Trampoline fern update

Last year I wrote a blog post on a fern that appeared under my trampoline.  It appeared by itself, I dug up a little one to try an protect in my greenhouse where it was eaten by rats or mice.  There were a few others under the trampoline, so I left them there and watered them.  They have grown a lot.

I don't know a lot about ferns, I currently don't even know the Genus of these ferns.  I am hoping a fern expert will point me in the right direction.  

Baby trampoline fern - this one did not survive

I try to water these ferns over summer when it's very dry.  I put bricks around the trampoline ferns.  These protect them from accidentally being mown over summer, and provide slight shelter from frosts. 

I pull out the grass and weeds around them when I remember.  There is too much shade under the trampoline for the grass to do well, so pulling out is usually pretty easy.

trampoline ferns protected by bricks

I had brought home some fertile fronds from tree ferns, and hoped to grow some sporelings.  Originally I hoped these ferns may have come from those spores.

The base of the fern was not looking hairy enough for any species of tree fern I am familiar with.  I am not familiar with baby tree ferns, so hadn't ruled out anything based on that.

base of ferns

base of fronds not very hairy

Still young, but growing

These ferns then started to spread.  They are not tree ferns.  

They are sending out above soil runners.  The runners are relatively thick, and sometimes they appear to branch a little.

I had hoped these were baby tree ferns that grew from spore.  The runners has shown this is not the case.  That's too bad, but it is what it is. 

 

Fern runners

Spreading by thick runners

The trampoline ferns have started to produce fertile fronds.  The shape and position of the sporangia should help identify the species.

Fertile fronds

If not tree ferns, I had hoped they could be hen and chicken ferns (Asplenium bulbiferum).  The runners and the lack of plantlets on the fronds indicates that it is unlikely to be hen and chicken ferns. 

Winter frosts will be here soon, the ferns will likely be burned down a lot but hopefully they will survive.  They survived last winter when they were smaller, this year they are larger and stronger, and will hopefully survive even if they sustain some frost damage.

Trampoline fern fronds

I like these little ferns.  Presumably these arrived on the wind as spores.  I don't know if they are a native species, or if they are exotic.  They burn back badly in the frosts, and need protection from sun, which does not help me narrow anything down very much.  

Hopefully one day I work out what species they are.  After winter passes, I will try to dig up some runners and grow them in other areas, but for now they can sit under the trampoline and slowly grow larger. 

Dahlias, edibles grown as ornamentals

My kids and I have been growing dahlias from seed for a few years.  Growing dahlia from seed is easier than I had imagined, plus it gives me a chance to dabble in breeding them.

Each year the existing dahlia plants grow larger, and we grow some new ones from seed.  The bees and other pollinator insects prefer open single flowers, so for now that is what we mostly grow.  Dahlias flower over summer and autumn here, which is when bees tend to struggle finding food in preparation for winter. 

Dahlia flowers

This past summer was very dry.  Our dahlias started to flower, then stopped and struggled through the heat.  In autumn we got some rain and some of the dahlias are flowering again. 

The other day we picked some dahlia flowers to bring inside.  I like them so thought I would share some photos.  

The darker pink, the red, and the more metallic bronze looking ones are not flowering at the moment.  We have various yellows, some pinks, and some white.

I like dahlias.  They are mostly grown as cut flowers, but they were originally grown as perennial vegetables.  The tubers are edible, some taste good but most varieties are pretty bland as so much effort has been put into their flowers and little breeding attention has been paid to their taste.  The leaves and stems are also edible, but I don't like the taste and tend to leave them to provide energy to the plants.  

It is too bad that these perennial edible plants are mostly grown as ornamentals these days.  Even the most uninteresting ones still look nice.  

At this stage I mostly grow dahlias for cut flowers, I also grow them for the pollinators as they bloom profusely when there is little else flowering in my garden.  If I ever get a good tasting one I would love to grow them as vegetables, but for now I am happy to grow them and enjoy the flowers.

We sell dahlia plants in season, and sometimes I sell dahlia seeds.  While I only collect seed from the more interesting colours, they were open pollinated (and highly heterozygous) and when grown from seed there will be mostly yellows, some pinks, some white, and only occasionally do you see some other colours.  

