**Fairy Lily Zephyranthes candida
The small bulbs of the fairy lily multiply quickly adding to their always green eight inch tall grass like foliage. That alone would make them a plus for border or sloping garden plantings, but they also have delightful white flowers reminding me very much of the crocus in my New England spring garden of long ago.
From: Southerly South America in swampy or marshy areas.
Planting and Care: Plant the small, less than an inch in diameter, bulbs just about an inch below the soil surface in a sunny or semi shady area. It is said that they like regular watering or rainfall, but that has not been our experience. The plants did very well with very little water -- doubling the number of plants and producing lovely flowers too.
Text and Phtograph Copyrighted © Krika.com 2008

**Fan Palm See The "P" Page PALM TREES

FERNS

**Asparagus Fern (1), Plumosa Fern Asparagus setaceus or Asparagus plumosus
This is an extremely feathery long branched fern often used as greenery in delicate flower bouquets. It is not one of my favorite ferns, but it is a volcano survivor which gives it a lot of points in anyone's book!
Text & Photograph Copyrighted © KO 2007

Bird's Nest Fern Asplenium austraasicum or Asplenium nidus

Boston Fern Nephrolepis exaltata
This is one of the most popular ferns I can imagine and one of the easiest to care for. Its two foot fronds are a deep lovely green and when planted in a hanging pot or in a pot that is set on a stand, there are few plants that are so elegant. Take a look below at what we believe is the sword fern. It is all but indistinguishable from a Boston Fern, but will grow happily in full sun in a tropical environment as long as it is well watered by hand or by regular rainfall. It is even able to withstand long periods of drought, though its appearance does suffer.
Planting and Care: The fronds do not particularly like being touched so try to put the plant out of the way of human or animal contact in a semi-sunny location. Water it when just dry and and fertilize it occasionally. As an indoor plant it will greatly appreciate being misted with water occasionally.
Text Copyrighted © Krika.com 2008

**Deer's Foot Fern Davallia canariensis
This is one of my favorite ferns and I seem destined to have one. I got my first while living in New England so it occupied most of one of my large sunny windows. And, many years later while driving on one of the very narrow old roads in the north of Montserrat, there they were hanging from the moist shady side of the mountain. I confess to stopping the car and adopting one. It is now living well in our shady terraced garden as you can see in the photograph to the left.
Planting and Care: These ferns make excellent easy to care for houseplants that will give an exotic air to any room, but keep in mind that the fronds from a hanging pot can be more than a yard long. Bright light and regular watering when the soil feels dry and they will be just fine. Outdoors they do well in just the same situation.
Text and Photograph Copyrighted © Krika.com 2008

**Fish Tail Fern Nephrolepis falcata furcans or Nephrolepis biserrata var. furcans
This is one of my all time favorite ferns. Its color is wonderful and as you can see in the photos below and it has an exhuberant amount of fronds when it is happy. Under the right conditions it spreads rapidly, enough so that I have to routinely pull plants or we would be overrun.
Growing conditions: The fishtail is not particularly fond of mid-day Caribbean sun, though morning or afternoon sun is tolerated pretty well. It is most fond of bright sun-free spaces. It also loves a bit of water as do almost all ferns, but it survived the 2007 months long heat wave and drought here in Montserrat while we were away.
Text & Photographs Copyrighted © KO 2007

**Rabbits Foot Fern Davallia fejeensis
This is one of my long term favorites -- a large wide lacy fern frond growing on a furry foot.
From: The Canary Islands
Planting and Care: This is one of those ferns that grows on a thick (1/2") stem that grows on the ground when they are in their natural tropical habitat. In more northerly climates, it is an indoor plants almost always potted as a hanging plant with the feet growing over the edge of the pot until it is almost covered. Often they are planted in wire baskets to be hung on terraces in the summer, but these are hard to care for when brought inside in the fall. They will not winter over outside in a northern climate. Here in our Caribbean garden we have planted ours in our shady terrace garden where it is doing very well. It has proved pretty hardy, having survived a four month drought while we were away last year.
Text and Photograph Copyrighted © Krika.com 2008

**Squirrel's Foot Fern Davallia trichomanoides or Davillia mariensii
This is a new addition to our "footed" fern garden and it brings its own wonderfully different characteristics to the others. Its fronds are attractive, but relatively short, only about a foot in length. Overall the plant seems extremely hardy having been off and running just a few days after being planted.
From: Fiji
Planting and Care: Grow this fern in a semi shady or a deeply shaded area of your garden and it will thrive. As with most ferns, a moist but not wet soil will be appreciated.
Text Copyrighted © Krika.com 2008

