Tropicals & Tender Perennials: Tropical Garden #98, 1 by rjuddharrison

rjuddharrison wrote:
Good afternoon...HOT!
Here is the Fern. The fronds are small, and the ones on the edge froze. I usually wrap it in outdoor seat cushions..and the forecast that day was fairly warm..thought I would wrap it after work. But....turns out that as soon as I got to work, a cold front blasted through and it was at freezing at least 6 hours. It's a hardy guy though...It grows about a foot a year. The statue reveals the growth as it was below Davids head last year.

The reason I'm so lucky with the fern is that it is a C. Australis (by accident) was marked as C. cooperi. I wonder why the nurseries don't try to sell the Australis..it is far more hardy and could be grown in several regions. I accidentally grew two ferns from spores a couple of years ago when I cut the branches and threw them in the garden. The draped over the Arkansas border stones, and a few months later a few were growing on the rock. I tried to transplant the last one as it was 4 inches tall..but...it bit the dust. Note to self, if it ain't broke, don't fix it!. Interesting though how the spores only grew on the rocks.