Hey Dirtslinger, Like you, I live in USDA hardiness zone 5 and I've had very good luck with C cooperi in my house during the winter and outdoors during the summer. However, I dote on the thing when it's indoors, as you'll see. I keep my house on the cool side during the wintertime (63F [17C] in the daytime, 55F [13C] in the nighttime). Humidity in my house is normally quite low, so I augment the humidity with a Sunpentown dual warm mist/cool mist humidifier (model SU-4010), placed directly beneath the fern. I only use it on the cool-mist setting. I use a slow-blowing fan to disperse the mist upwards. I normally maintain the relative humidity in the fern room between 55 and 65 percent. To accomplish that, the humidifier runs on an intermediate setting 24 hours a day. The water vapor is taken up by furniture, carpet, condensation on the windows etc, and also disperses into other areas of the house. Therefore, the reservoir needs to be replenished every twelve hours on the setting I have it running on. See the fern pics I have on flickr: www.flickr.com/photos/anderse79 The fern room doubles as my family room, so I spend a lot of time in it. At first I didnt care for the moist air, but I got used to it! The walls are plaster-covered lathe and I havenÂt had trouble with condensation or mold or anything like that. When I bring the fern inside, I stake the fronds and train them to grow upright; otherwise the fronds get in the way of foot traffic. The fern is in an east-facing window and gets bright light in the morning and afternoon. I always let the fernÂs pot stand in a centimeter or so of water, and the soil is therefore always wet. I almost never water from the top, and I mist the fronds whenever I think about it, once or twice a day. I move the fern outside into a sheltered, mostly shady location in April and bring it inside in mid- October, before the first frost. I fertilize with a weak fertilizer every watering during the warm months, when the plant is outside. The plant grows faster outside than it does inside, but still I would consider these plants troopers overall. Our summers here are humid and mild, with comfortable daytime temperatures in the high 70s F [~25C] and nighttime lows in the 60s F [~16C]. However we sometimes have hot spells and the temperature can soar to 90F [32C]!! The fern takes the high temperatures well, probably because it has acclimated to the warm weather by that time and the humidity is also high. As I said, this treefern specimen hasnÂt given me much trouble, and IÂm sure anyone living in the Great Lakes climate would have success with them if similar allowances were made for their care! It seems the key requirements for overwintering indoors are to never allow the plant to dry out and maintaining constant high humidity. As you know, these arenÂt unusual demands as far as ferns go! I don't know how much $ you want to sink into keeping your tree fern as a houseplant... As has been mentioned in other forums, any plant can be made to grow anywhere, the question is whether the benefit is worth with the cost. I think the benefit is worth the cost, because tree ferns make striking winter houseplants and guests never fail to be impressed by them! ItÂs up to every individual gardener to decide if a $22 treefern is worth a $75 humidifier, plus ~$3/month in electricity. If you are interested in obtaining a tree fern and you live locally, I bought mine some time ago from GilmoreÂs Greenhouse in Warren, Ohio. Briefly, this treefern specimen is more robust than I thought it would be, and should survive and grow slowly indoors in the wintertime if conditions are as indicated above. Good luck and post questions if any! P Anderson Cleveland, Ohio

Hi Ya'll, It's here! The swap is tommorrow! Woopee! I'll bet everyone will have more fun than a centipede at a foot tickling party! LLLOL! jclepine: I had asked for some pineapple mint & a poppy.If you can't get the poppy may I have some cherry bells? If you have enough I'll share some with a friend of mine. I'll be happy with any plants I can get. b2alicia: thanks.The more I keep up with these swaps the better I'll learn the "lingo" LOL. I have a small strawberry pot. It only has 2-3 side holes. I'll bring it with me so U can see it. Would anyone like some of those grayish egg cartons(the 18 count type)that come from walmart? I'll bring some with me.("will trade for fresh eggs"? 3-4 empty for 1 w/eggs?? Yeah right! LOL lattefairy:yeah for the mint & tansey! thanks! billie_ladybug: wow! you must have a big truck to be able to bring all of that stuff. I have my bins loaded for the manure & plenty of room for the pots. If you need help unloading your stuff I'll be glad to help. kvenkat:May I put dibs on a yellow eve primrose,persian spining primrose, morning glory/star yelta,& an apricot daisy? I think I left you off of my wish list. If I asked you this before just disreguard this. catnohat:WOW! I can't wait to see all my plants! Thanks! Well I better stop so I can get up early & head for the swap. I will be bringing: juice,pimento cheese,crackers,a cheese dip,chips & plates. I have several boxes I will bring to share if anyone needs one. Thats it(I think) goodnight all. See you in the AM ! %):>

