Learn how to grow native ferns from spores with Wild Woods Restoration Project.

Take your native plant growing skills to the next level in this hands-on workshop with Dr. Linda Rohleder.

We will discuss fern identification principles, fern lifecycle, and how to collect spores. We will also touch on the importance of native plants and how growing ferns from spores helps maintain genetic diversity. Finally, we will learn and practice a simple technique to sow our spores.

Participants will leave with containers of sown spores of two different local, native species. The small 5″x5″ containers should be placed at a window in indirect sunlight and will need care for 1-2 years indoors before the ferns will be ready to go outside. Participants will need to obtain their own misting spray bottle to use at home after the spores germinate

This class was designed for adults. Advance registration is required. $50 per participant. Limited to 25 attendees.

Instructors: Linda Rohleder and Richard Pillar

Bio:

Dr. Linda Rohleder is the founder of Wild Woods Restoration Project, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit she launched in 2022 to engage volunteers in growing local ecotype native seeds for park restoration projects. The organization has already mobilized over 300 volunteers. Before that, Dr. Rohleder spent nearly a decade as Director of Land Stewardship at the New York–New Jersey Trail Conference, where she built the Stewardship Department and created the Invasives Strike Force program. She was also the founding coordinator of the Lower Hudson PRISM, leading regional invasive species management efforts across 50+ partner organizations. Dr. Rohleder holds a PhD in Ecology from Rutgers University and has over 30 years of experience creating native plant habitats on her own properties.