#fernsarethenewsucculents

Thursday, January 9th I'll be giving an online talk/webinar for the Hardy Fern Foundation (HFF) called—yes, you guessed it—#fernsarethenewsucculents.

When they asked if I would consider giving a talk I remember laughing at the idea, the only people I'd seen give talks for the HFF were Richie Steffen (co-author of The Plant Lover's Guide to Ferns, and past HFF President) and a handful of international scholarly type pteridophiles. In other words, people who know things about ferns. People who at the very least know the names of ferns, can identify them in the wild, and can even pronounce those names. Eventually they wore me down though (*they* being Camille Paulsen, she's very persuasive). 

Here's the talk description: Succulents have been the “it” plant for years now, however, ferns are experiencing their own huge surge in popularity—thus the Instagram hashtag: #fernsarethenewsucculents. In this talk Loree shares favorite garden-worthy ferns—both in her own garden and ones she’s visited—and shows how she grows species that aren’t quite hardy in her Zone 8 garden. Just as varied and spectacular as succulents, ferns can be grown in the ground, in containers, and yes, epiphytically. Loree approaches ferns from a plant lover’s perspective, not a professional one—she promises to butcher many of the hard to pronounce fern names! It is my hope that I'll share my enthusiasm for ferns in a way that has you feeling the fern fever!

Speaking of... if you've been reading this blog for any length of time you know I am a sucker for pyrrosia. Imagine my excitement when my friend Ann (the amateurbot.ann.ist) shared this photo recently and identified the plant as Phlebosia ‘Nicolas Diamond’.

What is a Phlebosia you ask? A cross between a Phlebodium and a Pyrrosia, what!? Yes! And furthermore that's what this feathery beauty I saw at The Tropics Inc. is! I had a new fern crush...

According to Little Prince (which grew it in the past, but not currently) "Nicolas Diamond Fern benefits from the fast growth of its parent Phlebodium and the cold hardiness and drought tolerance of its parent Pyrrosia." 

And guess what, I found one! On a whim I stopped at Arium Botanicals and they had one (kinda sad) little plant sitting on the shelf.

It became mine.

There are new fronds in the works.

I continued on to Urbanite (my actual destination that day), and wouldn't you know, there were more ferns! Ferns really are everywhere these days (= #fernsarethenewsucculents). I think this hottie is a Polypodium fallax...

It's one of those ferns that's right on the edge for me. I love it, but it also makes me want to grab the salad dressing.

This one made me laugh. Hello 1970's Fern Bar

If you're a fern lover, or fern curious, I hope you'll register for the talk, and heck while you're at join the HFF to save $5 on registration and enjoy upcoming free talks with the HFF/British Pteridological Society Joint Winter Lecture Series. 

I'll leave you with a Google search result. I was checking to see if I spelled pteridomania correctly and found this. Really Collins Dictionary, excessive? Who are you to judge?

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All material © 2009-2025 by Loree L Bohl. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.