2008 list

 Fern spores can be very challenging to grow and require special conditions. Growing instructions will accompany spores. Packets will contain enough spores for 2-3 sowings and are $4.50.

Adiantum formosum -  Pteridaceae.  Giant maidenhair fern from east Australia and the north island of New Zealand. This is one of the most beautiful of maidenhair ferns. In bright shade and a well drained, acid soil with regular feeding, fronds can become quite large -up to 4 ft. tall -with a finely divided leaf area of 3 ft. long by 18 inches wide. The underground rhizomes wander (you should be so lucky) and if this is a concern, grow in a large pot which makes for a denser array of the enormous, 5-pinnate fronds. Repot and divide with care as the rhizomes are fragile. This is a subtropical fern, but was seen once filling an entire back yard in San Jose, California, as a companion to Rhododendron. It progresses slowly, but steadily, from spore and will reward your patience. Hardiness listed as USDA 10-12. 

Cheilanthes bonariensis - Pteridaceae, from Mexico to Argentina. A beautiful clumping rock fern with stiff, silvery blue-green, narrow, feather-like fronds 8-18 in. tall. Grow in rock gardens or other exposed situations. Hardy at least to 16 deg. F. Sow spores on a 1 in. layer of moist, pasteurized seedling mix in a closed, clear deli container and grow in bright, diffuse light during the first stage. Later transfer young ferns to larger containers when fronds are 2 in. tall and gradually acclimate to lower humidity and brighter light. Takes about 6 months to develop many tiny 1" plantlets.

Cyathea medullaris – Cyatheaceae. The black tree fern, or mamaku of New Zealand, is perhaps the most impressive of all tree ferns. Spores from two forms available--jet black with black petioles and blue-green with petioles of that color, both with trunks covered with thick black scales. Although it may take a year or two to get a plant to liner size from spore, once this size is reached, growth is rapid. A plant can progress from a 4 in. pot to a 15 gallon in close to one year under optimum conditions. When planted in the ground, 12 in. of trunk may be produced each year. Fronds reach their greatest size under humid conditions and have been recorded at 24 ft. in length, although generally much smaller under cultivation in CA. Development of the black color can occur when plants are in 5 gallon although should definitely appear at 15 gal. size. Before then plants resemble C. cooperi closely, giving the impatient grower or suspicious purchaser some anxiety. Plants tolerate mild frosts and may survive hard frosts with high tree cover. Please specify form desired.

Lophosoria quadripinnata - Lophosoriaceae. A trunkless tree fern of clumping or single crowned form found from Mexico to southern Chile, where the clumping source plant was collected. Fiddleheads are covered with glistening fuzz and develop into finely dissected fronds typically reaching 6 to 7 ft. at plant maturity, although in the wettest parts of its range fronds have measured 20 ft. Waxy undersides have a blue-green cast. Source plant is from near the southern distribution limit and may have superior cold hardiness to material currently in cultivation believed to be from Mexico.

Microlepia platyphylla - Dennstaedtiaceae. Ranging from India and southeast Asia to the Philippines in nature, this large stature fern grows from a creeping rhizome forming clumps 3 to 4 ft. across with occasional division. Frond size varies from 4 to 12 ft. in height and 18 in. to 3 ft. across depending on water availability and exposure. The elegant crosiers rise on tall, blue green stalks that turn shining black their second year. The foliage is less vulnerable to browning than the more commonly grown M. strigosa. Tolerates root competition and moderate drought. Undamaged in SF Bay Area during the 1990 freeze at 16 deg. F.  Easy to grow from spore.

Pellaea andromedifolia – Pteridaceae. The coffee fern is found in nature from Oregon south through California to Baja California, Mexico. The common name comes from the small leaflets shaped like tiny coffee beans. (The Mexican plants have larger, more rounded leaflets.) The stiff fronds from 12 in. to 2 ft. have tan to pinkish stalks and a cloud of tiny blue-green leaflets develop a pinkish cast in bright light. Makes a clump on short creeping rhizomes. Good in the rock garden with a sandy soil, needing bright exposure and good air circulation. Responds well to fertilizer. Easy to grow from spore and maintain in a suitable garden site. Hardy to USDA zone 8 or a bit colder.

Polystichum alticola - Dryopteridaceae. From the high Drakensberg Mts. of South Africa this attractive small fern forms a dense rosette of deep green, twice pinnate fronds covered with pale scales and is often found in bright exposures among rocky outcrops. It is dormant during the winter when plants may be covered by snow in its native range. In milder climates fronds persist, but are best cut back just before the flush of new growth in the late spring. The first flush consists of fertile fronds and is followed by a second flush of larger, sterile fronds. Easy to grow from spore. Keep the crowns of young plants above soil line to discourage stony crown. This fern is new to CA horticulture.

Argyrochosma sp. and Cyathea princeps  - descriptions to follow January 2008