Don Fuller has been a member of the Fern Society of Victoria since 1989 and describes himself as an enthusiast. Don explained there are two groups of plants, seed bearing and non-seed bearing which are plants that don’t flower, including algae, mosses and ferns.
Ferns reproduce from spores, and have a vascular structure. There are over 240 genera and over 10 000 species. Their forms include terrestrial, which grow on the ground and others, which grow in trees or on rocks, and even in water. Ferns can range in size from huge 20 m tree ferns to tiny ferns with only one cell.
Their spores are fine and dust-like, arranged on the back of the fronds. Spores are ejected by the parent plant and dispersed by the wind, sometimes over great distances.
To cultivate ferns, you must wait for the correct time and place fronds in paper. Shake to release the casings and plant in tree fern fibre, terracotta, moss sand or even bricks, but the mix must be sterilised first, with boiling water and microwaving. Plant in indirect sun and be patient – it’s a very slow process!
Ferns’ native environment can be tropic or sub-tropic, where there are more varieties. Their density is higher in cool temperate climates and they need light and humidity, protection from hot and cold winds and sun and frost. Ferns require moisture, but good drainage.
Don displayed and described a number of ferns suitable to grow in Melbourne, both indoors and outside, explaining the optimum conditions for each. The finer the fern’s foliage, the more important it is not to wet the foliage.
With indoor ferns, especially maidenhairs, people kill them with kindness and generally over-water them, rotting their roots, which kill them.
Maidenhair and fishbone ferns come in a wide variety of forms.
Ferns abound in South-east Asia, South America, the Pacific, Fiji, New Caledonia and Japan, amongst other places
