Hello everyone! We have finally made it to November with Thanksgiving Break right around the corner! If this is your first time reading, my name is Wesley and I am a second-year Pre-Med Biochemistry major and a student researcher under the Freshman Research Initiative (FRI) at UT Austin. In my last post I discussed the exciting beginnings of my cherry tomato plant and its current progress. In today’s post, I am going to talk about the first plant I have kept alive (so far) in my dorm: my dear Ming Fern!
The Ming Fern, or Asparagus Retrofractus, is a plant originally from South Africa and is a part of the asparagus family. What’s interesting is that despite its name it is not a true fern, it just bears a resemblance to one. The difference lies with their preferred growing conditions and modes of reproduction, but I won’t get into the technical details. Sometimes, you may see this plant being sold with other popular asparagus plants, such as the Foxtail Fern, Sprengeri Fern, and Asparagus Plumosa Fern. One key feature that distinguishes the Ming Fern from the others is its pom-pom cluster of needle leaves. It is very cute and easy to take care of!
I first stumbled upon the Ming Fern when I first visited a plant nursery called The Great Outdoors back in early October. I was still mourning the loss of my Rosemary that I had attempted to turn into a bonsai and was looking for a replacement to care for. While I was there, I searched for a small plant that could tolerate indoor conditions, looked nice, and could potentially be turned into a bonsai. That was when I discovered the asparagus fern section, and the Ming Fern immediately caught my eye. I thought that the plant looked pretty cute, and it did look like a miniature tree. An employee there also told me that the Ming Fern would do well indoors too. The plant checked all the right boxes and soon I had my very own Ming Fern!
After I bought the Ming Fern, I brought it back to my dorm and proceeded to repot it into the same pot that once held my ill-fated Rosemary plant. Still being a novice gardener at the time, I was terrified at the thought that my innocent Ming Fern would suffer the same fate as the Rosemary and thoroughly researched its needs and care. Fortunately for me, the plant didn’t require much maintenance, and I was pleasantly surprised with how well it adjusted to its new home. It even sprouted a couple of new stems! Now, I am hoping that I could keep it alive long enough to see it produce blooms in the spring. The pictures I’ve seen are really beautiful!
And that is it for today’s post. Thank you for reading!
In my next post, I will talk about my new Snow Rose tree… Keep an eye out for that!
Photos of my Ming Fern! The picture on the top left was when I first brought it back to my dorm and was repotting it. The one next to it was a photo taken a few weeks later. Finally, the picture on the bottom left was when it was growing a new stem. Notice how the new grown has a yellowish-green color to it compared to the rest of the plant. New growth tends to start yellow while older growth will have a much deeper and darker green color.