How to have envy-of-the-neighborhood ferns
If you’ve been a reader here for awhile (thank you very much!), you know I love huge, cascading ferns on my front porch. Sadly, this first year in our new-to-us old house, porch ferns weren’t at the top of the to-do list . . . but they will be in the Spring!
One of my favorite things about this early Fall time of year is seeing the seasons blend together. One on its way out; the other on its way in.
Fall leaves in the ferns at our last century-old home 🥰
Today is the first in a series of letters from you readers. I love the fabulous confabs we have! Over the course of the next few weeks, I look forward to sharing more letters with you.
Today’s letter is from Jeff. I really don’t think he hangs out here; perhaps we can convince his wife to 😉 . . . but hopefully his letter will encourage you to save this post and start planning to have your own envy-of-the-neighborhood ferns next Spring!
July 2017
Greetings! Came across your article on Boston ferns and looking to spruce up our farmhouse porch as a nice project for my wife. I’ve found coir-lined wire hanging baskets and potting soil and am ready to start the transplant. Actually I already finished two of them, but before proceeding with the other five, I had a thought and wanted to inquire with the “fern queen” as clearly your technique works very well! When I pulled the plant ball from the plastic pot, I found a plastic tray stuck to the base of and extending about 1/2″ up root ball. My curiousity is whether to remove this or leave it be and transfer along into the new basket. My thought was perhaps this might be beneficial to holding moisture. Any help or guidance would be much appreciated!
– Jeff
Hmmm . . . On many occasions I’ve been referred to as the Caulk Queen, but never the Fern Queen. I need to give credit where credit’s due!
Jeff,
Kudos for hanging ferns for your wife! I’m sure she’ll love the look—and appreciate your thoughtfulness.
After consulting with the Fern KING (the source of “my” expertise — shhhh!), here’s the scoop . . .
Removing the plastic tray allows the roots to spread into the coir liner more easily, so go ahead and do that. As for retaining moisture, if you put in the drip system like we suggest, the ferns will get plenty of moisture. (I’m not sure where you live, but if it’s hot like it is in so many places right now, you definitely want to run your drip system TWICE each day.
Also, as a friendly suggestion (and so you won’t make the same mistake we made the first time we hung ferns), be sure to hang your ferns far enough away from your porch that the dripping water will not get on your porch. Otherwise, depending on your porch material, you’ll eventually have rotten wood planks or stained stone.
Good luck!
Jeff did a great job, don’t you think?
Here’s what he told me recently when I followed up with him . . .
Our ferns are doing marvelous! My wife is happy as a lark! I started off with a “Raindrip Drip Irrigation Kit” from Lowes (~$35) which I ran from the hose bib, hiding the tubing in the vinyl siding trim up and around the perimeter of our porch. At each basket location I cut the tubing and installed a “T” and put a “drop” with a drip head with steak to hold it in the center of the plant; terminating the end per the kits instructions. All the ferns were removed from their original store pots, root balls loosened and placed in larger 14” coco lined decorative wire hanging baskets with some extra miracle gro “moisture control potting mix”.
After the first year, the timer on the Raindrip Kit petered out, and I opted for an upgrade to the Orbit B-Hyve Smart Hose Faucet Timer with WiFi Hub, mostly because I’m a geek and I really liked the idea of having smart phone control and getting confirmation daily of when the watering took place! It was an easy direct swap for the original timer, and the rest of the tubing remained as-is. Our ferns quadruple or better in size each year from the time of purchase till the end of the season when it turns cold.
Quadruple in size? Yep, sounds about right.
And a smart phone controlled-timer? Gotta check that out!
Have a great rest of your day. I’ll see you soon with more of the series.
If you have questions of your own, send them along!
Click to read more readers’ letters
This year I have 4-5 huge ferns in pots (not hanging). How do you care for your ferns during the winter months?
LOL Not very well! In our previous house, we tried putting them in the garage during the winter to keep them from freezing, but invariably the garage door got left open one night and all efforts were wasted. Finally, we just let them die and started over every Spring. If you have room inside your house or a storage shed (where you could use a small heater on cold nights), you would probably have good luck keeping them alive, but they do drop leaves and are messy!
I’ve always wanted ferns on my front porch but haven’t had them yet. I’m usually awful with ferns. But maybe these tips will help me NEXT year. 🙂 My mother-in-law has the most beautiful ferns every single year; I’ll need to talk with her too.
Go for it! With a drip system, it’s really doable. 😍