@ Juniper Level Botanic Gdn, NC

Bommeria hispida 'Gila Dwarf'

Gila Dwarf Copper Fern

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Item #: 10003

Zones: 7b to 9b, at least

Dormancy: Evergreen

Height: 2" tall

Culture: Sun to Part Sun

Origin: United States

Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L) ?

Note: This plant is not currently for sale. This is an archive page preserved for informational use.

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Bommeria hispida (copper fern) is a dwarf evergreen fern native to the desert Southwest (Arizona to west Texas) that few people have grown. Copper fern has proven quite easy to grow in our sunny rock garden alongside agaves and cacti. This slowly spreading dwarf tops out at 2" tall, with 2" wide, hand-shaped, fuzzy green leaves atop short, wiry black stems. As you can imagine from its desert origin, Bommeria hispida is quite drought tolerant. Bommeria hispida 'Gila Dwarf' is propagated from our 2004 collection from Gila County, Arizona...taking years to build up enough to share.

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Jan 8, 2019

I bought a Bommeria from Plant Delights several years ago. When kept in well-drained soil generously amended with Perlite, the plant thrives. When the plant is not potbound, keep the soil moist at all times or it will wilt abruptly in just a few hours. It will recover in time if re-watered but the wilted fronds will not recover--new fronds will grow. Bommeria spreads indefinitely and will completely fill its pot, then fill the next size and so on. When the plants are potbound, keep water in the drainage tray, as the roots displace enough soil to allow very abrupt drying and wilt if not kept wet. I fertilize mine with MaxSea Acid formula, diluted to one-half strength, when ever I remember, typically about six times a year. Bommeria is not cold-tolerant and I keep mine as an indoor plant in winter. In summer in southern Michigan I keep it outdoors in full shade although medium shade would do fine. Indoors I keep it under a 23 watt (100 watt equivalent) CFL bulb with a color temperature of 6500K. The bulb is about five inches above the tops of the fronds. I propagate mine by division, and I've learned that large sections (4 inches or so across) are best, as there seems to be a minimum mass to ensure the sections will establish. I add some decomposed granite chips to the soil and the surface of the pot, available from landscape companies, as wild Bommeria hispida grow in crumbly granite substrate, typically at the base of crumbly granite boulders in high desert in Arizona. Bommeria is a remarkable, adorable little plant, seemingly too fragile to survive in its native habitat, but its outward delicacy masks a tough little survivor, and speaks to the resiliency of Life. Bommeria is very rarely available and anyone who would like to keep it should pounce on the opportunity to get one.

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