How to Put the New ‘It’ Plant on Display
Get a step-by-step guide to turning a shade-loving staghorn fern into a piece of living wall art
Materials and Tools
- Wood (carpentry pine suggested, but you can use reclaimed wood as well)
- Sandpaper
- Brush (optional)
- Wood stain (we used Varathane in Kona color)
- Paintbrush
- Rag or cloth
- Staghorn fern
- Scissors
- Pencil
- Small nails
- Hammer
- Sphagnum moss (wet)
- Craft string
- Hanging kit
- Screwdriver
1. Choose a piece of wood. The wood can be any shape or size with as many knots, oddities and character details as you want. Sand the flat surfaces of the wood to ensure that you don’t get splinters while handling it later.
Also sand along the edges of the wood for a smooth and finished feel.
Tip: For a different look, try mounting your staghorn fern on a piece of reclaimed wood.
Also sand along the edges of the wood for a smooth and finished feel.
Tip: For a different look, try mounting your staghorn fern on a piece of reclaimed wood.
2. Brush off any excess wood dust with a brush or your hand.
3. Use a paintbrush to apply stain to the wood. Refer to the directions on the can for specific instructions regarding application and drying time.
Tip: Make sure you do not perform this step on any surface that could be damaged by the stain without protecting it with a tarp or another impermeable cover.
Tip: Make sure you do not perform this step on any surface that could be damaged by the stain without protecting it with a tarp or another impermeable cover.
Wipe off excess stain with a rag or cloth. Let the stain dry.
4. Remove your fern from its pot and use scissors to trim off one-half to three-fourths of the dirt and roots.
5. Hold the fern against your mounting block to find the perfect position.
6. Once you’ve determined the placement of the fern, set the board down with the fern in your desired spot. Use a pencil to draw a circle on the wood around the base of the soil that forms the root ball of the fern.
7. Hammer five nails at equal distances around the rim of the circle, leaving the nailhead about one-quarter inch above the wood.
Pictured here is the finished circle of five nails.
8. Place the wet sphagnum moss in the center of the circle of nails, letting it spread out beyond the edge.
9. Place the staghorn fern on top of the moss. Wrap the moss up and around the entire root ball. This will help maintain the moisture that the fern needs to survive.
10. Anchor the fern to the board by wrapping the craft string across the fern’s base and around the nails. Start by tying a loose knot at one end of the craft string.
Then loop the knot over one of the nails and tighten it into place.
11. Run the string over the moss between the bottom of the leaves and the top of the soil, wrapping the string around the nails to hold it in place. Create a random crisscross pattern by choosing every other nail or every two nails, for a more secure hold.
12. Wrap the string around each of the nails to hold it in place. Keep wrapping the string around the plant until it is firmly anchored to the wood.
13. Lift the piece to check if the plant is securely mounted.
14. Finish by tying the string to a nail and cutting off the excess.
15. Brush off any excess moss with a brush or your hand.
16. To determine where to put your mounting nail, hold the mounted staghorn fern up with two fingers.
Move your fingers back and forth horizontally until the top of the piece appears level. Use a pencil to mark the spot where your fingers are. This particular piece will be hanging horizontally.
Move your fingers back and forth horizontally until the top of the piece appears level. Use a pencil to mark the spot where your fingers are. This particular piece will be hanging horizontally.
17. With the screwdriver, attach the mounting hook to the back of the wood.
Seen here are Stephen and Jeanne Luna of Luna Botanicals outside their New Orleans home with their finished wall art ready to hang.
Place your own mounted creation in a room with indirect bright sunlight or filtered outdoor sunlight. You can make several and group them, as seen here in Stephen and Jeanne’s living room.
Care: Water about once a week by soaking the root ball completely in a sink or bowl for 20 minutes. Water again when the sphagnum ball is just barely dried out.
A mounted staghorn fern is pictured here on a bedroom wall in Camille Coniglio and Tim Dybvig’s home in New Orleans.
A mounted staghorn fern is pictured here on a bedroom wall in Camille Coniglio and Tim Dybvig’s home in New Orleans.
Pictured here are examples of staghorn ferns mounted to different wood shapes.
A mounted staghorn adds a green touch above a claw-foot tub in Coniglio and Dybvig’s master bathroom.
“Mounted staghorn ferns are truly structural works of living art that can be enjoyed indoors or outdoors,” says Jeanne Luna of Luna Botanicals, a plant design team in New Orleans that specializes in interior plant styling, planting workshops and modern landscape design. Follow along as Jeanne and husband Stephen show us how to mount this unusual plant so that it can be displayed on your wall and enjoyed all year long.
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