Second Tuesdays at the Arboretum

October 13Join the Los Angeles International Fern Society and the Los Angeles Carnivorous Plant Society for Carnivorous Plants with Naomi! Fifth grader Naomi will introduce us to the fascinating world of carnivorous plants—just in time for spooky season. See flyer on Home page

September 8Our September program will be a special presentation by Dan Yansura on the beauty, diversity, and cultivation of tree ferns.
See the flyer on the Home page for details

August 11Join us at 7:00 PM at the Los Angeles County Arboretum for a hands-on terrarium workshop with Al Palacio of Shady Places!
Terrarium kits are $25 and require advance reservation. Reserve your $25 terrarium kit here: https://forms.gle/DL3V4TMF63uNkZ3s6
Just coming to the meeting? No RSVP needed! Attendance is free, and everyone is welcome to watch the workshop, browse plants for sale, and enjoy the evening.

July 25Special Garden Tour. See above. Please keep an eye out for a separate email with RSVP information and details for our Garden Tour on July 25th.

July 14There will be NO regular membership meeting in July. In lieu of our meeting, we will be enjoying a special day of activities on Saturday July 25th. The day will include a member garden tour at Steve Turner’s home in Long Beach, followed by a tour of the Long Beach City College gardens.
We are also fortunate to have Professor Jorge Ochoa present a lecture and slideshow on the early days of the Los Angeles International Fern Society, offering a fascinating look back at our club’s history.

June 13–14Our annual Fern and Exotic Plant Show at the Arboretum

June 9There will be no regular membership meeting because of the Fern Show

May 12Our May program – How To Prepare Your Ferns For Their Best ShowingLearn expert techniques to trim, clean, and prepare your ferns for their best showing at our Fern and Exotic Plant Show in June. Bring your own ferns for cleaning & trimming!

April 14The April meeting will be given by Don Delano-Mounting Epiphytic Ferns

March 10Don DeLano is giving another great program, Ant Ferns and other Ferns with association to ants.

February 10Our February meeting is Hands-on Platycerium Mounting Workshop.
Join us to learn how to mount your own staghorn fern!
Rare varieties of platycerium will also be available for purchase.

January 13Our January program will be given by Don Delano: Gesneriads in the fern garden – showing different types of Gesneriads and how they are good companion plants with ferns, both outside and inside, and as terrarium plants. He will also bring some for the opportunity table.

December 9Our annual potluck Holiday celebration. In person only.

November 15We are holding a get-together in the growing area at the Los Angeles Arboretum. Please meet us at 9 am, gate #1 (Service Gate), the northernmost gate in the parking lot.
Bring your gardening tools, water bottle or beverage, and if you have a staple gun and 50 lb. fishing line, bring those as well.
If you are interested in attending, please contact us at events@laifs.org for more information.

November 11Our November program is Caring for Bromeliads with Ferns in the Backyard, given by Jerry Robinson.
Jerry is one of the owners and founders of Rainforest Flora, one of the largest growers, hybridizers, and shippers of tillandsias in the world.

October 14Al Palacio will be our speaker for the October meeting. His program is about constructing terrariums using
begonias, ferns, and other plants. Al will be bringing extra terrarium plants for sale.

October 7LAIFS Board Members Meeting
All LAIFS members are welcome to join. If interested in attending, contact us at membership@laifs.org

September 20Join us for a get-together in the growing area at the Los Angeles Arboretum. Meet us at 9 am, gate #1 (Service Gate), the northernmost gate in the parking lot.
Bring your gardening tools, water bottle or beverage, and if you have a staple gun and 50 lb. fishing line, bring those as well.
If you are interested in attending, or for more information, please get in touch with us at projects@laifs.org
We hope you can join us!

September 9Our September program will be presented by Ray VanVeen on his trips to Brazil.

August 12Don Delano gave our August program. His program was about terrariums.

July 19LAIFS will be participating in the Plant-O-Rama sale at the Sherman Library & Gardens.

July 18–19LAIFS will be participating in the Plumeria Festival at the LA County Arboretum

July 8LAIFS monthly membership meeting. This will be a recap of our 2025 Fern and Exotic Plant Show

July 1LAIFS Board Members Meeting. All members are welcome to join and should have received an email invitation. If you did not and would like to participate, please contact membership@laifs.org.

