The Resurrection Fern

I love houseplants in the winter.  There's something about greenery indoors in the middle of a bleak January that eases my cabin feaver.  Many housplants {especially ferns} help purify and clean the indoor air.  Clean air is hard to come by this week due to the Utah Valley inversion.  When I look out my window at the hazy smog I feel some comfort in the fact that I have a few housplants working to rid my air of the toxins creeping in from outside. Yes, I love housplants in the winter, but my love for housplants is seasonal.

I can't stand having houseplants in the summer. When the garden is producing delicious leafy things, when the perennials are in full blossom, and the patio containers have verbena trickling down their sides I have little tolerance for indoor plants.  This might seem ungrateful, considering all they did for me over the winter, but its the turth.  My plants indoors can feel neglected since I'm spending most my time outside deadheading and fertilizing.  So I usually gather up all my housplants and move them to the shadier parts of my yard. The lucky survivors of a few cool september nights have the luxury of being invited back in for the winter {providing they bring no insects or pests with them}.

There is another solution for my seasonal need for indoor green.  How about a plant you can kill near the end of March when the tulips begin to bloom and revive in October when you've trimmed your last perennial to the ground.  Impossible you say?  Let me introduce you to the resurrection fern.

This fern, native to the southeastern United States and Africa, is a remarkable little plant.  Its name is derived from its ability to survive very long periods of drought.  This fern is an epiphyte or an air plant, which means it gets nutrients and water from the air.  You can set them in a dish of water and within minutes they'll start to open their fronds and turn green.  A constant supply of water will keep them happy and thriving.  As their water supply dries out they begin to curl and turn brown once again. 

I like to keep mine on my coffee table.  There's no conversation piece like a plant that cant be killed.  During the summer months I store it carfully in a dry, dark place and bring it out agian in winter for some air-purifying greenery.

I found mine at a local specialty nursery, Cactus and Tropicals in Salt Lake City, but you can also order them online.  You can also find them on Amazon sold in different sizes and varieties.