Back to the page
  • Welcome
  • Visit us
    • Visit us
    • Opening times & information
    • Visiting – travel, dogs, toilets, etc.
    • Ticket Prices
    • Pre-book tickets
    • Garden map
    • Group Visits
    • Tours
    • Press and photography
    • The Garden Café
    • The Garden Shop
  • Accessibility
  • What’s on
  • The Garden
    • The Garden
    • About the Garden
    • Horticultural Collections
    • Understanding Plant Labels
    • History of the Garden
    • Wildlife
    • Plant picks of the week
  • Learning
    • Learning
    • Schools
    • Colleges and Universities
    • Adult Learning
    • Family Activities
    • Communities
    • Science on Sundays
    • Trails for Adults
    • Certificate in Botanical Horticulture
  • Science
    • Science
    • Our Science Staff
    • Our Staff Publications
    • Your Science
    • Supporting Your Research
    • Phenology Project
  • Collections
    • Collections
    • Living Collections
    • Seed Bank
    • Herbarium
    • Cory Library
    • Archives
    • Living Collections Portal
    • Botanic Dyes
  • News
  • Support Us
  • Friends
    • Friends
    • Join the Friends
    • Friends’ Events
    • Corporate Support and Corporate Friends
    • Gift Memberships
Donate
Cambridge University Botanic Garden
menu

Today's Opening Times:
10:00am - 6:00pm

  • News
  • Support Us
  • Contact Us
  • Donate
  • Home
  • Visit us
    • Ticket Prices
    • Opening times & Information
    • Visiting – travel, dogs, toilets, etc.
    • Garden Map
    • Group Visits
    • Tours
    • Pre-book tickets
    • Press & Photography
    • The Garden Shop
    • The Garden Café
    • Accessibility
    • Virtual Visits
  • What’s on
  • The Garden
    • About the Garden
    • Horticultural Collections
    • Understanding Plant Labels
    • History of the Garden
    • Wildlife
    • Plant picks of the week
  • Learning
    • Schools
    • Colleges and Universities
    • Adult Learning
    • Family Activities
    • Communities
    • Science on Sundays
    • Trails for Adults
    • Certificate in Botanical Horticulture
  • Science
    • Our Science Staff
    • Our Staff Publications
    • Your Science
    • Supported Publications
    • Supporting Your Research
    • Phenology Project
  • Collections
    • Living Collections
    • Herbarium
    • Seed Bank
    • Cory Library
    • Archives
    • Collecting Expeditions
    • National Plant Collections ®
    • Living Collections Portal
    • Botanic Dyes
  • Friends
    • Join the Friends
    • Gift Memberships
    • Friends’ Events
    • Corporate Support and Corporate Friends
  • Open search panel
Close search panel
Back to listing
Home News Garden news Botanic Garden’s Ferns on show at Chelsea
Share Created with Sketch.
  • Email Share this with Email
  • Facebook Share this with Facebook
  • Twitter Share this with Twitter
  • Pinterest Share this with Pinterest
  • WhatsApp Share this with WhatsApp
  • Google + Share this with Google plus

Botanic Garden’s Ferns on show at Chelsea

A ‘select few’ have been carefully wrapped and dispatched to London, ready for showtime at the prestigious RHS Chelsea Flower Show

23 May 2016

The Garden’s ferns will be ‘making fronds’ with other ferns on the British Pteridological Society’s display to celebrate the Society’s 125th Anniversary year.

The Society, which is affiliated to the Royal Horticultural Society and Plant Heritage (NCCPG) and whose patron is HRH The Prince of Wales, is the focal point for fern enthusiasts throughout the British Isles, many whom have also provided ferns for the stand at the world-famous show.

Paul Aston, Alpine and Woodland Supervisor at the Garden says: “These ferns were not purposefully grown for Chelsea but form part of our collection. The Fern Society have been very helpful to the Garden over the last few years, giving advice on what to grow and checking that our collection is correctly labelled. Particular thanks go to Tim Pyner from the British Pteridological Society, who has an encyclopaedic knowledge of ferns – so we feel it is now time to repay the favour by loaning our collection for Chelsea.”

The Chelsea display will be split into three zones: ferns that like wet conditions outside; ferns that can tolerate dry outside conditions and glasshouse/conservatory ferns. The Garden has offered ferns for all three areas.

Paul continues: “My favourite fern on the Chelsea display is the Mexican tree fern Cibotium schiedei. This grows in mountainous cloud forests in Mexico. I can remember my excitement when it germinated from a spore about six years ago. It now has beautiful, lacy, arching and finely divided, four-foot long fronds and a trunk thickly insulated by ginger, woolly hairs. Wrapping it up to transport it to Chelsea, involved lots of bamboo canes and fleece to try to protect the fronds from physical damage.

Paul has been growing ferns from spores for the last eight years at the Garden. He explains: “It is very satisfying germinating the spores. A fern starts out as a very small liverwort-like structure called a prothallus. You have to be patient and wait for the prothalli to fertilise each other which can take as long as a year, after which tiny fern-like fronds start to emerge. These grow and are potted on until they are ready after two or three years to be planted out.

“We have expanded the existing collection of ferns at the Garden with the opening of the fern area at the end of the Glasshouse Range three years ago. Since then I have been trying to sneak them in to other areas of the Garden too, including the drought tolerant Cheilanthes (rock-dwelling ferns) in the South American section of the rock garden and expanding the collections in the woodland.“

Tim Pyner from the British Pteridological Society adds: “We are delighted to be able to showcase our collection in our 125th Anniversary year at Chelsea. The ferns lent by the Cambridge University Botanic Garden have helped immensely to add diversity of life, form and structure to the display, consisting of around 200 ferns belonging to our members from all over the country. We hope the public appreciate the diversity and character of this special group of plants.”

Paul will be watching television coverage of the Chelsea Flower Show with interest, and has high hopes for the Garden’s ferns: “I didn’t quite envisage when I started out that one day they’d be on display at the most famous flower show in the country, if not the world! I’m keeping my finger’s crossed for a medal for the Fern Society – that really would be ferntastic!”

Publication Date 23/05/2016

Some of the Gardens' fern collection Click for information
Ferns in the Woodland Garden Click for information
The Fern House Click for information
Some of the Gardens' fern collection Click for information
University of Cambridge Museums and Botanic Garden

Social

  • Follow us on YouTube
  • Follow us on Twitter
  • Follow us on Instagram
  • Follow us on Facebook
  • Follow us on Threads
  • Follow us on LinkedIn

© 2025 Cambridge University Botanic Garden

  • Privacy policy
  • Contact us