Rolling Back The Years (well, 3 anyway)

I suppose it wouldn't be a proper celebration of The Fern House without a quick line about how and why. Why have an obsession with ferns in the first place? Even more quirky, why have an obsession with ferns that grow on long trunks and require ridiculous levels of attention just to keep them alive? Why not grow roses and Hydrangeas instead?

The image below is of my first ever tree fern which I bought myself as a 30th birthday present.

This 1 foot trunked Dicksonia antarctica seemed to cost a fortune at the time. Never thought I'd see myself spending 70 pounds on a plant but I was drawn instantly to those unfurling croziers, the like of which I'd never seen before!

That was it - I was hooked. I bought the plant in February and within a couple of weeks those beautiful croziers had frozen solid and drooped thus creating the most extraordinary smell that only a fern abuser knows.

However, as I was soon to learn, Dicksonia antarctica does not take these setbacks lieing down and quickly returned with an equally impressive flush and so my faith in tree ferns was cemented.

So there we have it. Love at first sight. Interest soon turned to hobby and ultimately into full blown obsession. It could be worse - I could be into motorbikes or horse riding. At least my subject of interest wont kill me or kick me in the knackers but I do confess to having had some strange looks from people when they learn of the pleasure I derive from growing tree ferns.

It wasn't too long after my first experience that I dipped into the realms of other species and that is ofcourse when you really are in trouble. With over 800 species in the world you simply can't ever stop yearning for more can you.

My pride and joy in the early days was this Cyathea australis (right). A real belter of a plant. I watered this plant not through necessity but through the shear joy of seeing those lovely wet dripping fronds on a hot summer's night. I know - I'm a pleb!

By early 2006 the fernery was well and truly stocked with various species. Some were imported trunks of Cyathea dealbata and the like and lots of sporelingswhich I'd either bought or were kindly donated by well known tree fern expert Steve Pope.

Not content with JUST tree ferns, I found myelf bitten by the exotic plant bug and busied myself picking up plants of all sorts of shapes and sizes many of which cost a great deal of money. By the end of summer 2006 the garden was looking rather....expensive!

The Fern House began during the month of August 06 too, around the time this picture was taken and so began my cyber adventures in Fernland!