Thanks for all the good advice. I like all the ideas but I think I will try the fl. anise. I like indian hawthorne too but have another place in mind for that. Like you said, it is nothing special but is just about zero care. I like how compactly it grows so I am putting some along the back of the house where I don't want or need so much vertical growth. The podocarpus/fern combination sounds good too but where?. hmmmmm. Lakeron, I agree with leaving the space. We fought that at the last house with viburnums that were right up against the house. It made me crazy every time I wanted to wash the windows. Thanks all. Do you think I should just wait until the spring or put them in the ground now? I could get them next weekend.

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

Hi Well to the above definitions there is also the southern maidenhair Which grows in limited places in florida. They look identical to the northern,Western. In fact I think they are classied as such ?? These do very well south of the lake while the northern ,western will croak from the lack of a cool cold rest period while the florida will not tolerate freezing at all. I call tropicals those that occur naturally within the tropics ,temperate those that experience a change of seasons. Most of the species range through the Andes in s. america, In n. america they range from florida to I believe alaska. certaily the northwestern temperate rainforests When shopping for these most of the names is simply "Fern" or in illuminating labels they say "maidenhair "??lol For me the tropicals do MUCH better though with additional water the southern,floridas do well in the ground WITH some preparation of the grow area .or best in pots the tropicals do well also IF I avoid the high altitude species which will not tolerate warm nights which is my norm. Many of the s. american are ether epi.or semiepi and almost all are very touchy about light and water It's possible to grow these as yard plants in most of the US BUT you must choose the correct one lol Tough to decide when a label says maidenhair?? lol gary

Deb, fwiw I thought I'd share with you how W and CW have done here. Whirlwind shows absolutely no effects -it is still in a pot but in plenty of direct sunlight. However, Cathedral Windows and one planted Fire Island (approx. a minimum of 6 hours of sun) are the only two hostas in my entire garden to date this season that look actually ugly! Consistent high temperatures and intense sun have bleached out the leaves and in a spot or two parts of the centre have melted out. I didn't have a spot ready otherwise CW would have been moved in spring. CW receives plenty of additional ground waterings. It was a lot better last year in same location - relocation definitely required here.