Carla Gray: Growing results with patience and hard work

As they return to the landscape, Carla Gray looks at work protecting rare ferns

Ferns used to grace the Scottish landscape in abundance; their delicate fronds and deep root systems have a penchant for rocky, wet and unforgiving habitats, meaning they don't have to compete for desirable spots with other more persistent species.

Enter the Victorians; they, caught up in a fern fever and desiring nothing more than to take rare ferns for their own gardens, flocked to areas such as the Moffat Hills in the Southern Uplands. There, they would collect armfuls of the dainty Oblong woodsia, main picture, until the number of wild plants in the area were reduced from hundreds of clumps to just four. The Victorians, in their desire to own and grow the species, were actually bringing about its demise. A temperamental plant, it is notoriously difficult to grow unless its exacting standards can be reproduced. It wasn't long before it was classified as Britain's rarest fern.

Now they're being given a second chance thanks to efforts from the National Trust for Scotland and Edinburgh's Royal Botanic Garden. Through careful collection and propagation of spores - under a special licence from Scottish Natural Heritage - the organisations have successfully been able to grow 59 plants.

Property manager Richard Clarkson said: "At the moment the signs are excellent as it's survived its first two years and has been growing significantly. We'd prefer it if it was doing well naturally, the ultimate goal is if we start getting new wild plants, then we could say it's been a success."

The Botanics' Scottish plants conservation officer, Dr Heather McHaffie, said a lot of patience and hard work from her organisation's specialist fern grower has resulted in a good collection of the ferns, which have even been sold to members of the public in the hopes it will discourage the collection of the plants in the wild.

She hopes the work will eventually lead to the restoration of the fern to pre-Victorian levels. Although she admits that may be some way off, it's not outside the bounds of possibility.

On Arthur's Seat, another fern known as the Forked Spleenwort is making a steady recovery after completely disappearing thanks to over-zealous Victorian gardeners.

"That was facing extinction," said Dr McHaffie. "Somebody wrote at one time that it completely disappeared, but it came back from spores that were lying in little cracks in the rocks. It's doing quite well now."

Elsewhere, rejuvenation efforts are also taking place in Holyrood Park to ensure the ongoing survival of native species. A rare pink flower called the Sticky Catchfly likes the dry South-facing rocks in Arthur's Seat, but Dr McHaffie said the species was being affected by gorse bush fires nearby.

"It was declining quite sadly. So, my predecessor grew some seeds from plants and then he went and planted them back on Arthur's Seat during a very dry summer, I remember he had to keep going and watering them.

"Quite a few of them survived and they produced new seedlings and the population expanded and is now doing much better."

Another success story for the park is the Rock White Beam, a small rare shrub from the Rowan family plagued by similar gorse fire problems, but which has been re-planted with some success in rock ledges on Arthur's Seat.

Elsewhere in the city, a rare arable plant found only in Britain has been popping up at various different points. Known as the Purple Ramping Fumitory - thus named because its many flowers are supposed to look like smoke - is another species that used to grow in abundance but which has become a rare sight because of the use of effective weed killers. However, the seeds have an ability to lie dormant in the soil for long stretches of time, and it's when it's disturbed that the seeds come back to life.

Dr McHaffie said it wasn't until a recent trip to the airport that she first realised the plant was growing in Edinburgh. "They were digging some things up in the car park and there was some there. There's also some at Wardie Primary School in Granton Road - it sprung up when they put some new bike racks in. One of the parents used my Botanic Garden website to identify it. It's not very common at all."

Another problem is that because the plants are so rare, people may not realise their significance until it's too late.

A lot of damage is done by people trampling on plants without realising how special they are, according to Dr McHaffie: "People do have to be careful," she said. "It is rather sad when things are destroyed just because nobody appreciated it."

WHERE THEY'RE ALL PLANTED

WHERE to spot old plants varieties in Edinburgh:

• Sticky Catchfly, top left. The pink flowers can be spotted dotting the south side of Arthur's Seat in May. Rangers have also planted them by Salisbury Crags.

• Rock White Beam, above. Small shrubs whose leaves have white undersides. Spot them growing on ledges on Arthur's Seat.

• Forked Spleenwort. Can be found on the roadside on the south side of Arthur's Seat.

• Purple Ramping Fumitory, top right. This flowering plant can be found at Wardie Primary School in Granton, but also look in disturbed soil in building sites.

• James Grieve apple. Bred in Edinburgh, finding this could be as easy as looking out of your window.