June 28Fern Show Recap and Celebration. All current members and vendors should have received an email invitation. If you did not and would like to participate, please contact FernShow@laifs.org.

June 14–15Our 2025 Fern and Exotic Plant Show at the Arboretum.

June 10No meeting

May 13Preparing for the 2025 Fern and Exotic Plant Show.

April 8Don Delano will present our April program, including a look at the genus Pteris and growing tips.

March 11Dan Yansura will be giving a presentation on Filmy Ferns.

February 11Don Delano will give our February program – A look at the genus Platycerium, as well as growing and mounting tips.

January 14Canceled because of the Eaton Fire

December 10Our Holiday Party Potluck and Gift Exchange.

November 12A look at the Genus Adiantum, Maidenhair Ferns.

October 8Slide program on our president Donna Radoumis’ trip to the Chelsie Flower Show and Kew Botanical Gardens in England.

September 10Al Palacio will be our speaker for the September meeting. It will be a hands-on tutorial on creating terrariums with ferns. Norm Nakanishi is furnishing us with some plastic containers that become great vessels that can be clipped together. Al will be bringing everything else we need.

August 17We are having a work party in our growing area at the Arboretum from 9 am to 2 pm. If interested in helping, contact Donna Radoumis at laifsfernshow@aol.com.

August 13Don Delano will give a program on the Polypodium group, a fairly easy-growing group of plants. It will cover various species that are still in Polypodium and others that used to be in it and why they were reclassified and put into Phlebodium or other genera.
We will also be giving out Fern Show awards and will also have a raffle for the volunteer hours.

July 20–21LAIFS will be a vendor at the Plant-O-Rama Sale at the Sherman Gardens. For more info: Plant-O-Rama

July 19–20LAIFS will be a vendor at the 2024 Plumeria Festival at the Arboretum! For more info: ThePlumeriaSocietyOfAmerica

July 9During our July meeting, we will review our June show and have a slide show presentation. We will also present awards for our public-choice voting in the show.

June 11No meeting this month because of our Fern and Exotic Plant Show.

June 8–9Our 2024 Fern and Exotic Plant Show!

May 14Our May program will be presented by Don Delano – Preparing for the 2024 Fern and Exotic Plant Show. Don will have a review of past shows.

April 9Brandon Tan, Associate Curator of the Orchids Collection at the Huntington Library, Art Museum and Botanical Gardens will be speaking on Orchids of the Huntington.

March 12Our March program will be given by Tom Rozelle. Tom will show photos of several plant-collecting trips to Mexico he took with Gary Hammer from 1981 through 1991. Some places they visited were the states of Chiapas, Guerrero, Hidalgo, Jalisco, Michoacan, Oaxaca, Puebla, Veracruz, and Mexico City.

February 13Presented by Ashlee Armstrong, Director of Horticulture, California Botanic Garden, Claremont, CA. The program will be on native California ferns, with an emphasis on those from the Chaparral and their potential issues for landscape applications.

January 9Don Delano will be continuing his presentation on sporing. Don will review the spore containers that Harry Manos generously donated to our members at our November meeting, separating the clusters starting to develop fronds, showing how to transplant them up to the next stage, and how to care for them.

December 12Holiday Party

November 14Don Delano will be giving a program on potting mixes- why they are starting to change, what are engineered wood fibers and cellulose products, among others.

October 14LAIFS will be at the OC Plant Swap & Sell
1221 Wass St, Tustin, CA
For details see:
https://www.facebook.com/OCPlantShare

October 10Our October program will be given by Don Delano: Fern Sporing

September 12(Online and In-person) Our September program is “Bungle in the Jungle”. Mike Moody will share photos of his backyard.

August 8(Online and In-person) Our August program will be given by our Don Delano: Propagation of rhizomatous ferns and how to mount them.

July 15–16We will be attending the Plant-O-Rama Plant Sale at Sherman Gardens. For more information, see: https://thesherman.org/plant-shows/

July 11(Online and In-person) Our July program will be given by Justin Fuller. Justin’s presentation is Mounting Staghorns Ferns. Attendees will have a chance if they wish to try their hand at it.

