zeta7 said:I put sum bromalaids in my staghorn, looks like it's blooming. it's a monster about 5' across. I've had it over 20 years.

Phil, that's beautiful, I stuck a bromeliad and orchid in one of mine, I think the orchid died out, but the bromeliad is doing okay, not a blooming one like yours, a neoregelia. How old is your fern?

sedumzz said:

Oh wait!!! I didn't realize!!!

It happens a lot, but this is good thread to revive, I'd love to see pictures of every one's staghorn ferns. If it stops raining here I'll get some of mine.

@sunkissed, the ole gal is about 22 or 23 years old.

I've got another big'un but it's sittin on the ground cause the limb broke an i don't have another one i can reach. I have a small one i started a couple a years ago. I've gave several that i started away.

P.S. Thank you fer the acorn.

@sunkissed......i just retired frum truckin a few years ago. I used to run 434 through winter springs.......dang tight road fer a tractor trailer.

Wow Phil, that is pretty old, they're all very nice. I see lots of stag ferns on the ground growing around here, I'm sure most have fallen from trees, they seem to do well on the ground as well. I didn't notice you are in Lakeland, not too far from me. 434 is four lanes on Winter Springs side now, but does go down to two lanes past 417 on the Oviedo side and some tight curves.

A break from the rain, so I took pics of my two largest staghorn ferns.
This one was given to me by a friend that moved to Hawaii a few years ago, I'm not sure how old it is, but was looking pretty neglected when she gave it to me, has rebounded very well.


This one I bought over ten years old, it's in an orchid basket somewhere in side that plant, had to put a chain around it eventually. I'm not sure if they're both the same kind.

Great looking ferns... .... The leaves do look different on the two plants. I've heard of elk horn an stag horn. But i don't know the difference.

My parents have a neighbor whose tree fern is so big she has it on a wooden frame with wheels so that she can wheel it outside and wheel it back into her garage for winter. Some zoos have big tree ferns that they will suspend over the pathway. Pretty cool to walk under a really huge one hanging down. They are like nature's chandelier.

Mine have never come inside an have been through many a freeze, don't seem to bother'um.

Frost generally won't be an issue under a canopy of leaves. A brisk northerly wind with near freezing temperatures will damage their fronds though. I'm in Vero and have seen damaged fronds due to that combination.

Mine are way to big to move, the one has been through temps as low as upper 20's for a few nights in a row. The most that happens is some fronds will yellow and fall off, but the bulk of the plant just puts out new ones come warm weather. This past freeze was 8 plus hours at or below freezing, they both look fine, I see a few yellowing fronds on one, but I have no idea if they were there before, we've had a lot of cold weather this winter.
Mine are on the south side of my home, so have a bit more protection from north winds.

Yes, that south exposure can make a big difference. I'm like you. I'll see a few fronds with cold-damage, and those plants all get northerly winds.

One of the best things we ever did in our garden was plant a Podocarpus hedge along the north side of our back yard over 20 years ago. They can take high winds of hurricanes and the coldest temps, makes a nice boundary for the cold winter fronts, and noisy neighbors, and gives the birds a home and food. A bit slow to grow, but worth the wait, ours is a good 30 foot tall now.

We have a stand of Australian Pines that border the northside of our property. That stand of trees is over 300' long and were planted back in the 20's as a citrus grove windbreak.

Do you have trouble keeping the Australian Pines in check? Aren't they the invasive ones, planted, like kudzu, with good intentions?

Yes, they are considered an invasive in Florida (along with about 1000 other plants.... :whistling:). They spread fairly readily along their roots. I simply mow them down when a sprout pops up. They really haven't spread much at all on my property (they were planted almost 100 years ago!). But if those roots are allowed to spread under something like an asphalt road, they encroach on the borders and weaken the asphalt along the edges. That's the only problems I've seen personally. I wouldn't plant them, but it would cost me 10's of 1000's of $$ to take them down, and then I would still have to plant a tree border. I don't have that kind of money.

Wow, I didn't know they could be that destructive. No wonder they are considered a problem. If they make such a nice screen and you can control them with a mower I wouldn't remove them either. A lot of plants can cause problems and not all of them are considered invasive. Frankly, I had a terrible problem with Wax Myrtles being invasive at my last home and they are much loved, but not by me, natives.

Just about every single stand of Australian Pines (they are neither from Australia nor pines) were planted in the 20's and 30's. When you see them growing (usually planted as a screen on the north side of a piece of property, you can be assured that the property was a citrus grove. When the wind blows through these trees, the sound is almost musical. But the wood isn't great and limbs often break in high winds.