April 23, 2012

Staghorn Ferns



On the way home from the coast, I had Matt stop at one of my favorite little nurseries where they have such unique plants. Everything is so beautifully placed, it feels like you are in the Secret Garden.  In one of the gardens I looked up and saw a ceiling full of Staghorn ferns!  Yes, My latest obsession.  I love everything about them.  The moss, the green, texture of the leaves, mounted on weathered wood... ugh!  
Needless to say, I purchased my very own!   



Staghorn's consist of clusters of several fronds that resemble antltlers which is how they get their name. In nature, Staghorns live on the sides of trees sending their roots into the bark.  This is why they must be mounted with moss on a wood plate.  I have been googling the care and maintenance of these beauties and luckily they are super easy to take care of.  They are in the same family as air plants, so they lend to little maintenance.
 Every Staghorn has a label on the wood that dates the fern.  Like the picture above you can see the metal tag.  It says it was mounted on February 10, 2010.  My fern is already two years old.  I guess they can live up to 70 years and get 100 pounds heavy! 
I thought I would leave you with a few inspiring images of Staghorns. 
If you have a Staghorn or know about them, I would love to hear about advice and care.

























* All images can be found and sourced here.


Be Well,
Heather

4 comments:

  1. I love when I see these en mass, but they are the creepiest looking plants I have ever seen! Haha. Cool that you got one though :)

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  2. I had one but I accidentally killed it by keeping it in too much sun. It was very disappointing. The gentleman who gave it to me did give me a bit of advise that I neglected to follow. He said that he puts his banana peels behind the plants to feed it as the peel breaks down. This has worked very well for his many Staghorns. You might consider doing the same. I wish you the best of luck!

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