Here is the CA state Champion Afrocarpus gracilior tree, in Alameda Park, Santa Barbara, CA. I took this picture in 2019. It is about 87ft tall with a canopy diameter of about 68ft. The trunk is over 4ft in diameter at breast height. It is about 100 years old. It is neither a "monster" nor a "nightmare". It is a happy, healthy, beautiful, drought-tolerant, disease-resistant shade tree that just happens to require more space at maturity than most residential yards have. If you plant a row of 1-gallon Afrocarpus container stock to make a hedge in a narrow space then they will oblige you handily in just a few years. But it will be on you to prune them every year from now until forever and keep them in the allowable space, because this is what they will try to become if allowed to grow unchecked. You might do well to remove every other tree after a few years to give the remaining ones more room to fill in. Removing the whole hedge and starting over every 25 years or so might be a reasonable thing to plan for. If you want a hedge that will remain bush-sized then plant bushes, not baby trees with leafy dreams of being a glorious 100 foot tall urban forest. And don't call them "monsters" if you break the pact and drop the ball on maintenance. If you have room to let one grow for several decades and begin to fulfill its genetic destiny then you will have a gorgeous big specimen tree while you are still young enough to enjoy the shade. I have a 75 year old male tree growing 3 feet from my house (yes, that is closer than I would recommend) and it has not caused any appreciable damage to my foundation. In fact, it has helped keep my house from slipping downhill like most of the other houses on my street are doing. Thanks, big tree!

Thanks. I ended up giving up on the Maidenhair. I am learning what I can about houseplants and I was hoping to revive the Maidenhair, but I have limited plant space because I have to put my plants where the cats can't reach them. Also most of my plants love humidity, so I put them together so they can share. I was worried having a distressed plant would invite pests and I don't have the extra space to isolate a plant so I toss plants if they get a bad case of the creepy crawlies. I did find a Lemon Button Fern on one of those street stands in NYC for $3 last week. She had a little bit of burn from being out in the sun but tons of fuzzy fiddleheads popping up. I groomed her and she's doing pretty well. I keep wanting to get a Staghorn for my bathroom. I just don't know if it's going to be too much trouble. Especially when it gets bigger.

Sa, from the time mine was tiny to about a year ago, it was tied (in a pot lined w/ plastic wrap) to the top of my bromeliad tree. It got decent light from a south window and from some fl. lights but not GREAT light. I would water it with r/o water periodically. I'd pretty well drench it and then ignore it for a good week or two. Often when I would next water, it had become SUPER light from being so dry. It got too big so i de-mounted it from the tree and this past summer it was in my backyard. It hung under an oak tree for awhile and then hung from a post where it could get a bit more light. Currently its hanging from the ceiling in one of my plant areas. In fact, I just posted some pics on the orchid forum and you can see the staghorn in one of them. I kinda feel that its just time that makes them big. It doesn't seem fussy at all and tolerates really bad conditions so I think just wait a bit longer. Maybe someone else has some better tips, or you could try the moss/fern forum.

Carol going to wait awhile until I decide where to put it. Looks like it could turn into a monster? lol They use it as a ground cover at Disney world . I note right away that the offsets are not grasping as with Rabbits,Bears and Deer foot ferns so assume it would be easy to remove if it gets out of hand I repurposed a section of my garden for "Tree ferns" and i think it will go there as soon as I get some experience with it . A couple of years ago I bought an Elephant fern Angiopteris evecta tiny little thing in a 3 inch pot but reading about it find that fronds can get 15/20 feet long!! I'm told that it's very difficult to keep so will probably die before it eats the house ?? lol My Microsorum thailandicum has been struggling though it doesn't die but has lost that fantastic glittery blue color I'm growing in sphag in dense shade . Have been told it's an obligate limestone lithophyte which would be a whole new ballgame for me though the nursery where I got it produces them as semi' epis. I recently got a price list of some of the fantastic metallic epis but fear they are cool growers .Not two bucks by the way !!! lol Wiscon have you ever been to the rainforests of Central S. Amer.?? Epiphyte heaven lol. I was blown away by the Tree fern forests 30/40 feet high with dozens of other species growing on around and through them . I kept expecting to see a dinosaur to poke his head out somewhere lol gary