Staghorn Fern and Friends

Staghorn ferns belong to the genus Platycerium. I bought this plant in a tiny plastic pot for $2.00 last winter at a big box store.

The plant produces two distinctly different fronds, basal and foliar.

Basal fronds, often called “sterile fronds,'' are rounded thickened fronds which grow in overlapping layers and clasp onto a growing surface. Shield shaped, they protect the roots, collect nutrients and
take up water.

Antler shaped foliar fronds also called fertile fronds, grow spores on the underside for reproduction.

This plant spent last summer in this same spot, seemingly loving the heat and humidity and sun.

This winter I brought my Bird's Nest Fern Asplenium nidus from the house where it was not particularly happy to the greenhouse.

I didn't start out to be a Rainforest gardener but between the Epiphyllums, Schlumbergera, Ferns and Bromeliads I'm getting there.

 

Epiphyllum oxypetalum.

Flauntin' my Flowers with Tootsie on Fertlizer Friday