Late season plant projects

When I wrote about my desire for lava rock—on which to grow a Lemmaphyllum microphyllum (aka bean fern)—my friend Tamara came through with a few different size chunks. Since this one already had moss on it, well, it was the obvious place to start...

I had a 4" pot of Lemmaphyllum microphyllum kicking around (wholesaler Rancho Cacto has made this little cutie widely available to area nurseries) as well as moss and a terracotta saucer, so this project came together quickly.

Since the fern naturally grows as an epiphyte, I separated rooted pieces from the soil they were growing in and tucked them into areas of the rock with holes or crevices, gently enlarging a few spots with a flat-head screwdriver.

The rock then went into the saucer and I packed moss on either side, because I love moss! I keep the saucer full of water (or at least try to) and the moss and rock soak it up. I haven't tested to see if the fern is rooting in yet, I'll give it a while. Eventually, I hope it grows to cover a large portion of the rock. 

Lemmaphyllum microphyllum is *almost* hardy here in Portland, I left two small patches in the ground last winter to test it and it did fine, but last winter didn't get below about 26F (if memory serves) and that was brief. That's to say I plan to put the dish in the shade pavilion greenhouse for the winter, but will pull it into the house if real cold is in the forecast.

I had left over bean fern and rocks so the experimenting continued! You might remember the hanging terracotta container I tried planting up with moss and other epiphytes (post here). Well, over the summer it failed miserably (too dry, squirrels or birds picking at the moss and the plants) so I took it apart and found homes for the plants that were still alive and now it's another Lemmaphyllum microphyllum and rocks planter...

Instead of using potting mix I filled the voids with a rock/bark/clay orb substrate a friend uses to grow his tillandsia (I inherited some of it when he gave me a bunch of tillandsia). Since I'd already plugged the drain hole, it holds water, which slowly leaches out through the terracotta. I'm hoping long-term the surface will start to moss up. 

The last of the Lemmaphyllum microphyllum (with a little bit of soil, and more moss) went into this hollow split bamboo segment I found on the beach. 

I love this easy going fern so much!

The final project today involves tillandsia, one I already had and some that I got from that generous friend, and a piece of cryptanthus. Since all these plants are moving indoors for the next 6 or so months, I've been scheming on where to put them and decided to make a wall hanging to go above the bed. I love how it turned out, but Andrew declared it was creepy. Whatever.

I feel a little bad on the sunny days, that these plants are now indoor prisoners. But when the view out that window turns cold, wet, and windy they're happier inside.

If you're wondering about the low-light situation this group will move down to the brighter "basement garden" when I decorate for Christmas and the tinsel wreath goes up, so it's only temporary.

To receive alerts of new danger garden posts by email, subscribe here. Please note: these are sent from a third party, their annoying ads are beyond my control. 

All material © 2009-2025 by Loree L Bohl. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.