow Bamboo, Coffee Plant, Alocasia Borneo Giant

Front row, left to right:  Alocasia Calidora, Colocasia Bikini-tinia, Alocasia Macrorrhiza

Back row, left to right: Rosemary, Coffee Plant, Barbados Cherry

Front row, left to right: Basjoo Banana, Abyssinian Banana, Basjoo Banana

Here's what the abyssinian banana looks like when it's only about a half a year old.

I've already got one of these in my garden to prove it.

Here's a bunch of basjoo bananas plants. These guys are the most cold-tolerant of all bananas

and can survive sub-zero temperatures and have been grown in pretty much every climate.

Here's the curiously-named colocasia Bikini-tini. It grows to around 6 feet tall and is fun to watch

during a rainstorm. The leaf 'cups' fill with water and tip over and over and over again.

Here's Brian from Brian's Botanicals (thanks for the photos!) posing in front of, and dwarfed by, mature Alocasia Borneo Giants. I really don't have room for one of these but I'm a sucker

for monster plants so I couldn't resist. Please don't tell my wife.