Posted by Dave in Vallejo on November 5, 2006, 6:31 pm I am currently growing: Cyathea medullaris Dicksonia fibrosa Cibotium glaucum OK. Here's my experience. I planted C. medullaris, in fairly rich, but heavy clay. They are under the outermost branches of an ancient Quercus agrifolia (I didn't dare plant these rare ferns --- took me over a decade to get them locally --- in full sun). They have taken off like rockets in just 2 years they went from one-gallon plants to monsters that are over 5 feet high with fronds in excess of 6 feet (until they grow tall enough so people can pass underneath, we have to chop off some of the fronds). I am thrilled with success I never expected to have with these plants. About 4 feet away, I have the much more restrained (but incredibly tough) Dicksonia fibrosa. It's only 2 feet high, but it's the only survivor of an importation I did in 1997 (!). The fern was originally planted in the Central Valley (in the native sandy soil) at Gondwana Gardens (our nursery) in that year, and survived both scorching low humidity summers, as well as the 14 F hard freeze we had in 1999. When I lost the nursery, I dug this sole survivor up carefully, and brought it to Vallejo. It has really done well, and looks great, but obviously a slow grower next to the C. medullarises. The C. brownii is planted at a completely different location, also in heavy clay, but under deeper shade of another oak. It has nice lime-green foliage, but although it is happy, is proving to be a far, slower gorwer than C. medullaris. So OK. Here are my questions: All of the plants I've put in the ground thus far have obviously thrived in clay, to my enormous surprise (I had heard everyone tell me that perfect drainage was essential). Now I want to plant the remaining plants (which are still in pots): Cyathea novae-caledoniae, Cibotium glaucum, and Dicksonia squarrosa Do you think I'll be as lucky with the clay soil with these? Or should I undertake a major soil re-vamp prior to planting? One of my big failures at this site, has been with Cycads. Many of the Cycads supposedly have similar cultural requirements as tree ferns. But they are constantly proving to be a challenge to grow.
71.131.30.169
Very, very nice job with the fern website, Ian! Lemme pick your brain about the following:
Cyathea novae-caledoniae
Cyathea brownii
Dicksonia squarrosa
Message Thread:
« Back to thread