More with the epiphytic experiments

Inspired by how well the Pyrrosia lingua tucked into the trunk of my Trachycarpus fortunei have done...

I decided to experiment with a couple Pyrrosia lingua 'Undulata'...

...and the chunk of tree fern trunk I bought late last year. Originally I had the brilliant idea of displaying it in a giant metal spring I had on hand. While it would have looked fabulous, it didn't work once I'd attached the ferns. What I should have done was dig down and hollow out a crater for the root ball. Live and learn.

Since I didn't go that route my first step was to remove as much of the soil as possible by soaking the ferns. I started with three, but only ended up using two.

Then I sort of splayed the roots around the trunk and wrapped it all with nylon string.

And covered it with moss.

I'm still not sure exactly what I'll do with this, but I'm hoping the Pyrrosia grows to cover more of the trunk.

Speaking of (tree fern trunk) I was thinking maybe I'd try to tuck a small piece or two of Pyrrosia in my growing tree fern trunk, we'll see. I still haven't planted this in the ground like I'd planned to do. The spot I had targeted just isn't right. I'm scheming on what to do instead.

Apropos of nothing I'm sharing a photo Andrew took while out fishing at the Tideman Johnson Natural Area sometime in February. I love it and thought it worked in with this post, what with the moss and ferns.

Next project! Another Pyrrosia lingua 'Undulata' I worked into a piece of driftwood.

The wood had a perfect planting pocket once I filled the bottom with a small piece of landscape fabric.

Moss shoved in around the top of the root ball keeps it all in place.

There was even the perfect small crack to hold one of the fern's creeping rhizomes.

I love it.

I tackled this next project while stuck indoors on a particularly rainy weekend. The pieces...

The inspiration, photos from the Instagram account of @fern_wmp...

The fern in the photo is called out as possibly Belvisia spicata / Lepisorus spicatus.

But seeing it, I decided to play with mounting the Pyrrosia angustissima I brought home from the Rhododendron Species Botanical Garden last February.

I laid it out on the wood piece (from a mounted plant I'd bought that didn't make it), surrounded the roots with sphagnum moss, and then wrapped it all tight.

Then I stopped taking photos! Ha, when you're working with wet soil and moss it's not terribly convenient to stop and take photos. Before I was done I added a couple small bromeliads—not the same ones I started out with, I didn't like how they looked. I needed something larger and less grassy, so as not to blend in so much with the Pyrrosia angustissima "blades".

Pyrrosia angustissima close-up

Bromeliad close-up

Green "Oregon moss" was worked into the sphagnum to add color.

I like how it turned out. We'll see how successful these are long term, it's all an experiment... 

The Bit at the End

If you haven't heard, the plant world lost a great man recently, Pearl Fryar passed away on April 4th. Pearl was a legendary American topiary artist who lived, and gardened, in Bishopville, South Carolina. The Juniper Level Botanic Garden Blog posted a good article about the man and his life, read it here: Pearls of Wisdom.

—   —   —

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 © 2009-2026 by Loree L Bohl. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.