If it's still there, then it's meant to be...

Have you ever played that little mind game with yourself? You pass on something you really want, but then find yourself thinking about it. A lot. Hmm. Maybe I'll swing back by, if it's still there, well, then it was meant to be...

Back on June 5th. I was headed up to Bellevue, WA, for the Hardy Fern Foundation's (HFF) FernFest. I stopped at Zenith Holland Nursery because a friend had mentioned it, and I'd never been. That's where I saw this double trunked tree fern (Dicksonia antarctica). I thought it was priced reasonably for a tree fern of it's size. But was more money than I was prepared to drop on a plant on a whim. I left it behind. This was the only photo I took that day.

Two weeks passed and I was back up in the area (just a mere 20 miles away in Tacoma, for the HFF Vashon Tour). I thought about the tree fern, but I did not go by the nursery. Nope! But then in the days after the tour, after visiting the Riehl Stumpery and falling under the spell of the tall tree ferns there, well, I could not stop thinking about my double trunked friend. 

Fast forward to Sunday July 26th (almost two months since I'd first seen the object of my obsession) and I was headed back up to the area for the NHS Meet the Board garden tour. I'd be driving right past the nursery. That's when I started with the "well, if it's still there..." thoughts.

And it was...

Talking with the helpful salespeople I learned it had been there at least through last winter, as that's when they moved it inside and into the place I found it.

The label told me it had come from Suncrest Nursery in Watsonville, California. Suncrest ceased to operate in June of 2023, so...this plant could have been bumping around Zenith Holland for 3 years...

The staff was very helpful, tying up the fronds and bagging the pot...

Because I had to lay it on it's side to get it in my car.

Home!

So just how tall its the trunk? The taller side...

And the shorter...

A friend (the same one who mentioned the nursery and has tree ferns with 4ft+ trunks) called this size a "starter trunk"...

So you're probably wondering where in the heck I'm going to plant my new plant friend? Especially since this spring (despite my stated intentions) I ended up not planting the trunking tree fern I already have.

 

I have three different spots in mind. One currently in the lead.

My only concern is that it involves a lot of digging and there will most certainly be magnolia (Clifford!) roots in the way. I don't want to kill an old friend to plant a new friend.

Such is the drama in a small garden...

The Bit at the End

I know the horrible fires in my hometown of Spokane, Washington, have been in the news so I wanted to share that, thankfully, my family and friends there are safe, living well away from the areas that have burned. They, of course, know people who have lost their homes, or been evacuated. It's awful. Seeing the destruction online my heart aches for everyone affected.

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