The area in front of the stone wall at the western edge of The Botanical Area is dominated by ferns. Ferns are a taxonomic group of plants comprising around 20,000 species.
Ferns are vascular plants that reproduce with the help of spores. The spores are formed on the surface of fronds– usually on the underside. Within the ferns as a group, the fronds are quite variable in shape although many have a form comprising large pinna and small pinnules, that are subdivisions of the frond, which itself originates from a central growing point placed on an underground rootstock or rhizome.
A collection of snowdrops has been planted between the ferns; there are already more than 15 different species and cultivars.