Laura, I'm not ignoring you, have just been REALLY busy lately! This will need to be short! Yes, I am still growing ferns. All the ones I have are still the ones that were planted in the original "potter's clay," so they're not "spreading" much at all. I still want more--but there are SO many things I want! Some of it gets done and some doesn't! The most successful one I have is the Japanese Painted fern, which has spread "moderately" (again, in HEAVY clay!), and looks great every year. It's just starting to grow for this year. Is usually semi-evergreen, but the wild temp swings Got It, like everything else that's "evergreen" got GOT this year! Next most successful is my Autumn Fern (don't have time to look up genus/species). I love that one because the new fronds coming out have a real bronzy look to them--thus the name! It hasn't really spread much, but it does come back "solidly" every year. "As time permits" I'm still planning to dig my existing ferns to GREATLY improve the soil and then replant them. Some day! The Ostrich fern, which is supposed to be invasive, and the Leatherwood fern both come back--BARELY--with one or two fronds every year. So they "still exist," but sometimes I wonder if I should put them out of their misery! Again, if I ever have time I'll dig and improve the soil--and see if they make it and start doing better. I still want a hardy maidenhair fern some day--and there are plenty of others I'd like to try! I'm not familiar with the Japanese tassel fern, but I looked it up and it IS hardy (I think it was z5), so I'd say plant it outside and see what happens! The more organic matter you put in the soil, the happier it will be! Give it mostly shade--some early morning or very late day sun should be ok. The north side of my (two story) house is already getting some sun I just noticed today. Otherwise keep it fairly wet, and for sure don't let the soil dry completely, or with some ferns they get "suddenly crispy" and, while they usually survive the "trauma," it can take them a long time to recover and grow new fronds. A thick wood mulch would definitely help with moisture retention in the soil--and did I mention LOTS of organic matter! Have to go! Let us know later in the summer how it's going! Skybird

Guys and gals My comments are specific to one species of tree fern, Dicksonia antarctica, the Soft Tree Fern. Australia and New Zealand have many different tree ferns most of which are prohibited exports. About the only exception is the Dicksonia, which is considered a waste by-product of forestry clearance, of old growth Tasmanian forests. Many of them are hundreds of years old and will never sprout from the stump as this is just dead material, to all intents and purposes. Each trunk, which is actually a vertical rhizome, is then cut up and most sections will root and grow away fine. In Cornwall, in England you can, apparently, still find specimens, in gardens, which have been there for >200 years. http://www.caerhays.co.uk/page.cfm?page=Australasian_plants It was not unknown for tree fern trunks to be used as ballast, in ship’s holds. When they docked in the UK they would dump the ballast onto the quayside. It was noticed that some of them started to sprout laying there, so they carted them away and lay them flat on the ground, and some are still there today. Having lived in Australia for 27 years, I can tell you that a lot of the advice given about Dicksonia, can be a bit conservative. In their natural habitat, they grow as an under storey, but will also grow quite happily in full sun, PROVIDED, they have plenty of water. I have seen them growing in the forests both in the basic floor (never dry) and in ground which is permanently wet, next to a stream. The latter, unless luckily supported, rarely get to the heights of the former, as the base eventually rots away. BUT, to compensate, they generally have the biggest fronds. I have been told, but cannot confirm the fact that, if they grow on the edge of the splash zone, of water falls, keeping the crown wet, the fronds are even bigger. In addition, the crown consists of lots of hairs, and if you look into the crown of one, in situ, you find all sorts of detritus, which slowly gets washed down into the crown, supplying additional nutrition. Now I am back in the UK, I was given, earlier this year, as a present, a Dicksonia. As much as I abhor the trade in these plants, I looked to create the best position possible for it. My choices were very simple. Back yard – SSE facing, walled & paved, with raised beds. Therefore, must be container grown. Front garden – Open, with pond next to a bed that I was just about to rebuild. Original ‘bed’ was a slope of thick, gluey impervious clay with an over lay of a couple of inches of ‘something’, I suspect a very cheap, peat based potting compost. So, retainer wall built, >0.75m3 composted wood/leaf/green waste, + grit backfilled. Dicksonia planted directly into it, with an addition feature. As it is next to the pond, I have inserted a solar powered pump, with the output piped to a dripper just above the crown. On hot or sunny days, I turn the pump on. If the days turn cool/dull, I turn it off. It is currently off, and I doubt if I will turn it back on till next year. But one never knows with the British climate. Every so often (when I think on it), I half fill a watering can with a seaweed based feed and just drench it with a rose. When the plant arrived, it had 2 fronds, about 0.5m long. In the three months it has been in, it has put on 6 fronds, all longer than 1m. Roll on next year. Happy growing Fof