In the gardening club allotment in Singapore, after members gave up their space, I maintained it so that the university would not take back the plot. I had a tropical corner where I grew lots of ferns. My fernery was quite impressive, ferns are easy to grow and don't need any maintainence. The heavy tropical rain waters the ferns. You will notice the lush Boston fern compare to the New Zealand one.
The spores from the under side of the leaves drop on ledges and under trees, They germinate into little ferns. I scoured round the campus for these babies. Some I grew as pot plants as gifts, others I grew in the fernery and they grow very big.
One day, Rose said that Elizabeth learnt from the Kelabits that they eat the shoots of the Birds nest fern. I told her that she was not going to eat mine. However, curiousity got the better of me, I wanted to what the taste was like. I let her harvest some of my young fronds and cook a tiny sample for me.
The verdict: It was edible, but I won't sacrifice my poor ferns again.
***The birds nest fern grow among the Boston ferns, they are the green blade like ones.***
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