British Pteridological Society: Fern World W W

Tatton Park Flower Show 2009

BPS at the Show, 22-26 July

The BPS made an appearance at the RHS Tatton Park Flower Show in 2009 for the first time. We took a van load of ferns from our gardens and some that Yvonne has been looking after at The Firs. Roland Ennos drove the large Luton van for us, and the stand was set up by Roger Golding, Yvonne Golding and Michael Hayward. Roger spent several hours producing our very attractive hand-written labels and Michael spent many hours making up spore packets and printing leaflets.
Roland had an interesting time being hauled out of the mud on the showground on Sunday and cooking us many sustaining meals. Throughout the week we had a team of 20 BPS members who each took a turn of manning the stand and talking to the public. The stand was a simple arrangement of ferns in pots enhanced by a couple of fern chairs and plant stands, the whole effect being that of a Victorian conservatory. The judges liked it and gave us a Silver Flora Medal.

In all we exhibited around 60 ferns which were a mixture of British natives: Cryptogramma crispa; Cystopteris fragilis and Gymnocarpium dryopteris with two pretty horsetails Equisetum pratense and Equisetum x mildeanum (challenging to distinguish!), together with a range of British hardy cultivars, foreign hardy species and cultivars and greenhouse species and cultivars. Many were admired but maybe the stars of the show were Yvonne's Platyceriums and tiny Ophioglossum petiolatum; Michaels Polystichum setiferum 'Green Lace' and an especially fine Dryopteris erythrosora and Roger's Asplenium reniforme.

We formed good relationships with the main fern sellers at the show. We bought so many ferns from Bentley Plants that the owner John Wilson joined our Society! BPS member Angela Tandy from Fibrex Nurseries revealed ferns in interesting places! As usual they had a good range of ferns on display with their prize-winning Begonias including Davallia (formerly Humata) tyermanii and Dryopteris crassirhizoma. Ken Green from The Walled Garden, Hornby joined our Society at Southport Flower Show last year. They displayed some nice ferns in amongst the flowers and hostas including Osmunda japonica and a central Cyathea cooperii. The main fern attraction (apart from our BPS stand of course) was once again that put on by Gold Medal winner's Fernatix. The specimens were beautifully spaced so as to see the full form of the plants. My favourites were Polystichum vestitum, a very fine multi-trunked Blechnum gibbum and that fantasy tree fern Cyathea tomentissima. Kerry and Steven from Fernatix, who are very talented fern-growers and exhibitors, have yet to re-join our Society but we are still working on it!

The aim of our BPS stand was to show the public the huge range of ferns which can be grown in pots in different situations. We attracted 14 new members (so far) and were able to share our enthusiasm about ferns with a lot of visitors. Many learnt how to grow ferns from spore and took away some to try for themselves. A good range of merchandise was sold together with around 100 Pteridologists. We hope that after reading our excellent journal many others will want to join our Society.

Click on images for larger versions.

Report and photographs by Yvonne Golding.

RHS Flower Show at Tatton Park 2009
The RHS Show at Tatton Park, set in acres of Cheshire countryside is famous for its friendly atmosphere, vibrant displays and inventive ideas to take home. Bursting with colour and creativity, this entertaining event pushes the boundaries of a traditional gardening show, acts as a platform for fresh design talent and presents the very best in community gardening. (from their web site)

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