Staghorn fern on live tree stump of Podocarpus

Wow! That’s an old staghorn fern. You got in during the major drought of 77/78, I remember it very well.

It’s so amazing it survived the great freeze of December 1990. I lost so many tropical plants in that horrible freeze. I lived by the old Hayward Civic Center (which was demolished) and I think you are not too far away from there.

It's a very impressive survivor!

I used to write down in a notebook what and when i bought plants. I did that for a couple of years then stopped. So what i wrote then stuck for some reason. In 1978 i bought that Staghorn as a single small leaf. Those Podocarpus trees from Western Garden nursery in metal one gallon cans. My Monstera I bought as a small heart shaped leaf plant in a wooden shingle pot from Kmart. Kmart and that Nursery are gone from this city-long gone-lol
One last,i bought a Schefflera arboricola in a 2" pot also. I still have it trained as a Bonsai Banyan tree. In 1990,all the branches were killed almost to the trunk,but it survived. I think in 1978,they were sort of new to the trade.
The Monstera's thickest stem survived the 24f 1990 freeze. Almost lost it. In 1998 another very cold winter to 28f mushed the leaves but did not kill the stems. Since then its been free of any setbacks.

Wow! That’s incredible! Well done keeping it through all weather challenges!

Thank you Karen!

Stan,

There were some interesting surprises in the horrible December 1990 freeze. My friend who gave me the Raphis excelsa in 1991 had a gigantic Monstera deliciosa which was pretty burned, but was so huge it protected itself even in that horrible freeze. He gave me a large section of the Monstera, also. I still have it in my backyard.

I remember the much shorter freeze of early February 1989. I lost a beautiful Dracaena marginata outside which I had for several years. It oozed “dragon blood” everywhere when I threw it out. It wasn’t too bad of a freeze.