Best known for their feather-shaped fronds, ferns have a very long and rich history. They have been around for some 300 million years (making them among the oldest plants in the world) and there are more than 10,000 fern species, which goes to show how resilient they can be.
It was the Victorians who originally made ferns fashionable in Britain, during what’s known as ‘fern fever’ when a craze for collecting them took hold. The impact of the study and cultivation of ferns was lasting and their popularity continues today.
It’s often said of a type of plant that there is one
