My fave is good old sword fern. May get to big for what you want though.

Do you have any pictures? That's another one the Friendship garden has been trying to grow without success. They're down to a few plants with one or two fronds.

It hadn't occurred to me before but since you said sword fern I did a search in AZ forum and found Grant suggesting Kimberly Queen Nephrolepis obliterata. I'll keep an eye out for that.

I got a Kimberly Queen at Home Depot and will see what I see. Keeping the receipt though.

I have seen them in a nursery in Austin, called Barton Springs Nursery. I bought 5 last year and a few the years before. I think they were in 4" containers ( $3? each) and they look like the ones that are native to Texas Hill Country uplands. They are very xeric. I had one (unwatered)and it disappeared during the 2011 drought (5" of rain) and They came right back up when it started raining again. they like the crappy limestone based soil I have. My first one has been growing in its spot for 11 years now in a stone wall.

Thanks. Wonder if careful watering would keep them green. I've tried that with a few other plants that normally go dormant in the summer and they still went dormant in the heat. Writing this I'm starting to wonder if it's just wishful thinking that I could keep any dry fern from going dormant in summer.

Watering a "summer dormant" plant in Phoenix is NOT going to keep it going . . . as strong as the desire to see it happen may be, I've learned this the hard way as you can often kill such plants this way!

Would you water a seasonally dormant plant in any other climate? I think it's a strange concept for most because heat=growth . . . but most places heat≠Phoenix summer heat.

Didn't you just repeat what I just said?

As far as killing them it is possible. I killed lithops pretty fast with watering, at least that's my assumption. But boojum and ocotillo were OK with water added all summer, though they remained dormant.

Lots of plants I've found which would normally go dormant in heat/dry conditions stay green when water is added. I've done this with several sedges, Cat's Claw and vernal pool type plants for example. Some slow down to almost zero growth around Aug, but remain alive and green.

To answer your questions directly...

Yes I would water a seasonally dormant plant...I've already done it lots of times...said that in my previous post.

No, I don't think it is strange at all to try different things, to experiment. Certainly not strange to consider internet absolutes to be false because the odds are always in my favor. I'm a contrarian in business, in the garden and in many aspects of my life. I find it more rewarding and am OK failing sometimes. I don't fear failure. Doing the standard thing that everyone else is doing and have done forever...now that I couldn't handle.

Doesn't mean I have to be stupid about it. I'm not going to design and build a garden with dry ferns as the focal point, buy $1000 worth of ferns only yo find out they still go dormant even with water or worst rot in the ground. Trying it with a couple of $4 plants...I don't see the big faux pas. To me that's just part of gardening. The info I've found on these plants do say too much water is a problem, But the info also isn't conclusive either. Gardeners don't have a lot of experience with these. There could be room for a little discovery. I'm not hopeful like I said, but might try it. I'm surprised how often I've been surprised.

I appreciate lots and lots of people on the internet enjoy going around trying to crush other peoples aspirations. Great hobby I guess. But good luck trying that with me. Been in forums for more than 25 years, tens of thousands of posts, hundreds of people telling me what I can't do. Why give such stuff any credence? They almost never give any actual info, just repeat what they've read from other naysayers. For example, have you ever tried watering a dry fern in summer here? Ever had a dry fern? That experience would be useful. Painting people as crazy for wanting to try something...not so much.

No, you didn't state anything about the plant dying! You said that "they still went dormant in the heat." and I was only trying to point out that if indeed a plant is ONLY DORMANT why would you risk KILLING it by watering it out of season instead of just waiting the couple of months of ratty looking plant and have it return once the season is right? Maybe you meant DEAD instead of DORMANT and this whole tirade of yours is really due to your own miscommunication of what you meant?

NOT the same thing as what I said . . . but I am wondering if you had your medication today . . . off the rocker on your final paragraph for 100% certainty.

Sorry if you thought I was trying to crush your aspirations. You should try being less defensive as I said NOTHING to cause such a rambling diatribe. Go ahead and keep acting to be a know-it-all troll because you've used internet forums for 25 years - what that has to do with gardening in Phoenix, I have no - ZERO - clue. The people I have learned from in this city (lifetime resident here) and on this site to don't follow 'internet absolutes' whatever the F that is - they follow life experience of their own and those who live in this city - learn from their knowledge and not scoff our noses and it with the narcissism to think WE know better. I experiment and go by the seat of my pants when I don't know either, or when I feel like going by "instinct" or inclination - as I said above, I have LEARNED THE HARD WAY.

We'll see how your neat experiment goes as a novice to Phoenix gardening - I'm sure you will figure out all that the settlers, gardeners, farmers and ranchers that built this city for the last 150+ years haven't already figured out. . . from your overcrowded Aleppo pines to your ferns and "summer dormant cat's claw - now THATS something I've never heard! THAT is how to crush aspirations if I was so attempting to do - like your actually-rude comments when I was seeking information from people who are actually from this city about sow bugs - but you knew it all about THAT too.

Go suck an egg. And for what it's worth - I know there are beautiful FERNS that do well in shaded, well watered areas in summer in Phoenix but I could really give two shi*s to research for the likes of you . . .

This post was edited by KevininPHX on Sun, Feb 8, 15 at 17:02

It is very slow growing and takes patience to establish. I think if you kept it a bit watered , it would forstall dormancy. We do get summer rains here (hurricanes and tropical systems) We are not as hot as you. They like a cool rock protected root run so the excess water should leach away. They say they are a sun fern but mine like it better with some protection from the sun. I have seen them up on Enchanted rock Large exposed granite batholith) where the grab at cracks in the rock and do not have much sun protection and that rock is granite and MUCH hotter than the limestone in the summer. I do notice that the ferns are much shorter and thicker than in my place, read older and ducking under a rock for cover. Note, I have no understanding of gardening in Phoenix. I am trespassing from the Texas forum. I did see them growing in a Agave chrysantha habitat shot from Arizona Once. Probably from a more uplands area than Phoenix. They were longer and thinner than these in Enchanted rock. They might have been C. lindheimeri and not C. sinuosa. These guys are even more xeric. I am always grabbing these when I see them in the trade and then I forget which is which. I am such a sloppy gardener.

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:2143343}}