Fern in the Urn

Kangaroo Fern: Phymatosorus diversifolius.

When we first moved into our condo, my mom and I went shopping at the wholesale florist cause it's cheap and fun. We went a little crazy and ended up with lots of stuff including medium sized banana plants (which I overwatered and killed, by they by) and a great little Kangaroo fern in about a 6 inch pot.

I've never had great luck with ferns, because I can't keep that evenly moist soil they love so much. But this one was on the leathery side, not the soft feathery side so I figured, what the hell? And then I found a kick ass, red ceramic urn that would fit perfectly on this weird little square of railing in our stairwell to the loft.

So began the Fern in the Urn.

It gets really great morning light through this otherwise useless round window no one can reach, and after almost killing it a couple of times I figured out a way to get that evenly moist soil. Two tricks really.

1) I have a jug of water that lives right below it and I water it every time I go upstairs to work. Of course, if I'm not working up there it starts to die.

2) I bought this super cheesy LED water sensor for $8. It flashes when the soil is drying out.

Between these two things, it's been growing like mad for 4 years now. It sends out little fuzzy feelers, trying to grow more, so I trim those about one a year. I think I should probably transplant it sometime, but it's doing really well, so I keep not doing that.

It's pretty gratifying to keep a fern alive and I love that it is taking over our stairwell!