a hardy, native tree fern

[Eric in Orlando]

I spotted this Royal Fern, Osmunda regalis, last week in Spring Hammock Preserve. It had 3ft of trunk and about 5ft tall over all. This is a great hardy tree fern lookalike

[tropicalb]

nice!

[Trava]

Beautiful!She must be very old?

[palmmermaid]

Eric,

All I can say is Wow! I am trying to get some of those for my garden but they are hard to find commercially. Love the ferns!

[Gonzer]

I had NO idea that Osmundia could take on dimensions like that. C'est magnifique!

[Eric in Orlando]

Eric,

All I can say is Wow! I am trying to get some of those for my garden but they are hard to find commercially. Love the ferns!

I see a place in Ft. Pierce called Bates Plants listed as growing it.

[tank]

Eric,

That's a big one.

Kitty,

Check to see if your local native plant society is having a sale soon, someone will probably be selling them (If you can't find them at a local nursery). They almost always have them available at the local sale up here. They like wet feet.

[palmmermaid]

I will check with David Bates or Carl Terwilliger here. Both grow natives.

I have an area in my garden that is always wet and this would be perfect. I will use it as a ground cover. I've used other native ferns as ground covers. After a growing season,no weeds come up through the ferns.

[edbrown_III]

I have some of these in my garden if you are interested ones in a 15 gallon but no where near that big of trunk.

best regards

Ed