They are seasonal and only available during some months of the year.  If interested, please go through my for sale page and then click through to see what I have for sale that month. 

Perennial vegetables for sale April 2026

For sale in Australia: perennial vegetables, heirloom vegetable seeds, edible herb plants, organic berry plants, corms and bulbs, and a few non-edible plants and things.  Everything has been grown organically by me. 

Maintaining my old for sale page wasn't working for me.  Each month I now write a new blog post with an updated list of what I have for sale that month and include a link on my old for sale page.  

Succulents - Plectranthus

For Sale: April 2026 

Small Bare Rooted Plants $5 each (unless otherwise stated): 

Everlasting onions 
Tree onions (small bulbils)
Babington leek (dormant bulbs)
Pineberry strawberry 
Virginian strawberry
Atilla alpine strawberry 
Jekkas thyme 
Peppermint 
Lavender mint 
Pineapple sage
Willow herb
Lime balm 
Lemon balm
Vietnamese fish mint
Vietnamese coriander
Variegated water parsley 
Green water parsley (more vigorous stronger tasting version of the variegated form) 
Asparagus (Variety: Purple) 
Asparagus (Variety: Precoce D'Argenteuil)
Sweet Violet 
Lemongrass 
Water cress 
Brahmi/water hyssop  
Water pepper 
Rosemary - blue flowering 
Azolla $3 per scoop 
Duckweed $3 per scoop 

Dormant bulbs or corms:

Muscari grape hyacinth bulb (sprouting now)  $2 each
Muscari grape hyacinth - Packet of seeds  $4

Ancient Cultures: 

Milk kefir - around 1/4 cup grains  $5 
Kombucha SCOBY  $5 

Heirloom Vegetable Seeds:  $4 packet (unless otherwise stated) 

Immali corn
Purple hot mustard
Wasabi salad herb (not true wasabi) 
Purple asparagus
Tomato Tommy Toe
Tomato Reisetoimate 
Tomato Woolly Kate 
Senposai
Hon Tsai Tai / Choy Sum (purple stem) 
Huacatay
Black raspberry SEED (note: needs minimum of 3 months cold wet stratification to germinate)

Non edible things:

Succulent - Plectranthus $5
Aloe vera $5 
String of pearls succulent - plant $5, cuttings $2
String of beans succulent (from Coober Pedy) - plant $5, cuttings  $2
Red jelly bean succulent  $5 
African violet leaf cutting (Variety: New Hampshire) $3 each
African violet leaf cutting (Variety: unnamed double light blue) $3 each

Candle mold 'skep' $10 each 
Candle mold 'owl' $10 each 

Postage Prices: 

$12 for plants etc 
Or $3.50 if only buying seeds. 

I post the Monday after payment has cleared.  

Tomato Tommy Toe 

To order anything from the above list: 

Please send me an email saying what plants/seeds you would like and I will reply with prices/payment methods.  My email address will need to remove the the spaces, put @ instead of the word 'at' and . in place of the word 'dot': 

damien_beaumont at yahoo dot com dot au 

Photographs, binomial names, descriptions of plants, and notes on how I grow them, can be found on my old for sale page.  Please note my old page has a lot of things not currently in season/not currently for sale.  The only things I have for sale this month are listed in this blog post above. 

Brazilian spinach Alternanthera sissoo

Over the years I have heard a lot of great things about Brazilian spinach.  Brazilian spinach is a perennial leaf vegetable that is commonly grown in the tropics.  It has many common names, including Sissoo Spinach, Samba Lettuce, Sambu Lettuce, and Poor Man's Spinach. 

I am a little confused over the taxonomy of this plant.  It carries the binomial name of Alternanthera sissoo, but is thought to be the domesticated form of Alternanthera sessilis.  

Brazilian spinach produces small uninteresting spiky white flowers that look suspiciously like khaki weed.  For some reason this vegetable never produces any seed.  

It is meant to be propagated rather simply by cuttings.  It is said to grow fast, and develop into an edible ground cover in the right conditions. 

