So many of us have the wrong impression of ferns, including me - I thought that giant Staghorns weren't really ferns but some sort of epiphyte more closely related to bromeliads or tillandsia.
Wrong, says Jim Boehme of The Fern Factory in Anaheim Hills, California. "Any plant that starts from spores is classified as a fern." That includes the unfern-like Staghorns, skinny Horsetail and many other seemingly alien plants.
Ferns are some of the oldest plants on the planet, dating to the Mesozoic era when dinosaurs roamed the Earth. They were here millions of years before flowering plants.
That is a testimony to how sturdy ferns really are. And unlike the rest of us, Boehme believes that ferns are some of the easiest plants to grow.
Boehme got hooked on ferns 20 years ago when he tried to master the task of spore propagation to reproduce his favourite, hard-to-find Staghorns. That led to getting his hands on unusual ferns.
Ultimately, Boehme got the hang of the technique that sometimes can take years before actual plants appear. And the demand for his ferns and Staghorns just kept going. He quit his day job as a printer and began to supply plants full time to the landscape trade and on the Internet.
"People don't think of using ferns in their landscape, but they're very easy to grow," he said.
Mostly it's like this: "You plant a fern," Boehme said. "What most people try to do is take care of them." And that is where it all goes wrong.
Boehme grows hundreds of ferns in his Anaheim Hills landscape. He amends the soil before planting with peat moss and compost. He plants. He waters lightly every day. And he alternates his yearly mulch with fine bark one year and peat moss the next.
That's it. And that's really easy.
Boehme recommends most exotic ferns over natives that he said are a bit fussier. Silver Lady is his most popular. Woodwardia is a native that is easy. Boehme recommends growing Leatherleaf fern for anyone who makes floral arrangements.
"It's the same fern that florists use," he said and it grows like a weed in his landscape.
