Hanover Garden Club: Designing with Ferns

Learn more about gardening and the landscape of the Upper Valley at this monthly series, featuring a new topic each month.

Learn about the diversity among ferns and how to use these plants in the garden. Speaker Leslie Duthie will also share the important ecological role of ferns in the landscape and how they are affected by mammal populations and soil conditions.

The northeast is home to over 70 different species of ferns. Leaving ferns out of your garden plans is to miss a lovely assortment of foliage, forms, and color. Ferns are tough and adaptable plants; many will thrive under a wide range of conditions. Leslie will focus on garden-worthy species and will discuss the uses of some of the more aggressive species as well. She will also introduce fern terminology and basic fern biology (e.g., they reproduce by spores).

Leslie Duthie is a lifelong gardener and, for over 38 years, she was the horticulturist and plant propagator at the Norcross Wildlife Sanctuary. An accomplished grower of ferns and wildflowers, Leslie’s love of ferns began when she first learned how to raise them from spore. Now retired, she continues to volunteer at various public gardens and works to protect land for her local Conservation Commission and land trust.

Leslie will be in person at the Montshire. Participants can attend at the Montshire or via Zoom.