June 13(Online and In-person) Our June program will be given by Donald DeLano. Don’s presentation is Easy Interior Lighting for Successful Growth of Ferns, Begonias, and Other Tropical Plants.

May 9(Online and In-person) Our May program will be given by our fern expert Norm Nakanishi. He will be speaking about sporing ferns. A fantastic speaker!

April 11Online and In-person. Our April speaker will be Al Palacio. He will be speaking on his wide and impressive collection of terrarium plants. Al does a great talk and lesson on this subject. A great speaker. He also brings plants to expand your collection and very reasonable prices.

March 14Online and in-person. Our March speaker is Yvonne Savio. She will be speaking on The History and Continuing Story of the Master Gardener Program, what it is, how it helps communities everywhere and everyone involved, and how to become a Master Gardener if you so choose.

February 14Our February speaker is Don Callard. He will speak about Staghorn Ferns and introduce his new book ‘Platyceriums: Growing the Staghorn Ferns.’ He will have copies to purchase and will be signing.

January 10(Canceled because of the expected bad weather)

November 8(Canceled because of the expected bad weather)

Because of the construction at the Arboretum, our meetings are temporarily held in Ayres Hall. Park in the north lot, access is through the north entrance.
For additional information, see: https://www.arboretum.org/visitor-plaza-construction-begins/

October 11(In-person): The October program will be given by Mike Moody. Mike will be bringing some of his rarer ferns for the members to have an open discussion on them. You won’t want to miss this meeting to see and learn about these plants he has collected. Added incentive is that he will put one up for the silent auction.

Also, we get to have our meeting in Ayers Hall for the duration of the Arboretum’s building project. For access see: https://www.arboretum.org/visitor-plaza-construction-begins/

September 13(In-person and online): The September program will be given by Don DeLano – Culture class/Vegetative propagation of select fern types, demonstrations, and samples.

August 9(in-person and online): The August program will be given by Steven Williams on his trip to Floriade 2022, the massive floral extravaganza held in The Netherlands every ten years, and his trip to various botanical gardens of the Netherlands and Belgium.

July 12(in-person and online): The July meeting will be a review of our Fern and Exotic Plant Show held in June.

June 11–12Fern and Exotic Plant Show at the Arboretum of Los Angeles County. For more information, see our Fern Show page.

May 20(in-person and online): The May meeting will be Preparing Your Plants for the Fern Show.

April 15(in-person and online): This meeting will be mostly about sharing a plant or two, so do bring something that you feel will be of interest to the other members. Since this is the first time in 2 years that we are finally meeting in person, things will be much more about just being together and talking and sharing.

March 18(online): The March presentation is Introduction to Clivias, by our Norman Nakanishi.

February 18(online): Our February program will be: Fern Enthusiasts-Meet Gesneriads, by Dale Martins. Originally from the LA area, Dale is one of the most prolific gesneriad hybridizers and is a major influencer in the world of gesneriads. She is also a past recipient of the Award of Merit, given to those who help to further the study of gesneriads

January 21(online): Our January program will be given by Dan Yansura about his tour of Japan that he made a few years ago with Fernando Orellana and others.

January 15(online): Begonia propagation and growing under lights. By Al Palacio – A member of the American Begonia Society for nearly 40 years, and a member of many plant clubs and given programs all over southern California.

February 19(online): The February presentation will be given by Jimmy Nguyen. Jimmy grows many miniature plants, mosses and begonias, and a few small ferns, but his main interest is in creating living habitats in terrariums for his Isopods. He ships in unusual live mosses from China and grows them in his terrariums to use as a form of food for his main passion, Isopods of all types. His terrariums are built to sustain and allow his unusual isopods to thrive and breed, which he sells.

March 19(online): The March presentation will be given by Dr. James Downer, Ph.D. Plant Pathology, UC Riverside: trends in Plant Pathology in caring for ferns and related plants.

April 16(online): The April presentation will be given by Norman Fang, owner of Norman’s Orchid Nursery: a walkthrough of the 2019 World Orchid Conference displays and a tour of Dr. Cecila Koo Botanic Conservation Center with emphasis on their fern collection. Norman can be found at www.orchids.com , Facebook at Norman’s Orchids – orchids.com, Instagram #normans_orchids.

