I grew a christmas fern from Lowes. I had put it in a pot, kept it moist and warm, then forgot about it for a while. It got misted and watered along with most of the other plants and grew nicely. In the summer I ended up planting it outside. The other plants I bought died off. To me it is cheaper to spend the money on established plants. The poor little things at Lowes seem to be hit or miss on survival.

And for good reason: they're wild collected and in poor shape to say the least. Beyond ethical arguments, why bother buying plants that are going to mostly likely die on you? None of the ferns they offer are particularly hard to grow if you have the right conditions. So buy the "expensive" ones from a reputable source and you'll enjoy them for years to come...or keep feeding a bad industry and lose lots of plants. I'm not critcizing you, I just ask that you consider a more viable source. There are several nurseries that specialize in ferns that have all the species the big package stores have plus tons more to boot! Nurseries that come to mind include: Fancy Fronds in Oregon and Deep Roots in Georgia. PF

plantfreak,
I have purchased ferns from reputable nurseries for $8 plus but mostly received the common ferns as pass alongs, but when I saw these at Lowes I just had to give it a try. I only bought six (@ $.99 each) and needless to say won't again.

Thanks for your concern
Karen_B

Sue Olsens place "Foliage Gardens" is good for you northwesterners as well.

Im growing a hardy maidenhair fern from a tuber/root? that i bought in one of those peatmoss filled bags from lowes. Didnt sprout till late the first year after i planted it, but after 3 years it is starting to get some size. Depends on what is more valuable to you... your time or your money? Not to mention the ethical considerations which plantfreak brings to our attention.

-christian

thank god someone else did this!!! I bought several plant roots, not just ferns, and of them only two christmas ferns even emerged, and then they died from fungus or something. i didn't know there was a wildcrafting issue. is this a problem with plants in general? i ask because i survive off of about 10k a yr for three people, so i buy cheap plants. i'm sure you can appreciate my situation. but i don't like supporting most evil conglomerants, let alone some that present an ecological or biodiversity problem. anyhow, i thought i was just a bad plant parent, and i felt really guilty. i love plants a little too much:) other than that and a few houseplants on clearance, i only buy mail-order seeds anyway, i hope that's not evil too. (and i'm getting an environmental studies degree, you'd think i would've heard this before)