Brazillian spinach getting large before winter

I have been looking for a spinach alternative that performs well in the heat.  True spinach (Spinacia oleracea) does not do well in the heat over summer here, yet frustratingly summertime is when we tend to eat spinach.  

Brazilian spinach is used as a warm season alternative to true spinach, and is grown in tropical places where true spinach does not cope.  

From what I am told, this plant likes heat, does not cope with frosts, it spreads outwards and forms a mound, and it is said to thrive in part shade.  This is meant to grow best in tropical and sub-tropical places, and not do so well in temperate climates such as the one I am in.

Brazilian spinach plant

A year or so ago I got a small and healthy Brazilian spinach plant.  I tried to grow this in my greenhouse and placed it where it would receive a lot of light.  It never really grew lager over summer, and then it died over winter.  The plant was certainly healthy when it arrived, so the problem must have been how I attempted to grow it.  Had it been larger once winter hit I think this possibly would have survived as it had a fair bit of protection.

This year I decided to give Brazilian spinach another try, and I got another small plant in spring.  

This was smaller than the first, but looked just as healthy.  I planted it in a large pot of soil, and this time I kept it in shade.  From there I largely forgot about it, I kept watering it but paid it little attention.  

While I was not watching, this plant put on a lot of growth.  The leaves are far larger, the stems are longer, and it is looking pretty healthy. 

The plant did not grow as much as I had hoped, but it was certainly growing.  I had not rotated the pot, so the growth was uneven.  Still, it was a lot larger than when it arrived. 

I had hoped this plant would have grown longer, and branched a bit more by now.  Perhaps this is one of those plants that needs to be harvested in order to put on more growth.  To be fair, it is a lot larger, and is growing quite well, I just hoped it would have spread a lot more than it has. 

Large crinkly edible leaves

True spinach does fine here over cooler months, and performs poorly over summer when I want to eat spinach.  I really want to grow a spinach substitute over summer, and prefer to grow somethingperennial so I don't have to bother with seedlings.  

Things commonly grown as spinach substitutes such as silverbeet don't tend to be overly substitutable, and often have too much of a distinct flavour, other things have a weird texture.  I want something that lacks any real flavour of its own.  

I have eaten Brazillian leaves raw a few times, they taste ok and weren't fibrous.  I tried them cooked once, they were much like real spinach, didn't have much taste of their own and weren't slimy or weird.  This is exactly what I was hoping for from this leaf vegetable. 

I am told that this plant is simple to grow from cuttings.  I took a small cutting, and planted this in soil in a small pot of soil in the greenhouse.  This had a lot of shade and was near the parent plant.  It did not take this cutting long before it wilted badly.  From there the cutting lost all its leaves and then died.  

I took another cutting and put it on the kitchen window sill. This looked ok for a day, then wilted badly.  Perhaps it would have performed better had I removed some of the leaves.  The leaves picked up the following day.  It kind of started to grow roots, got little bumps on the stem, then stopped.  

This cutting has been sitting in water for a few months now, the leaves are far larger, but other than that it is not doing much.  I should plant it in soil and see if it survives.

Brazil spinach cutting in water

While the photo looks dark, it does get some light here

I took another cutting in late summer and planted this in soil.  After my first failed attempt I had low hopes.  This cutting has been there for about a month, and looks much the same.  I have this cutting in a pot of soil with a tomato cutting that I am planning on over wintering.  Sometimes I group things to overwinter, then in spring I divide the survivors. 

Presumably the Brazillian spinach cutting is doing well.  I am guessing it should have died by now if it wasn't growing roots.  Then again, perhaps the soil is damp enough that it is able to survive.  Only time will tell.

I don't rotate the pot so it grew unevenly

Winter and frosts are just around the corner.  I would really like to over winter this plant so I am trying to let it grow large and not mess with it too much.  

Larger plants tend to insulate themselves and have a better chance of surviving the cold than tiny plants.  I am well outside its preferred climate, and I expect it to get damage from the cold, but really hope to keep it alive.  

Brazilian spinach is a perennial vegetable that I think would be perfect in places with milder winters.  My winters are a bit harsh, and get down to -10C most years, and I am not yet sure what my chances are of overwintering this successfully.  If I can get it through winter, I would like to grow more of it.  