May 21(online): The May presentation will be given by Darla Harris: “Welcome to Texas-some of my favorite native ferns and a tour of the nursery and our spore production.”

Darla Harris is currently the President of the Texas Gulf Coast Fern Society, and is also a member of the American Fern Society, Los Angeles International Fern Society, the Tropical Fern & Exotic Plant Society, and the Hardy Fern Foundation, and also serves as a content editor for the American Fern Society’s newsletter.

As an avid grower of ferns for over 35 years, Darla has collected more than 500 various varieties. Darla is the Owner/Grower at the Fern Plantation Nursery, which has over 200 different ferns and adding more all the time. Find Darla on the Fern Plantation Nursery on Facebook.

June 18(online): Our June presentation will be given by Art Silk from Colorado: Building ‘self-maintaining eco terrariums’ with epiphytic ferns, other rare terrarium plants, and begonias to breed poison arrow frogs.

July 16(online): Our July presentation will be given by Daniel Yansura – ‘Finding Ferns in Bali, Indonesia.’

August 20(online): The August presentation will be given by Michael Moody “Backyard Paradise”.

September 17(online): Our September presentation will be ‘Ways to apply fertilizers for the home hobbyist -from the watering can to injectors’ by Don Delano – Horticulturist and Farm Manager, L.A.County Fairplex.

October 15(online): Our October presentation will be ‘Ferns in Southern California Gardens’ by Don Hodel – Emeritus Environmental and Landscape Horticulture Advisor, University of California Cooperative Extension, Los Angeles County

November 19(online): Our November presentation is ‘Various growing media used for ferns in various situations’ by Don Delano – Horticulturist and Farm Manager, L.A.County Fairplex.
Don will cover the basics of potting mixes, new trends in soilless mixes, and terrarium mixes and mounting ideas. He will also touch on the needs for supplements to the mixes or reasons for the mix based on the native growing conditions of a few groups of ferns.

January 17An introduction to fertilizing ferns: A basic primer with an in-depth look at nitrogen – By Don Delano, Horticulturist, Fairplex

February 21Growing ferns under lights – By Don Delano, Fairplex Horticulturist, Fern Extraordinaire

March 20CANCELLED – All meetings and programs at the Arboretum have been canceled until further notice due to the Corona Virus.

April 17This meeting will be held online. An email with instructions will be sent to members on Wednesday, April 15th.
My Experience with growing the Genus Drynaria – By Fernando Orellana, Trader, Adventurer, Fern Expert

May 15This meeting will be held online. The May presentation will be given by Norman Fang: The Best orchids to grow outdoors in Southern California with your ferns.

June 13& 14: CANCELLED Our 2020 LAIFS Fern & Exotic Plant Show & Sale
Saturday 9 am – 4 pm — Sunday 9 am – 4 pm
Door Prizes — Outstanding Plant Show — Vendor Sales — Society Sales
Sales of ferns, exotic plants, native & drought tolerant plants, plant & garden/patio related items

June 19To be announced later

July 17This meeting will be held online. An email with instructions has been sent to our members.
The presentation will be “The Hodel’s Ferns and Garden”, by Marianne A. and Donald R. Hodel. For access, please RSVP on our MeetUp page:
https://www.meetup.com/Los-Angeles-International-Fern-Society/

August 21This meeting will be held online. An email with instructions has been sent to our members.
For August, we were going to do a recap of the past few shows.
For access, please RSVP on our MeetUp page: https://www.meetup.com/Los-Angeles-International-Fern-Society/

September 18This meeting will be held online. An email with instructions has been sent to our members.
For September, we will have show and tell from our member’s gardens.
For access, please RSVP on our MeetUp page:
https://www.meetup.com/Los-Angeles-International-Fern-Society/

October 16This meeting will be held online. An email with instructions will be sent to our members.
For October, we will continue the presentation of our member’s gardens.
For access, please RSVP on our MeetUp page:
https://www.meetup.com/Los-Angeles-International-Fern-Society/

November 20This meeting will be held online. An email with instructions will be sent to our members.
For November, we will continue the presentation of our member’s gardens.
For access, please RSVP on our MeetUp page:
https://www.meetup.com/Los-Angeles-International-Fern-Society/

December 18There will be no meeting in December