Ferns are ferntastic (sorry) and I love them, always have. But they are not the easiest group of plants to get to know, not because they are difficult to grow or particularly temperamental in any way. They are for the most part fairly easy going and definitely not unreasonable in their demands.

No, it's not they themselves that are difficult, but their often impenetrable names, that and the mind-boggling number of selected forms.

When I came up with the idea of using ferns in the Easigrass Garden at Chelsea I immediately knew I would need help.The whole premise of the garden is that it belongs to a passionate collector of ferns. I was out of my depth faster than you can say Dryopteris filix-mas 'Linearis polydactlya'.

But I knew exactly what had to be done. This was a job for the Fernatix. You may have seen Kerry and Steven at Chelsea and any number of other shows. If you have, you will not have failed to be impressed by their incredible exhibits and enormous hoard of gold medals. Add to this their infectious enthusiasm and you just know you want them on your team.

I spent an extremely enthusiastic couple of hours with them last Saturday morning at their nursery, inspecting some of the ferns they are preparing to plant in the Urban Plantaholic's Kitchen Garden at Chelsea.