TVG Occasionally I get grass growing in my containers, and since they're on a high deck, I know it's from seeds blown in. I also get little maple trees started in the containers. Same thing -- wind-borne seeds. Spring is a time when there are gazillions of seeds floating around in the breezes, so any bare and wonderful soil in a container is a perfect place for them to land and send down roots!

What you have, could be the Fern I found at a local nursery that looked like an Asplenium and was labeled "Alligator Fern". It actually was a Polypodium musifolium, a/k/a Microsorium musifolium 'Crocodyllus'. Check the link for clickable thumbnails and see if it is the same. Mine has been growing under lights in the basement since it was brought indoors more than 2 months age and seems to tolerate that environment, even though the forgetful owner doesn't water it very often. Rb Here is a link that might be useful: Microsorium musifolium 'Crocodyllus'

Tiffany, purpleinopp: I know it seems like Costa Farms is focused only the mass consumer and not the specialized, houseplant-loving enthusiast, but that's not the case. As I think I might have mentioned before, we have a lot of cool, new REAL plant varieties we're testing in R&D. For each time we try something like Desert Gems, we also have a new variety (like 'Pink Dalmatian' Aglaonema). But remember, it takes years to build up enough stock before you'll be likely to see these varieties. (For example, I'm starting to see our Philodendron 'Super Atom' hitting stores.) The glow-in-the-dark application we have for the Sansevieria, or the coloring we have for the Desert Gems cacti can be applied en masse, so it's easy to put a lot of those plants into the marketplace quickly. And to be fair, while you're using Glowee and Desert Gems as examples, they are a TINY percentage of the overall plant mix that we're shipping. The vast majority of the plants we grow and sell are unadulterated. Also: We don't treat plants with radiation to induce mutations. In regards to tagging on the Costa Farms side, the retailers we sell to come into play. I know saying we're a company and we have to make a profit to stay in business can come across as incredibly unpopular, but it's true. And with the price structure we have with many of our retail partners, something has to give. In the past with Costa Farms it's been tagging. We recognize that doesn't cut it any more and we are looking at ways to improve our processes (both with tagging and in other ways) so that we can meet the wholesale prices our retailers demand. In regards to tagging on the Exotic Angel side, I don't know why we're running into the number of issues we are, but misidentified and generically tagged plants are NOT our vision for this brand. We are working on improvements. Sadly, in this industry, nothing is immediate. I thank you all for your patience as we move forward. ---Justin Costa Farms

I planted a few ferns, but they keep getting overgrown by the Hosta. I also inherited some Ostrich fern which duke it out with the maple tree roots. I don't take pics of them, because they're not Hosta. Although, that pic of the maidenhair fern makes me wonder. I found a pic of my Autumn fern in August as the colors are just beginning to change (I cropped it out of a Hosta pic)