Don't give up on that tree fern

Q: My tree fern is all brown and tattered after the February freeze. One night, the temperature got down to 25 degrees at our house. Until then, the fern was nice and green. Is there anything I can do to revive it?

A: The hardiest of the tree ferns is Dicksonia antarctica, known as the Tasmanian tree fern. If yours was billed as hardy, this is probably the kind you have. Established D. antarctica can tolerate temperatures as low as 20 degrees, especially if you give them a little protection on the coldest nights.

Chances are your tree fern is still alive and will send up new fronds in the next month or two. Wait to see the fresh fronds unfolding from the center of the plant, then carefully cut back the old brown foliage.

Q: My neighbor says her favorite summer flowers are tigridias. I'm interested in growing more unusual annuals, so I want to plant some. Can you tell me what they are, and where I could find them?

A: Tigridia pavonia, called tiger flowers or Mexican shell flowers, are beautiful mid-summer flowers grown from bulbs. They have narrow leaf blades like a crocosmia, with freckled flowers in red, pink, yellow or orange. Each has a distinctive, darker blotch in the center.

Like daylilies, each flower blooms for just a day, but every plant has many blooms that open in succession for weeks. They need a warm location and, because they require good drainage, often are best grown in pots.

If your soil is free-draining, tigridias will overwinter in the ground. One good source for tigridias is Brent and Becky's Bulbs, 7900 Daffodil Lane, Gloucester, VA 23061; 804-693-3966; www.brentandbeckysbulbs.com.

Q: Preparing for our retirement, we moved into a mobile-home park last year. My "yard" is about 8 feet wide on each side of our manufactured home and about 40 feet wide across the back, but only 10 to 12 feet deep.

The front is very small; we're hemmed in on three sides by other homes. I've spent several months pondering how to create an appealing garden, hopefully one that qualifies as a National Wildlife Habitat. Nothing I've read addresses gardening around a mobile home in a park, and none of the gardens here seems to invite the friendly birds and bees I'd like to encourage.

A: I think a wildlife-friendly garden would be ideal around a mobile home, and might well inspire your neighbors to do more planting to attract birds, bees and butterflies.

It sounds as if you have sufficient space for a few key plants beloved by local creatures; if you can include some water in a small pond or birdbath, a thicket of native snowberry and flowering currant (Ribes sanguineum) for birds to nest and take shelter, and perhaps edge your garden with a few of the smaller rugosa roses for fall fruit, you'll have made great strides toward creating a naturalistic garden.

Since your garden space is limited, search out dwarf shrubs and trees so you can fit in more variety, which attracts creatures and keeps a garden interesting through the seasons.

Vertical gardening is a good way to squeeze in more plants. You could build an arbor or lattice to hold a fragrant honeysuckle vine, beloved by hummingbirds.

Pass on the grass, and fill your garden with shrubs and perennials such as hardy fuchsias, ceanothus, asters, viburnum, yarrow, lavender and rosemary, and you'll be visited by butterflies and hummingbirds.

All of these plants are easy-care and reasonably drought-tolerant, which will make your gardening life easier.

Stay away from herbicides or pesticides, for these can harm creatures you hope to attract as surely as they do the ones you want to get rid of. Organic gardening practices are key to a healthy garden for people and animals alike.

Sunset's new "Western Landscaping" book has a section on gardening with wildlife; Russell Link's book, "Landscaping For Wildlife in the Pacific Northwest" (University of Washington Press, 1999), is the bible on the subject.

To receive a packet of information on how to turn your garden into a designated backyard wildlife sanctuary, send $5 to the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, Backyard Wildlife Sanctuary Program, 16018 Mill Creek Blvd., Mill Creek, WA 98012. To find out all about the program, see www.wdfw.wa.gov/wlm/backyard.

Valerie Easton also writes about Plant Life in Sunday's Pacific Northwest Magazine. Write to her at P.O. Box 70, Seattle, WA 98111 or e-mail planttalk@seattletimes.com with your questions. Sorry, no personal replies.