**Tatoo Fern
This lovely lacey fern showed up in our garden this year all on its own and it seemed to have found its own sort of eden as it florished and spread rapidly. One afternoon visiting a friend in her garden I was told of this fern's local life. For the children of Montserrat in days gone by this fern provided free, instant and very decorative tatoos as you can see in the photograph below on the right.
Planting and Care: As this fern was a volunteer in a sunny place in our garden I'd have to say it would do well there, but it would have to be given regular rainfall or watering to be at its best. It is a much more delicate plant than the sword fern or many of the other long fronded varieties we have in the garden.
Text & Photographs Copyrighted © Krika.com 2008

**Fit Weed, Coriander, Cilantro, Ram Goat Bush (in Montserrat) Eryngium foetidum L.
This is an attractive spiney plant growing wild here in Montserrat and used by the local Indians as fresh coriander and by folks from Santo Domingo as fresh cilantro neither of which is regularly available in the island's supermarkets.
Benefits: It is commonly used as a digestive tea and in cooking as a flavoring almost equal to cilantro.
Planting and Care: Fit weed can be found growing wild in shady moist areas. If you bring it into your garden provide it with a similar environment -- shade and moisture. It spreads wide rather than grows tall, never reaching more than eight inches in height. Be careful touching this plant as there are hidden sharp edges that can be as surprising as they are hidden.
Reference: See The "C" Page CILANTRO
Text and Photograph Copyrighted © Krika.com 2008

**Florida Royal Palm See The "P" Page PALMS

**Fountain Grass Pennisetum setaceum
This delicate purple hued grass grows to be up to three feet tall with feathery fronds of seeds topping the foliage.
From: Originating in Africa and/or Afganistan, fountain grass is now widely distributed in the world.
Planting and Care: Its ability grow in just about any soil with good drainage and its ability to thrive in full sun on short water supplies makes this an ideal decorative grass.
Landscaping ideas: Fountain grass makes a beautiful soft foundation cover for any home or small office building. It requires almost no care and thrives in terrible conditions -- full sun in tropical climates with low water requirements.
Text Copyrighted © KO 2008

**Frangipani Tree Plumeria rubra L. (Red frangipani) or P. acuminata AIDED. or P. acutifolia POIRET or P. alba L. (White frangipani)
Flourishing in full sun, the odd-looking frangipani loses all its leaves every year for several months. Shorn of its leaves, it rests and finally blooms with fragrant, velvety, very showy flowers. These are the blooms used in making leis in Hawaii. In Mexico the flowers are joined in long strands as decorations on religious holidays. We have several here in Montserrat and one in our garden in Taxco, Mexico. The sticky white sap is poisonous, but may be used externally to get rid of warts. The frangipani is native to southern Mexico and Central America. It rarely grows more than fifteen feet tall.
To see more frangipani trees click on either of the above photographs!

One of the pests to watch for is the Pseudosphinx_tetrio caterpillar. They are spectacular to look at as you can see in the photograph, but with the capacity to grow to six inches, better not to wait. Hand pick them off whenever you see them or they’ll ravage the new leaves on your frangipani. These caterpillars also like to eat yellow allamanda, Allamanda cathartica, but I think they prefer frangipani. Watch for ver large dark brown moths in the garden. Eliminating these moths that have a five inch wingspan will prevent the next stage in their life cycle, the frangipani caterpillar.
Text & Photographs Copyrighted © Krika.com 2008

Fuchsia "Dark Eyes" Fuchsia
This is one of my all time favorites and so far I have not found one growing in Montserrat.
I had a wonderful opportunity in a small town outside of Taxco, Mexico, to see what a fuchsia can turn into in the right hands. The lady of the house we visited sells flowers in the Taxco market on Saturdays. The rest of the week she is at home in her true wonderland of flowers. She has one of those special characters that plants respond to as if they were under Eve's care in Eden. Her fuschias were not only covered in blooms, but covered almost the whole front of the house -- remarkable!
Planting and Care: They like moist well drained fertile soil and will grow well either in full sun or in a partly shady spot. They need shelter from hot winds and like to be pruned after flowering.
Text and Photograph Copyrighted © KO 2008