Pretty sure they are cedar Elaine. They'll be naked for a while...I don't have anything to put on them!

Isn't that big branch pretty much horizontal? I was thinking NEXT to the tampensis, not necessarily above them. Maybe something from the nodosa family would be pretty...and also smell good! We can debate it on our next Apopka trip in the fall....

Or sooner? Tropiflora has a summer blow-out sale on June 24th . . . . ?? I need another slab of cork. (and maybe a new plant fix)

Hmm, nodosas? I had 4 Little Lulu plants mounted up there beside the one Enc. for years. They slowly petered out and never attached. One bloomed one time, in 4 years. I have now rescued two of them that survived and they're recovering nicely. Thinking I'd have to thin the canopy for more light, and water them consistently if I wanted them to grow and bloom there.

Not sure if I could take the heat at the end of the month Elaine! Besides, after having to buy a new ac unit for the condo I am beyond broke! The bank called and told me I'm grounded!

I do however, know some cute guys that could come thin that canopy for you......

I found the stag horn at a local nursery for $4. Even though it's not the one I wanted I couldn't pass it up. I had part of a cedar stump I mounted it too. The first picture is when I first mounted it. The second one I added some likein to it and then the third one I took some of off. Tell me which one you think is best or if I should take more off. Oh yeah and it started raining on me while I was doing this so some of the pictures aren't that good.

I have had lichen growing on some old woods and on lots of cork. I don't know whether you can actually "seed" it on mounts. I grow lots of Spanish moss on mounts and it really does well though. The moss actually requires the same growing conditions that the stag does.

I took these two photos this afternoon for a lady buying the two stags (actually three stags on two mounts).

Those look good Ken.
I'm almost sure the lichen will grow on the mount. I've got it everywhere here.

I liked the first one . If lichen grows well there, it will spread on it's own, and look more natural. Just my opinion.

More natural than what, Carol? The staghorn?

I think I like the first one too.

They all look beautiful, Heath. But will the lichens like it (couldn't resist) when you have to bring the staghorn indoors for the winter?

More like it grew there, rather than was added on. I like the look of the lichen better than your Spanish moss.

I don't know but I doubt it.

I hadn't thought of that. I don't have to bring plants indoors here so the concept escapes me. I have a small greenhouse for orchids. That's my only adaptation for winter.

I think since it's growing around here it might need a cold dormancy but lichen grows everywhere in the United States. I just don't know if that's different varieties. If I decide to leave it on there and it dies over the winter it wouldn't hurt my feelings to just pull it off.

I know there are different varieties, but that's about all I know about them.

Hmmm just a thought here. Lichen is beautiful in my eyes but it is an indication of a less than healthy plant, it grows best when there is some stress like drought or possibly some cultural deficiency. I think being indoors would certainly count as being stressful.

Carol, needless to say, Spanish moss is quite native to the deep south as are all kinds of lichen. Spanish moss grows symbiotically with my epiphytes that are mounted (after all, it is a tillandsia), supplying not only shade but also humidity as it transpires. A bonus is that Spanish moss flowers, and in fact, is flowering right now.

Don't get me wrong, I go out of my way to find native woods and even Portuguese cork with lichen growing on them. That alone tells me that the wood is receptive to mounted plants. I just have never added lichens to any of my woods. I not only have greenhouses but also that new solarium, so having lichen grow for me would probably be pretty easy. Heath may find the same thing. I just don't know.

As for me, I like the second and third pics...I like the added lichen!

I like the lichen but in this case I think less is more.

You'll have to let us know, though it may take a year, whether the lichen attached and proliferated on that mount, Heath.