Launch a furry 'I love you'

Orchids, bromeliads and roses inspire full-blown passion among some gardeners. But I've found no single plant that reaches right into human relationships the way a rabbit's foot fern does.

Perhaps it's because they're not commonly found in garden centers and nurseries. Instead, a gardener who has one starts a new one and passes it along as a gift. The recipient falls in love and can't help but start more, and pass them along, too. The ferns can live for decades, an enduring reminder of that first thoughtful person.

I got temporary custody of my mother-in-law's rabbit's foot a couple of months ago. She had suffered a stroke and has been in a nursing home most of the year. I wrote about the fern, something I know she treasures, in The Dirt, and a friend of my husband's relayed a request: Would I start one for her?

Sure!

But first I had to find out how.

I asked my mother-in-law, but she said only, "You've got to be really careful."

I canvassed the Internet - several times - but scraped up just vague instructions with no indication of what "really careful" might entail.

A couple of weeks ago, while visiting an old friend, I spotted several beautiful rabbit's foot ferns on her lanai. Aha!

"How do you start these?" I demanded.

She had no idea. Her mother gave them to her.

Which led me to Penny Titus' warm and whimsical garden in Lutz.

Just like my mother-in-law, Penny remembers when and from whom she got her first rabbit's foot fern. Her story underscores what I already knew: This is one special little plant.

In 1979, Penny's 12-year-old son died. Penny's friend Marilyn Best knew Evan had loved the rabbits the family kept on their rural lakefront property. After he died, she brought Penny a rabbit's foot fern.

"It was such a nice gesture at that time, because there's really nothing anyone can do," Penny says. "It's something alive; something to nurture."

Penny still has that 30-year-old fern, now a sprawling jackrabbit with furry tendrils winding far beyond its pot. It has been the source of dozens and dozens of new ferns, most of which became gifts to friends and family.

It's a living legacy to both a kind friend and a little boy who loved bunnies.

I won't forget where my first rabbit's foot fern came from.

Penny Carnathan

Starting a rabbit's foot fern

Davallia fejeensis

The roots of the fern don't burrow into the soil; they are furry tendrils that wrap around the container. From these, new fronds sprout.

Penny Titus usually uses pieces that have broken off her plants to start new plants. If you have to cut a piece, choose one with a nice tapered end - the "foot" - and make a clean cut. She likes to use a piece with a frond, a reminder of what's in the container. (The frond will eventually die.)

Lay the root in a container of wet potting mix and very lightly cover a small portion with soil.

Weight the root down with pot shards or small rocks so it won't be disturbed. Keep the container in filtered light and keep the soil moist. When it has a new frond or two sprouting, it's a viable plant. Remove the weights.

Rabbit's foot ferns like filtered light and moist soil - Penny waters hers once a week in the summertime. Some Web sites suggest fertilizing with half-strength Miracle-Gro every couple of months, but Penny never fertilizes hers.