Your knowledge, your growing conditions and of course your photos. I love ferns and I grow a few Ferns as houseplants but there are a couple of different types of natives that are growing in my yard too.

These are a few that I grow in containers on my back porch.

Blue Star Fern (Polypodium aureum) Microsorum diversifolium (Kangaroo Paw Fern)


Microsorum punctatum (Elkhorn Fern) Neottopteris nidus (Birdsnest Fern)

I love ferns, so happy to have this forum.

Me too Sharon ... and a big to klc/Kim for requesting it and to Dave for implementing it!

@klc Hope you have found this.

Here is a brand new staghorn, Platycerium veitchii lemoinei. It was gifted to me by a nice lady in Ocean Springs, Mississippi. I got it potted but it was mounted on driftwood this afternoon and is now hanging under an oak tree.



This is an uncommon variety (there are only 18 varieties in the entire Platycerium family). I already have a single lemoinei (with pup), and it is now approximately 10 years old. The fronds of the new one are 8-10" and the old one has 24-28" fronds.

Here is the 10 year old one. Like many of my plants, there is ample Spanish moss (a Tillandsia) growing adjacent to the plants.

Nice Ken! I really like that P. lemoinei The Spanish Moss gives them a real "Southern" look; I might have to drape a little around mine to cover the wire I used for mounting mine. By the way ... what do you use to attach yours to the wood? I thought of fishing line which I've used for orchids but I didn't have any handy so I just used the green cloth covered floral wire I had in a kitchen drawer.

Here's another that I had forgotten I had; it's been neglected like so many other plants around here. I think tomorrow I might repot it in some fresh medium and trim back the brown leaf edges.

Crocodile Fern (Microsorum musifolium 'Crocodyllus')

Must admit, I have a relationship with ferns. The ones I have in my garden are all either volunteers, weeds or were here when we bought the house. I'd sure like to know the ID on this first one if anyone knows. It has taken root in the rocks by my fish pond. I like it's shape.



This one's fairly big, fronds nearly 3ft long.


The Resident Ferns that previous owners graced us with - huge staghorn in the big oak tree, and a 12ft. tall Australian Tree Fern.


I like this little lacy one, but the Boston ferns are escaped house plants and pop up everywhere, they are weeds.

Tennessee Ostrich Fern


Still can't locate the other fern photos. Oh well, maybe later.

Elaine, that one in your first photo might be a Florida native. It reminds me a little of Swamp Fern (Telmatoblechnum serrulatum) that is endemic to Florida.

We had the invasive Southern Sword Fern (Nephrolepis cordifolia) growing wild at our other house. I detest that fern, it is very, very difficult to control if not impossible!

I use florist wire, the green coated, perhaps 25 gage. It is pretty thin and flexible.

I have my fingers crossed that these two new little guys truly are hardy to my zone:

Pretty ones, woofie! Let us know next spring if they survive, we'll be pullin for 'em.

Hm, Lin that little fern in my first picture has a distinctive feature that I don't see on the Swamp Fern, its terminal leaflet is nearly twice as long as the others. As to the weedy ones, they sure may be the Nephrolepsis cordifolia, but they never seem to get quite as large, staying under about a foot, so that's why I thought they were Boston ferns. Either one is a pain in the patootie.

Speaking of Nephrolepsis, I have one of these in a pot indoors and it has done pretty well. Just moved it into a larger pot, but now I have to find a place to put that bigger pot for the winter!

Ken: That sounds similar to the floral wire I use as well only mine is 32 gauge, flexible enough that I can tie it in knots. I used to find it at Michael's Craft store but a couple of years ago all I could find there was white and I wanted something more natural that would blend in with the silk flowers on a wreath I was making so I ordered the green cloth wire on line. It came in a box of 12 spools so I have enough that it will still be around when I'm gone LOL. I don't do crafts as much as I used to.

Woofie: Those are great looking ferns, I especially like that Licorice Fern! I have a couple of the Lemon Button Ferns just hanging on by a thread ... they did real well inside but I thought they might like some fresh air so I moved them to the back porch a few months ago and soon forgot about them. They like the humidity out there but they'd still appreciate a bit of water once in awhile. I am such a bad plant caretaker anymore.

Elaine, yeah not that I look closer I see what you mean about the differences in those two ferns. I know I've seen yours before and do think it might be a native.

Tee: That is such a pretty Birdsnest Fern. I had one for many years that got quite large and lost it to the winter freezes of 2010-2011 and I currently have a small one but it's not looking so good ...

Thanks, Lin. I hope to find my photos of other ferns any time now.

This is the Florida native Resurrection Fern (Pleopeltis polypodioides) growing up a tree in the yard. When it's really dry you'd never know these ferns are here because they dry up to nothing but as soon as we have decent rains as we have of late, they perk back up and make an appearance:


This is an unidentified variety that is growing beneath our deck and behind the back porch:

I found it!!

I have a couple ferns besides my staghorn...I'll have to get a couple pictures. My favorites are the staghorns and I the "footed" ferns. I might "break" a few fans to get the cages to use them for fern mounts!!

Looking forward to getting some great fern info from everyone!

Kim, Thank you so much for asking for this forum!

I loved that fan cage that you devised for your staghorn fern, what a clever idea! In case some folks missed it, will you post a photo of it here on the thread? I liked that idea so much that I'm definitely planning on making one. I stopped by our other house (that we are getting ready to sell) to check my husbands progress on cleaning out the garage at the back of the house and he had an old, really dirty and ugly looking going while he was working. It's just one of those cheapy little oscillating type fans but I'm going to confiscate it before it gets put in the trash. I'll try to clean it up and then will probably paint it black and plant a little staghorn in it.