If I do grow more Brazilian spinach I will try to list extra plants for sale.  Given how this does not love frosts I am guessing I would only be selling over warmer months. 

Aloe vera from seed

I have had my aloe vera for a long time.  It survives the heat of summer with no problems, it doesn't mind the cold frosts if slightly protected, and it divides well.  

Most people know of aloe vera, and plenty of people have grown it.  It's useful for taking the heat out of sunburns, and I am told it has a few other uses.  I think it is somewhat edible, but I have no interest in eating this plant.  

The plant itself looks nice, it has bright green leaves with a few white spots, and the leaf edges have interesting teeth that aren't too spikey.  I have a clump of aloe vera plants that thrives on the neglect I provide it.  For the past ten or so years, at least one plant in my aloe vera clump has flowered. 

Aloe vera seedlings

The same seedlings a little larger - note different growth rates

Most flowers abort, but a few times they have produced seed pods.  The seed pods disappear over time, and I forget about them.

Last year it made a seed pod that I kept an eye on.  I have never grown aloe vera from seed before, so thought I would give it a try.  I watched this seed pod for a while, waiting for it to ripen, then forgot about it.  When I remembered it again it was splitting open and had lost 1/3 of the seeds.

Aloe vera seed capsule

Aloe vera dry fruit with seeds

The seed pod has three cavities with seeds.  By the time I got around to doing anything with the seed pod one of the sections of seeds had opened and the seeds had already fallen out.

I broke open the dry fruit and saved all the seeds I could.  

Aloe vera seeds are small and dry.  There were around 11 seeds that looked possibly viable, many of them looked under-developed.  The rest were obviously empty and could not grow.  

Aloe vera seeds

Aloe vera seeds, small and dry

I didn't know what to do with Aloe vera seeds, so I looked on the internet.  Reddit tells me aloe vera is a sterile clone that cannot produce seed.  While often aggressive in their claims, these people are incorrect.  Aloe vera can and does set seed.  To be honest, I don't know why I bothered reading Reddit, I knew it is the blind leading the blind, and many of the comments there are computer generated, but I digress.

I could not find any reference to anyone on the internet growing aloe vera from seed.  I found a few people talking about growing other species of aloe from seed, their experiences ranged from simple to near impossible depending on the species.  

I had some seeds, and was guessing what to do, so I soaked them in water.  The little seeds have wings that trap a bubble of air, meaning they all float.  I carefully pushed the air bubble out so they could sink and soak up water through more of their surface being in contact with the water.  

The seeds still kind of floated, so I left them longer than I normally would.  I ended up soaking the seeds in water for a week.  

Aloe vera seeds soaking in water

After a week of soaking in water I planted the aloe vera seeds in potting mix on a seed flat, and placed this on a heat mat.  I had tomato seeds and things like that also in the seed flat, so it was no extra effort watering the aloe seeds. 

From here the seeds sat for 11 days.  I didn't have high hopes that any would germinate, but had nothing to lose by trying.  Then one seed germinated.  At first it was a green dot in the potting soil, but that was still very exciting.

Aloe vera germinating - it's hard to see in this photo

After a little time I ended up with three tiny aloe vera seedlings germinating.  Three out of eleven isn't great, but they cost me nothing, I am growing them for no reason other than I have never grown them from seed before, and having three means I will get to learn how much genetic diversity these plants carry, so I count this as a win. 

I wasn't sure what to expect from these seedlings.  I didn't know if they would display any noticeable genetic diversity, and I didn't know how fast or slow they would grow.  This is all new to me.

The Aloe vera seedlings grew relatively slowly after germinating.  It didn't take too long before the tiny leaves looked much like the leaves of the parent plant. 

Aloe vera seedlings

Three Aloe vera seedlings getting larger

The three aloe vera seedlings were crowded together, so I decided to replant into a small pot so they had space to develop.  

At this early stage there was already some noticeable diversity.  One plant was larger and more vigorous than the other two.  One looked a bit shriveled and off coloured, almost like it was bruised, and I worried it was going to rot.  The third one was smaller than the other two.

