I have found myself with 4 small stag horn ferns (Platycerium bifurcatum) left over from my old job. I’ve been wanting to mount them on wood for the walls in the sun room and decided today was the day.

I found this piece of driftwood on the Lake Michigan shoreline last year on my husband’s and my anniversary trip to the west side of the state. I planned on using it for just this purpose, and finally got around to it. (A note to the wise: if you find driftwood from the ocean, please consider the fact that it will have salt water in it. I would think that would be bad for the plant. If you have used driftwood and have found it to work fine, or not, please leave a comment.)

I gathered my supplies which included long fibered sphagnum moss (not Spanish moss), fishing line, a hook for hanging for the back and my wood pieces. I had a piece of wood that had a fern on it before, but was forgotten and left outside to freeze (bummer). The other piece of wood is a piece of barn wood a friend gave me and the last one is a fence post from my childhood home. (I grew up in mid-Michigan in the country.) I don’t mind if they don’t match.

I used sphagnum moss to pack around the plant after I removed it from its pot and put it on the board. Make sure to soak the moss before you use it. It is much easier to handle when it is moistened first.  I attached the fishing line around a screw/nail and wrapped it tightly over the moss and fern to assure it made good contact with the board.

I decided that I would add some Rhipsalis with the fern on the piece of barn wood. The board is very long, so I have plenty of room. The fern and Rhipsalis are both epiphytes and so I’m sure they will do well together.

This whole process wasn’t hard at all and really was quick to do, and enjoyable. Of course, I love doing anything with houseplants.  I finished them, brought them into my sun room and decided where to hang them. I have always been wary of hanging things on a brick wall. Yet, after visiting the hardware store  and talking to an employee, I found it is easy, much to my husband’s dismay. I’m hanging things everywhere. The key is to get the right size masonry bit that will match the screws you are using. Drill a hole in the masonry and then the screw goes in with no problem. Easy as pie! (I make a great apple pie, too.)

 

And finally, here are the ferns hanging in the sun room. I love them!

Note: I had some Living Trend magnets (I wrote about that here.) and decided to hang them with the ferns. I used a Dollar Store cookie tray, painted it with Rustoleum paint and hung it on the wall. I love it!

Right now, they are well watered. I will check them in a few days, as the sun room is very hot at this time of year. If they were hanging outside, I would just water them when I watered my annual pots, but these are staying inside. I imagine they will need a good soaking at least once a week, but I will be checking them often.