showy ferns to crave, with judith jones of fancy fronds nursery

‘I DON’T KNOW how you tell these ferns apart,” people have been saying to Judith Jones of Fancy Fronds Nursery for as long as she can remember. FYI: Ferns do not all look alike, at least not once you’re clued in to how to look with a more practiced eye. It’s all about the details with these ancient and diverse plants.

Few people have a more practiced eye about ferns than Judith, a.k.a. The Fern Madame, who joined me from Fancy Fronds in the State of Washington to introduce us to some distinctive favorites from among her vast collection: ferns with pink-to-bronze early color, with glossy foliage, with forked, divisifine-textured cresting (like the crested uniform wood fern, above).

Read along as you listen to the March 5, 2018 edition of my public-radio show and podcast using the player below. You can subscribe to all future editions on iTunes or Stitcher (and browse my archive of podcasts here).

fern q&a with fancy fronds’ judith jones

Q. I’ve known about you and your catalog and your expertise for such a long time, so it’s a real pleasure to finally get acquainted a little better. For context, let’s start with where you are located and what’s the climate like there? Let us know what the nursery is like—it’s a family business, yes? A small family business?

A. Correct, correct. My son and his partner joined me, and I moved to this property in 1995, I am based, now, northeast of Seattle, I’m at the base of the Cascade Mountains on the Skykomish River, which is a snow-fed river with salmon in it and lots of fishermen. I’ve been a nursery since 1977, and done mail-order since 1982. [The scenery in Judith’s region, below; nursery greenhouses above.]

Q. Wow. Now, is it true that you really call your property, where your home and

ferns ornamental plants radio podcasts annuals & perennials city Seattle Washington