COLUMBIA, S.C. — A 35-year old plant is now on display at downtown Columbia’s Hampton-Preston Garden.
It’s so distinct, it even has its own name and it’s just one of the items on display at the garden that’s maintained by Historic Columbia.
Historic Columbia has over one thousand species of plants in its gardens. Its newest addition: "Moe the fern.”
“It's a really interesting plant. It's a good conversation starter,” Jake Armstrong, a new gardener at Historic Columbia, says about "Moe". “And it's one of those ones that it' makes a great house plant. So it's something that anyone can grow, anyone can have in their house.”
Armstrong came to Historic Columbia from his last job at BB Barns Garden Center, formerly called Woodley’s, where the Staghorn fern, which Armstrong says is basically a houseplant, has been growing for 35 years.
“Most people that come in and they see you know a giant plant hanging from something, especially as something like a tree, they're just, ‘What is that?’ They've never seen it before,” Armstrong explains about peoples’ reaction to the hanging plant. “It was kind of funny getting into my first week here and "Moe" kind of beat me here. So I had a co-worker come over with me.”
Now the plant is hung up outside the greenhouse at the Hampton-Preston Garden on Blanding Street. It’s part of the four acres outside of the historic mansion, which was built in 1818, according to Historic Columbia.
“Oh gosh, these gardens are so unique,” horticulturist Rebecca Townsend says. “Columbia has wonderful parks but this one is such a unique public space.”
Townsend oversees the care of the different plants, including "Moe".
“In South Carolina, you don't have gardens like this. And the historical context just makes it such a special place to work and a special place to just walk around and visit.”
“This is a really unique space for Colombia,” head gardener Chris Mathis agrees. “Colombia has green spaces, but this is a place that other places in Colombia don't really compare to as far as, you know, we have so many different kinds of plants. We have so many different species here. People walk in, even seasoned horticulturalists walk in, and say I've never seen that plant before.”
Mathis says he enjoys educating the community about the historic property and unique plants like "Moe".
“I've grown up around plants and in nature my whole life and being able to work with plants specifically, has always been my dream. Here, specifically at Historic Columbia, having the balance between the hands-on horticultural work, but then also the historical aspect of it, it's just the perfect balance to me,” Mathis shares. “You know, we get to tell stories from the past through plants.”
As for "Moe", Mathis says there’s plenty to learn.
“"Moe" is older than me. "Moe", judging by photos that we got from the previous owner, he's roughly 35-years-old,” Mathis details. “You'll notice "Moe" is not in a pot. He's not in anything. He's just hanging from a tree you know, in the wild that plant is what they call an epiphyte. He typically grows on other things.”
An epiphyte is a plant or plant like organism that grows on the surface of another plant and gets moisture, nutrients from the air, rain, water or from debris around it.
Right now, the plant is hanging from a chain on the tree outside the Boyd Horticultural Center. When the weather cools down, Mathis says "Moe" will move inside the greenhouse along with several other plants.
“We're just happy to have him because it is an old plant you don't just see all the time so it's really cool to have something you know, this big and this unique,” Armstrong explains. “For something like him, it's, I would say, pretty rare. At least I haven't seen anything his age or his size.”
But you can come see "Moe" in person anytime the gardens are open from Tuesday through Saturday. There’s also a Fall Plant Sale happening on Saturday, Sept. 30 from 10 a.m. - 2 p.m.