A friendly, informal and enjoyable day learning all about ferns from our expert Chair, Jude Lawton and Polypodium Collection Holder Julian Reed.
There was what I call an ‘orientation’ talk first of all, which bits of the fern belong to which name; everything is a bit more complicated than straightforward plant botany. Then we dipped our toes into fern sex for a bit, being reminded that male swimmers need water to be able to reach the female bits of the gametophyte.
We then plunged into practical demonstrations of spore sowing, frond propagation and division.
After a brief stop for tea, coffee and chat we headed off to Julian’s garden to see ferns in the soil.
A great day, and a good mix of seeing and doing. Highly recommended (and we all went home with at least one free fern!)
Kent Plant Heritage 