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Hooray, spring has arrived! Allow yourself to be swept up in all the blossoming joy and bliss coming to life in your garden. Heritage Day falls on 24 September and doubles up as National Braai Day. A family braai is a fitting celebration of our culture and heritage, especially when surrounded by your own gorgeous garden. Another excuse to plan a braai or even a picnic in the garden would be on Sunday 11 October – Garden Day. So garden-lovers, have loads of gardening fun and get your greens garden day ready.
Staghorn ferns (Platycerium bifurcatum) are one of those plants that most plant-lovers either have in their garden/home or wish they did. They have been described as the funkiest of ferns with an out-of-this-world appearance due to the drooping leaves, which resemble the horns of a stag. Although they look very majestic and regal when mature, they do look very funky as baby plants.
Staghorns love growing both outdoors and indoors in coastal and frost-free regions. Although considered indoor plants in the Highveld, they will grow in positions protected from the frost and cold winds outdoors, such as in evergreen trees or on sheltered patios and courtyards.
If the staghorn is already mounted on a log or piece of driftwood, you can place it on a table or hang it on the wall. You can also grow the young plant in its original pot, however, it will later tend to become heavy on the side that the plant hangs over and unless secured will want to topple over. A fun project would be to make your own mounting board. To do this, take a piece of wooden board, about 15cm x 15cm and:
Caring for your staghorn is easy once you know the plant’s needs:
Life is a Garden, so enjoy your funky fern and be prepared to pass it down from one generation to the next.
Life is a Garden is the marketing division of The South African Nursery Association (SANA). SANA is a member-driven, non-profit organisation, which strives to promote gardening as a hobby in South Africa for ALL South Africans. To ensure the highest standards, SANA’s garden centre members form part of the Garden Centre Association which strives to continuously improve the quality of products, knowledge and customer service within garden centres. These GCA garden centres can be identified by yellow and green GCA flags, present at garden centres and home stores, nationwide.
Please feel free to contact us about anything related to gardening or our website. You can contact us on:
Shahnee Stockigt – shahnee@lifeisagarden.co.za
Gerdie Olivier – gerdie@sana.co.za
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