Sitting nested in among the Christmas Cactus and the Pontetta’s was this new little plant to me.. The frosted Fern!
This wa a new to me plant.. its cute for sure. I can see the appeal, its got spruce like green bough’s and these cut white tips that look like they are carrying a dipping of snow on the ends. Like many plants at stores, it was being looked after but not well.. it was overgrow in its little pot, deeply in need of a drink to its bone dry soil. It was also on sale.
I wanted to scoop all four of the little guys up and bring them home with me.. but like most things moderation is much better and given that I had no knowledge of this plant or what kind of care it would need.. I stood there wavering.. shoud I or not?
After picking it up and putting it down again.. I sighed and went.. the love of plants got me again and one of them came home with me.. I had it all wrapped up in plant cover to help it going from store to house and then I transplanted it into a much bigger pot, watered it well and started looking for information.
The best that I found was from Laidback Gardener.. a truly outstanding blog! I have put a little of his advice here and then linked to his site for the rest of it.
If you do not want to read more then here are the highlights
- No direct sunlight needed or wanted
- Water at least twice a week, well drained soil is best
- Ideally place in a spot with your best higher humidity or consider putting a tray with pebbles under it that you keep a bit of water in to give that little plant area extra moisture in the air.
- Will Grow up to a max of a foot high and foot wide but in house averages six to eights inches normally.
via Frosted Fern: A Christmas Mystery Plant
Among the plants sold during the Holiday season, the so-called “frosted fern” is certainly the most mysterious, because not only is there is so little information about it, but most merchants don’t even seem to know what to call it!
You see, this plant is not a fern at all, but what is known as a spikemoss (Selaginella), a primitive plant not really that closely related to true mosses (bryophytes) either, but rather to clubmosses (Lycopodium and others). So you could call it a “fern ally”, but still, it’s neither a fern nor a moss.
Just another Day on the Farm 
Hi Valeria,
What a lovely plant this is. I bet your glad you bought it now. I have never seen one quite like this. Thanks for sharing all the information about it. It’s always great to learn about new and different plants. Have a healthy, happy & blessed Thanksgiving.
Hi Marla, I was glad that it came home with me, I had never seen one before and its just such a interesting plant. I am looking forward to learning more about it as I care for it.. Happy Thanksgiving to you as well 🙂
Interesting and cute little plant, I have never seen one either.
Totally LOVE these little guys, FG! More info (officially known as Selaginella kraussiana) https://oakstreetgardenshop.com/frosty-fern-its-not-a-fern-and-not-a-moss-so-what-is-it-or-whats-in-a-name/ and a great article (Part 1 of 2) about Terrarium Gardening from Michaela at The Gardener’s Eden: http://www.thegardenerseden.com/?p=5553
Thanks for the extra links, I really love the laid back gardeners post as well
Yup, Michaela does mention Selanginella kraussiana, (Club moss) here in another of her terrarium articles: http://www.thegardenerseden.com/?p=6763 (and, as knowing & using plants is her business, her info is ROCK solid; )
He does write great articles, doesn’t he?: )
I also love his header photo, lol
Got a question for you. When you repotted your plant, did you happen to notice all the roots that weren’t actually in the pot, but were attempting to grow up the sides of the “wrapper”? LOL. Thinking that I was in the same store that you shop at (GT?) apparently? (Or maybe not, cause the ones I saw here were very happy, healthy and wanting to GO!; )
I Hi Deb, I did notice that the plant was very root bound and yes, I thought maybe it was tiny flower lines until I looked at it and realized that it was a ring of roots that needed to be planted. That is part of the reason it got re-potted up first thing after coming home. If it already struggles to stay alive in a normal dry house, having that many root hanging out, can not be good for it.. I have it next to the fish tank on the end that has the filter running. We will see if that is enough or if I need to make it a humidity tray
Hopefully! But, if you’re heating with wood, you might need to find a big bowl and make a terrarium for it…
hmm, maybe, I am not wanting to put it in a terrarium if I can get way with not doing it 🙂 but I will keep it in the back of my mind just in case
My local go-to Thrift Shop had some massive bowls just last week that would’ve been perfect for terraria.
Nice, mine are very empty right now.. but I have only been once this month, so I could have missed lots of goodies..
Yes, gotta listen to that “hmm, wonder what they’ve got at *** right now” thought; )
They obviously like to S P R E A D out, lol