I have never heard of Resurrection Fern. What caused the large limb to break? Did you have high winds?

I love the way they grow along the limb. Will they keep on growing or do they need a live limb to grow on?

Resurrection Fern is a fern that tends to grow on trees such as Live Oaks and apparently Pecans. It's pretty neat because when it's dry it dies and as soon as the first rain hits it it springs back to life. It covers the tops of tree branches and just looks so pretty covered in it and spanish moss.

I found this interesting and I don't know if this is what happened to your tree or not but a gardener at Magnoila Plantation told me that it isn't usually water or high winds that bring down trees/branches such as the giant Live Oaks. He said ants are usually the ones. He said what they do is eat the inside of the trees till they are hollow (trees can somehow survive this) which weaken the tree or branch and that is what brings them down. Never knew that before.

Nell, that is such a shame! It is a beautiful Pecan tree despite the broken branch.
Meghan

Luckily your tree retained a decent shape in spite of the loss of the limb! Don't know whether to chuckle or frown over the granting of your wish!!

Lorna

Thats too bad! Ive heard of Resurection Ferns too. Very neat. So will these ferns grow in the ground, or only on branches? You could always keep the limb on the ground and just make it into a 'nurse log'.
CMK

I've never heard of that fern. Awesome! Sure is beautiful.
I like Christin's idea of letting the limb be a "nurse log".
The good thing is that now you can get a start of it and put on one of your trees in the yard! Cool!

Annie

It is a cool looking fern. I had never heard of it. How's your weather today, Nell? Are you in the area that had tornado warnings? I had the news on for awhile. I stayed home from work today because I had a headache and wasn't sleeping well last night. Plus some of the students are still out for absences, and I knew we weren't getting into the swimming pool today, so it wouldn't be a problem if they couldn't get a sub for me. Maybe I should turn the news back on, but they don't spend much time away from the presidential stuff and the economy. Sorry for getting so off topic. Anyway, let us know how things are in your area today. I hope you're not losing more limbs off trees.

Sue

Wow - your resurrection fern is gorgeous. Mine grows from the ground and up a few feet on the base of the tree. Not sure how it got there but I absolutely love it. Someone noticed it one day and told me what it was. A few days after a rain it is pretty as ever. Then as quickly as it came, it goes away until the next rain. We've had a good stretch of rain lately. You've reminded me to go enjoy it. Here's a pic from earlier this summer. Nikki

I've thought the same thing. For years I had a tiny backyard and I dreamed of having acres in which to garden. Now I have that, and what a lot of work it is! Be careful what you wish for.

Good point, Brenda. For 30 years I gardened on a lot 75 x 150 in an Atlanta suburb. Most of the back yard was taken up by a garage. My friend said that I could grow more flowers to make a bouquet in a small space than anybody she'd ever seen.

Clematis climbed crape myrtles for lack of room for a trellis. Tuberoses grew in the tomato rows in the veggie plot. Azaleas on the west end of the house had no choice but to grow straight up in the 2 foot wide bed between house and driveway. I had to cut a 'window' for the meter readers to see gas and electric meters.

I could hardly wait to move south where everything grew lush and there was plenty of room. I forgot that for every plant there would be at least two weeds, and grass encroaching. I'm about to take an electric chainsaw to some overgrown shrubbery that got away from me when it was too hot to prune.

I'm not regretful for moving to a bigger place, but I could use some hired help, LOL. I forgot that retirement means you might not be able to keep up.

Nell

"I forgot that retirement means you might not be able to keep up".

hahahahahahahahahahaha. Getting old aint for sissies!
The computer tech asked who did my yard. I said that I do.
He asked what I charge. I told him $120 an hour. He said, "ok". He must reallllly hate yard work.

lol Nell - I had the same problems when I lived in Delaware - for 32 years I gardened that way and then got my dream when my late husband and I retired here to NC on over an acre. Now I have the land and remarried and have a wonderful husband who shares my love of gardening but the knees are giving out and go-go-go has gone-gone-gone. However we get done what we can, sit back and enjoy the fruits of our labour at the end of the day and do it all over again the next day :)

as for the Resurrection fern - my mother ordered that from a mail-order catalog a couple years back and neither of us had any idea how to keep it going - we tried it as a house plant. Maybe I will get some again and actually keep it outside this time......

Lynne

It's a real shame the limb fell can the tree be saved? I wonder if your fern is something similar to what grows on rocky outcroppings and cliffs around here. We have a type of fern that grows in trees too but don't know which one it is.
Annette

Annette,

The fern you are thinking of is Licorice fern, Polypodium glycyrrhiza. The rhizomes taste like licorice. It grows on trees, logs and also in the ground. Can go summer dormant if it gets dry. It's quite easy to grow. My former garden I got it going in the apple trees. This garden is rainforest edge so it shows up allover, including where the rooflines meet and vegetative matter collects.

... Don

Polypodium polypodioides is our resurrection fern, according to Floridata.

It not only grows on trees, it will grow on limestone rock, bricks and on the ground.