Asparagus Fern, Sprenger Asparagus 'Sprengeri' (Asparagus densiflorus)

Asparagus Fern, Sprenger Asparagus 'Sprengeri'
Asparagus densiflorus

Asparagus fern is a good companion for taller plants in containers. The berries are ripening in December and January. (San Antonio, Tx.)

Very nice with that dwarf date palm. Their trunks don't look very appealing until they get 2 or 3 feet tall or more. I used to have an asparagus fern and the wrens would nest in it after I put it out in late spring.

I used to have some of these in containers and I don't remember what happened to them. There are a lot of negative posts about them being invasive, etc. I never found them to be a problem except for the thorns sticking me when I trimmed them or had to pick oak tree leaves out of them.

I think I let mine freeze one year (on purpose) because the very large pot would always quickly become a mass of those white tuberous roots and I could not keep it watered enough. If I divided it, it would sulk for months. Best strategy is to start a new plant from some seeds before the old plant gets too unwieldy. Soak the seeds before planting.

Now that I think about it, mine froze one year when the temperature fell unexpectedly into the low teens at night and it was freezing in the daytime for quite some tme. My very large, but young, crepe myrtle hybrids froze to the ground also. Those tuberous roots do fill up a container. By the way, ants have made a bed around a plant and it is going to die. Do you know of anyway to kill ants or make them leave besides ant spray? They also make beds in my containers. I used ant spray once and the plant was damaged. I have drenched them with water, but they come back.

Ants don't do a lot of damage around here to plants, so I don't have much advice. Maybe you could start a thread in one of the forums about it and get some input from other southern gardeners. I got stung by some fireants once. That isn't much fun. Sorry I can't help with the ants.

Susan, fire ants are terrible. We haven't had them hanging around here as much this year. One year I sat down on a landscape timber to pull some weeds. I did not realize that I had sat down on a whole herd of 'em until the pain set in. They were into my shorts. I pulled my shorts off right there in my yard where anyone could see me and fought them off. I develope terrible sores from their bites. When I was a child, one of my neighbor's had a tiny baby maybe a month old. The baby crib was near a window. These ants covered the baby one night and stung it severely. Unfortunately, the baby died. An armed forces member who participated in Operation Desert Storm told me that when they were in the trenches, these ants would invade the trenches and of course bite them. They could not do a whole lot about it. I can not imagine the pain they went through with this problem. Ouch!! I'll post a question about ridding ants from pots, etc. on one of the forums. Thanks for the suggestion.

Oh that is just too sad about the baby. Really awful. I got some blisters but they went away after a few hours, I think.

These ants have been known to kill newborn livestock also.

i have an asparagus fern,but i never noticed it had little green balls, which i assume is a seed pod. right? if so, how does one harvest it? do they change color when they are ready to pick?any info is greatly accepted.

Yes, these are seedpods. They turn red as they ripen. Wait until they shrivel and dry before you pick them.