New Plant Mounts

 

I picked up a nice staghorn fern from Ebay, now I'll plant it into this wooden orchid box. I soaked some green moss in distilled water (to avoid toxins from city water supply).

 

 

Then stuffed moss into the bottom to hold in the soil around the fern's root ball.

 

Stuffed the side slats too...

 

...and in goes the fern. I took off the brown inner leaf, but left the brown "collar" around the base. (I didn't do much research on staghorn ferns yet, but I seem to recall that this part of the plant is important to leave intact.) I stuffed moss in all gaps around the fern, now on to the next project.

This is a slab of tree fern bark that I've hooked with part of a metal coat hanger...

 

 ...for mounting this spring-blooming cactus. This poor thing was failing in the soil, and in my research I read this: "Easter Cactus are Jungle Cacti-(Epiphytes) and there species came from high rainfall areas but Easter Cactus in there natural habitat grow in the branches of trees or between rocks/bolders etc. Large trees nearby would shed leaves around them along with birds nesting in the trees providing droppings." Sounds like mounting may be the answer. I used some of the moss and wrapped it with fishing line to hold it in place. Up close you can see the line...

 

 

...from a distance not so much.

 

Fern looks happier already!

 

Next time I'll mount a couple orchids. This is fun!