Friday, April 16, 2021

Asparagus Fern leaf Plumosus

 


Our orange hibiscus is blooming its heart out and one stem is reaching for the sky.
the Asparagus' Fern is climbing the stem reaching for the sky,
Each photo has those things that look like barbwire growing off the hibiscus. 
that is The Fern a.k.a. Barbwire Fern.


The plant Fern Leaf Plumosus Asparagus Fern is sold on Amazon, and many other places. 

It is used in flower arrangements and as a house plant.
Prior to this post, I just called it Mommies fern. My dad's mother kept pots of this fern on her porch and inside during the winter.

Say a silly woman, moves in a house 32 years ago, and receives a gift of a
dish garden with beautiful fern in it, decides to plant it in the ground,

Think Tropics, year round growing. 

It will strangle everything it touches and climb as high as Jack's Beanstalk.

It will strangle everything, it will wrap around your ankles and wrists and cut like barb wire.

In our house it is known as the Plant Strangling Barbwire Plant.





24 comments:

Ginny Hartzler said...

Oh goodness, a Killer Fern! Someone call the plant police! They do sell these Asparagus ferns here, they are quite popular. But the most popular is the Boston fern. Poor hibiscus, is that it's only bloom? It is gorgeous, though.

CheerfulMonk said...

Can you keep cutting it back? We're trying that with our "pricker bushes" (New Mexico locusts). I should work if we're diligent.

easyweimaraner said...

we never saw such a big hibiscus... ours are small and gonerish... there was not one we had longer than one year...sigh...

Ann said...

I had an asparagus fern back when I was first married. We had cats at the time and the one decided that the fern made the perfect napping spot. I never knew they could get so big.

eileeninmd said...

Hello,

I love the hibiscus, I hope it is not being strangled. My hubby cut and killed a vine that wrapped itself around a tall pine tree. Everything does grow big there! Have a great day and a happy weekend!

Yamini MacLean said...

Hari OM
Oh it's horribly invasive... my neighbour had the stuff in OZ... and it kept trying to keep over to my side of the fence. So delicately pretty in flower arrangements, but truly nasty in every other sense! YAM xx

Hootin Anni said...

All our beautiful hibiscus was frozen. We have them cut back, but so far no new life is seen.

Martha said...

Yikes, a killer fern! Run!!!

Rose said...

Let me at it...if I touch it I will probably kill it!

Carol Henstra said...


BEAUTIFUL!

Mevely317 said...

Watch, now someone's going to get an idea to write a movie script -- BEWARE the strangling barbwire plant.
It sounds remarkably like the kudzu that grows unchecked up here.
Scratching my head ... WHY?

Tigger's Mum said...

Ha - I remember that stuff growing in our garden in south Canterbury NZ. My grandmother also planted it there. Fortunately our climate is not as yours and it would get cut off and protected from frost each winter. Yes I remember it catching clothing if we kids messed about in that part of the garden - never occurred to us to liken it to barbed wire, that was reserved for blackberries, and the wild roses that grew in the river bed.

Inger said...

It's amazing that you actually live in a tropical climate where things grow like crazy and I'm here in the same country and it's so dry grasses grow after a rare rain then dry out and become a fire hazard. Dry is better for my health, I've never even had a cold here, but tropicl is better for all the wonderful things that grow and the interesting animals that live in it. Some may be unpleasant, but still, weird is good.

Forsythia said...

The thing I love about Maryland is the way vines will creep across any line that's strung across a road.

My Mind's Eye said...

I do love the coral bloom
Hugs Cecilia

Chatty Crone said...

We have a lot of growth that wrap around the trees too. So funny how nature does that.

photowannabe said...

The Strangler is lurking...
Pretty plants but I hate what they do to other plants.
The hibiscus is really trying to escape the fern.
Great post.
Sue

Debby@Just Breathe said...

I like the fern. It is always pretty in a flower arrangement. We don't have any of that fern in our yard and I didn't know it could wrap around things. I am a fan of the asparagus sprengeri fern but we don't have any at this house. Mark doesn't like them.

The Adventures of the LLB Gang said...

What a scary fern! I am not a big fan of any fern here, it tends to spread like wildfire too!!

Grandma C said...

Yipe it's Barb and Fern after they hijacked a Hibiscus with their sharp little knives they hit the Asparagus high road for the sky. Thanks to Mad Snapper we have good mug shots and evidence photos of the crime.

Ruth Hiebert said...

For all that beauty, it seems to be a vicious plant.

DeniseinVA said...

Your tropical plants and flowers are gorgeous, even the take-over everything invasive ones.

Catherine - Mixed Media Artist said...

A lot of vines, end up being "menaces" - and if they were once a pot plant, they go overboard if the are planted out .... and then there are bulb expanded weeds that get out of hand, we have onion weed in NZ, although my lawncare man seems to keep it from sprouting all over my lawn...

Betty Manousos said...

i love the hibiscus. your backyard is gorgeous with all those plants.