Quite often succulents and cacti need a lot of water when they are seedlings, and very little water when they grow larger.  Giving a lot of water when tiny brings with it the risk of rotting.  I bought special succulent potting mix, and planted the seedlings into this.  I hoped this would help them not to rot as it is meant to drain well.  

After the seedlings were divided I planted them in the same pot, and they continued to grow slowly.  They produced more leaves, and grew taller, and look like tiny versions of the parent plant.  

As they got older one always looked a bit brownish and was always looking a bit shriveled.  It will be interesting to see what this plant looks like when fully grown.  I think this is most likely genetic diversity, and while healthy it may always look like this.  

Aloe vera seedlings grew slowly

Aloe vera three months after germinating

One always looks shriveled and a bit off coloured

You can see in the photos, even at this small size there is a distinct difference between the three genetically distinct seedlings. 

One is green and more vigorous than the others, it does not have the little teeth that older plants have but I think these will come in as it grows.  One is kind of brown sometimes and other times mostly greenish, and always looks slightly bruised and a little shrivelled, but grows well.  One is green, and at this stage it is smaller and less vigorous.  This smaller one lacks the teeth that are present on the leaf edges, I am not sure if this will change as it gets larger. 

Seed grown Aloe vera

Aloe vera produces flowers that range in colour from yellow to red depending on the individual plant.  I am told that most clones produce yellow flowers.  My variety produces orange flowers.  The flowers are produced on tall stalks, and open sequentially over a long period of time.  

I see small birds such as Eastern thornbills at the flowers.  Occasionally I see some insects, but I doubt many are the right shape to reach the nectar.  The only time I see honey bees on aloe vera flowers is if there is nothing else flowering, and they tend to chew holes in the side of the flower to steal nectar rather than acting as a potential pollinator.

Almost every aloe vera flower in my garden aborts without producing fruit.  I assume we don't have the right pollinators for them and I have tried pollinating them, but they still mostly fail and abort.  Other than the three seedlings, I only have this one clone, and it is likely that this clone is largely self infertile and needs just the right conditions to be able to set seed.  This year my patch sent up numerous flower stalks, and only one seed pod appears to be setting.

Given how reluctant aloe vera is to set seed in my garden, I doubt I will ever put much effort into breeding with it.  I will grow out seedlings, and see if anything interesting comes of that, but unless I get a clone that sets seed easily I won't be making many deliberate crosses as the chance that my efforts will bear fruit are pretty low. 

Aloe vera flower stalk

Aloe vera flowers

Aloe vera is typically grown by divisions.  When grown well, this plant tends to make a few divisions naturally.  Unlike many succulents, it is not likely to grow new plants from a leaf cutting.  

One thing aloe vera sometimes does, is send up a stalk that has a baby plant on the end.  I haven't seen this often.  Presumably this is a way that the plant can spread a little further than by divisions.  

These pups can be potted up to produce another plant.  I tend to ignore them, they eventually touch the ground and send down roots by themselves.

Aloe vera growing a pup on a stalk

Aloe vera is usually propagated by division.  While growing divisions isn't overly slow, it doesn't tend to make a lot of divisions.  

I have one large plant where the growing point was damaged.  This plant looked like it would not survive winter, then in spring it started to grow.  This plant then grew multiple growing points.

Over time these will get larger, and should be able to be divided into larger plants.  As you can see in the photos below, this one plant looks like it may end up with a dozen or so growing points, each could be divided and potted up to produce a new plant.

Multiple growing points on this plant

Aloe vera dividing

To help me keep track of the amount of time it took to grow these Aloe vera seedlings: 

Soaked for a week, then planted on heat mat 13/09/2025.  

First germinate 24/09/2025.  Three seedlings grew.  

Transplanted into pot 18/10/2025.

Aloe vera seedlings growing larger

Seed grown aloe vera 

Aloe vera seedlings 

I sell small, bare rooted aloe vera plants through my for sale blog page.  At this stage I am only selling divisions from my typical plants that I have been growing for years.  In the future, if any seedlings show any promise, I will try to list some of them for sale too.