I saw this plant on the Marietta (Ohio) Garden Tour on Sunday. I've not seen anything like it before. I'd love to know the name so I could see if I can find one to plant in my garden.... Thanks for any help.
Kim
What is this unusual beauty?
Some sort of Asparagus (a flowering plant, not a fern at all). Try the Perennials forum.
Resin
I was thinking when I saw it that it reminded me of an asparagus fern I had years and years ago. But it was so much bigger and "fluffier" than I remember my asparagus fern being, I thought it was probably something else.
I think this is Asparagus densiflorus. I got one this year, but it was hard to find. I remember these were more popular decades ago.
Susan in Minneapolis
Quoting:
it reminded me of an asparagus fern I had years and years ago
Just to re-emphasize . . . Asparagus is NOT a fern!!
Resin
Yes, thanks Resin. LOL, after reading a little about it, I understand why a fern lover would want to emphasize that. ;-) Thanks for the help.
Kim
LOLOLOL!
It is a fox tail fern.
Whatever it is it's pretty!
It looks to be an asparagus myerii or foxtail fern.
I HAVE A FEW OF THESE FERNS, THEY HAVE OVER-WINTERED BEAUTIFULLY IN SOUTH GEORGIA. THEY ARE FOX-TAIL FERNS.
SHARON
I'm resurrecting this thread because I just rescued a half dead pot of these ferns from the people planting in our local park. I noticed that there are little round corms on the root systems of these plants, and wondered it you could break off and plant these corms to propogate the plant?
I'm going to cut off all the dead branches and hopefully have a nice houseplant from this. Wish me luck!
It is a Fox Tail Fern....related to the Asparagus Fern. Either keep in a pot, or plant it where it cannot encroach on other plants. Asparagus ferns will take over if given the opportunity.
They grow non-descript little white flowers, then red berries that the birds will spread all over your yard. Their roots are very thick, and strong, with bulbous ends on it to store water. I think they originated from South Africa.
Given all that, they are remarkedly sturdy, can take full sun in many places, and I personally love them.
Just to re-emphasize yet again . . . Asparagus is NOT a fern.
Can an admin move this thread to the Perennials Forum please? It doesn't belong here.
Resin
Technically........Asparagus densiflorus 'Meyersii'
Lovely plant, I remember huge specimens of this at a nursery in Maine I used to visit.
They are most often sold as 'ferns'.
This is a Foxtail fern.
Have several of these plants in North Florida which I moved from central Florida.. I have found they do very well in partial shade also. Some of mine were huge but have since divided them.
Resin ........ I hear your frustration over the fern issue! As we know, ferns do not have flowers, seeds, or any of that fancy stuff. Common names will always be the death of some of us. When I used to work on taxonomic correctness w/ my high school students, I asked them to consider what a person whose native tongue was not English would envision if you called something a "house fly" or a "tufted tit mouse". There IS a need for name correctness, even if not everyone cares as passionately.
This thread is NOT about a fern, folks! It is about an angiosperm.
blah blah blah ......... blah blah .......... blah blah blah ............ waaaahhh ...... waaahhh ... waah !!!
Lighten up, folks! ......... This is not a botanical clearing house for taxonomic correctness, nor is it a herbarium. It is a web site for questions, answers, and friendly banter among interested people.
Asparagus Meyersii is NOT a fern ........ BUT ........... it IS called Foxtail Fern - and this IS the name by which it is known universally. The average user to this site wouldn't know where else to look for it - since there are no other common names in current use. Who cares if it's in this thread - as opposed to the correct taxonomy! It is rare that ANY plants are transposed to other categories on Dave's Garden - so it's not like the site is going to become a confusing hodge podge of incorrect nomenclature where no one knows where to look for anything!
Sounds like a control issue to me :) Sometimes I'd like to be right - but most of the time I'd rather be happy. It's easy to be critical - and I suppose it's human nature - but let's try to keep things in proper proportion.
John
Quoting:
and this IS the name by which it is known universally
Sorry, not at all true! Not in Britain it isn't, and I suspect not elsewhere outside of the USA. Most countries take a much more proactive educational attitude to plant names.
Resin
Bottlebrush fern, Myers asparagus, Florist fern, emerald fern are just SOME of the common names variously applied to said Asparagus myersii.............so if I wanted to know that I was getting the right one, I would always go by the taxonomic name....AND if I wanted to learn some correct information about this plant, I would search it ONLY by the scientific name.
Nothing wrong with being right AND happy -
BUT, most of us are just gardeners, not degree'd botanists. I agree about using the scientific name if you want to learn more about it. The original post was asking what this was. The poster did not know it wasn't a true FERN, but it sure as heck looked like one so it was posted here for us to ID. I do not see a problem with that. Get off your high horses and just help each other out!!!
Doug
But helping each other out includes education in accurate naming!
Amen - on the education - what can it possibly hurt to LEARN something new, postmandug? I am not a degree'd botanist, either - and there a million things I don't know. However, DGs is a place for all of us to learn new things. The world isn't flat, even though folks were willing to die to prove the point otherwise ........so if some here want to go to the stake to argue about WHY this non-fern is called a fern, so be it. Go right ahead. However, don't expect that everyone is going to agree. Bad science IS bad science. Wrong information IS wrong information. Learning can still be fun - even when you get old and wrinkled....as I am.
I can't even believe that I am engaging in this debate - musta slipped a gear here.
My point was a gardener had a question about a plant they thought was a fern. We have no right to DEMAND the post be moved to another forum because the plant in question turned out to not be a true fern. Just ID it and move on...
Doug
Since it has fern in at least one of it's "common" names, this was a good forum to post it in. In the palm forum, many ask questions about pony palms(& Persian Palms) and other plants that aren't actually from the palm family. That's fine. We are all gardeners who have a love of the whole plant kingdom. Also, I usually try to post the scientific and a common name if I start a post (as long as I know the names).
Life is to short for all this fury. Let's just be happy to have a site to be educated, to be informed and not get upset because some of us do not know the techical names. Not a sin.
AMEN.