New fronds in autumn: Polystichum
setiferum 'Congestum Cristatum'
photos and article by Louise Parsons
Tape and spore do not mix! Ever! If you tape up
spore it will be a very big headache for the recipient. By the time they have
gotten any tape off, a sickening amount of precious spore will have stuck to it
like fury. I am indebted to Judith Jones of
Fancy Fronds Nursery and
grower/gardener Nancy Swell for helping me to learn to easily fold tape-free
storage envelopes for spore. Pour yourself a cuppa, put on your fave music,
relax, unwind, and fold a batch of these to store and share your best spore.
This method also comes in handy if you are collecting small seed and forget to
bring bags or envelopes along.
Glassine is the ideal paper to use and is available in rolls or sheets
from art supply houses. Glassine is sometimes called "interleaving"
since it was traditionally used to protect fine art illustrations (such as
etchings) in books. It is used as a separator between art prints stored in a
flat file or drawer. In some areas, you can buy postage stamp sheets in large
glassine envelopes. These can be cut into pieces and folded into small
sporigamis, but resist the temptation to use tape or glue, please. If you can't
find glassine, parchment-type baking paper works nicely. It is least
expensive when purchased from a food service supply house. Butcher's paper or
freezer paper will also work, but it is heavier and more difficult to fold. The
best paper is very fine-textured and smooth --yet sturdy.
Here
are the basic directions:
Fold the desired size paper in
half. With the first fold at the bottom, hold the top leaves together
and fold down twice on itself as though you were folding a double cuff. In the
above picture three folds have been made. The double fold at the top assures no
leakage and no need for tape!
Turn the paper over. With the
double-fold at the top, fold down each side as shown above.
Tuck the ends (or sides if you
prefer to think of them that way) in behind the double folds as shown above.
You can open one end for putting spore in as shown below:
The white area is the inside. No tape is needed --ever! If you are offering spore to a large seed exchange such as that of the North American Rock Garden Society it is necessary to make up individual shares of your spore in small sporigamis to facilitate handling. In this case make sure that your individual sporigamis are small enough to fit into a standard seed exchange envelope that will be used to enclose each one offered and numbered by the exchange. Be sure to LABEL spore immediately as you clean and package it! The phone will ring, the dog will bark, the baby will cry --and you will forget what you were packaging! Specialty spore exchanges most often prefer to bank and portion out the spore as needed. Follow their instructions as to packaging.
Suggestions and comments are always welcome!
Happy spore-collecting and sharing! --Louise