The Welwyn Festival – Danesbury Fernery Open
The Tanked Bed created by Anthony Parsons for Royal ferns
A Problem for Parsons
Although expert as a fern cultivator, Anthony Parsons had his frustrations developing the Danesbury Fernery. In particular, he could not get one family of native ferns ‘the Royals’ to grow to their best advantage. He grew these large ferns “at a fair distance apart” and was not going to rest easy unless “they became handsome and noble specimens”.
So, he developed the idea of planting them in a ‘tank’ within a specially constructed, irregularly shaped, bed that was well-drained. Parson wrote extensively about his ultimate success.
He described in mid 1860s publications how he constructed the bed, and how he filled it with his favourite mixes of soils and manures.
“a piece of ground, of irregular shape, large enough to contain about 20 plants, was staked out, and the mould, or, more correctly speaking, the chalk, was removed to the depth of 3 ft. ; a bricklayer followed, and put in a floor of three bricks laid on the flat, set in good Portland cement, and over that a layer of plain tiles, the sides being made up to the ground-level with a 4″-inch wall, well built up in the same kind of cement ; this made the whole water-tight, and prevented the roots of the surrounding trees from penetrating and robbing the ferns of their moisture”.
Parsons’ original ‘Irregularly shaped’ tanked bed excavated.
About 160 years later we have now excavated Parsons’ zig-zag bed, (so-called because of its shape). By following Parson’s own techniques we hope to be able to grow and display the ‘Royals’ as successfully as he himself did in the late 19th Century.
The bed is in superb condition, complete with a base of tiles on top of bricks, and with the pipework leading to a drain – “provision was made for the escape of the surplus water, by introducing into the front wall, at about 4 ins. from the bottom, a common 3-in. drainpipe, which communicated with a small tank, about 3 ft. square, sunk into the chalk, so that all wastewater became absorbed” .
Can we grow specimen ferns to match Anthony Parsons’ ambitions?
Without doubt, Parsons and his gardening team put in a great deal of costly time and effort making sure that the ferns had the best possible loam, peat and leaf-mould to feed on.
“The space was filled up with earth, compounded of good loam, peat, and leaf-mould, in equal proportions, with about one-fifth of good rotten manure added thereto; these ingredients were thoroughly mixed and well-trodden in, and then the ferns were planted. In forming this bed”.
Parsons claimed that “the plants (were) far surpassing in size any I have ever seen under artificial cultivation, and, judging from reports, rivalling their growth in their natural habitats. Last season I could boast of Osmunda regalis with fronds at least 8 ft. in length, Osmunda spectabilis 4 and 1/2 ft., Osmunda Claytoniana 5 ft., Osmunda cinnamomea 3 ft., and the beautiful Osmunda regalis, var. cristata, 3 ft. in length. Adiantum pedatum grew from 2 ft. to 3 ft. in height, and others were proportionally fine“.
Parsons described in print how every spring – “I apply a dressing of about two inches of rotten manure to the surface, and just cover it with mould for the sake of appearance“.
Well today’s volunteers can try to match that, and we certainly have plenty of leaf-mould on site to help.
Conclusion
Parsons was unashamedly proud of his work with his Royal ferns – “The artificial swamp is the admiration of all the visitors here. The plants are always in a healthy and vigorous state, and have none of that half-starved appearance so frequently to be seen. The result of my experience induces me to believe that a more liberal treatment would not be found objectionable in the cultivation of many more of our native ferns. I intend making the experiment this season, and may possibly find time to make known what amount of success I may meet with”.
Colin, our very own fern expert, has taken note.
Since Parsons’ zig-zag bed was re-discovered during excavation work in 2019 it has been emptied of the old dry ‘mould’, or soil, that remained and re-filled with mixed soil and composted bark. We water regularly in summertime and top up with compost each year.
With Parsons in mind, today’s zig-zag bed has been planted up with Osmunda regalis, Osmunda regalis ‘Purpurascens‘, Polystichums, Adiantum, Holly fern (Cyrtomium falcatum)and the tiny Gymnocarpium dryopteris or Oak fern. Most of these ferns are doing very well in the conditions.
We believe that most of the herbaceous beds in the Fernery were eventually tanked by Parsons, and we have found plenty of evidence of that.
But one final piece of the jigsaw still needs investigating: Parsons mentioned – ‘a soakaway’ 3 feet square’, but the zig-zag’s own soak-away is significantly smaller than that. Perhaps Parsons was referring to the huge ‘sump’ that we have excavated in front of the grotto, which would act as a soak-away for the entire site?
More of that another time.
Gymnogramma chrysophylla Parsonsii Or Pityrogramma austro-americana?
The title might sound like a mysterious and, frankly, academic question but the significance may become clear in this article.
In the Pteridologist magazine in 2000 Patricia Watt mentioned that Anthony Parsons (AP) was honoured by having a fern, Gymnogramma chrysophylla parsonii , named for him. This is a Victorian name, no longer in use, so it was a bit of a mystery as to what this fern could be. No records have yet come to light from this once renowned gardener or from family archives that would shed light on what this fern looked like, or why AP was honoured by having it named for him. Plants cultivars are often named for the first person to come across or cultivate the unique variation. The usual internet search did not throw much light on this as there seemed to be no readily available Victorian taxonomy to modern plant names translator.
Our friend Peter Blake of the Pteridological Society had a look at some historic books that he was familiar with and has found the modern name of the original. He feels it is a cultivar of Pityrogramma austro-americana, a small fern from central and southern Americas only suitable for hothouse growing but difficult to make thrive. Part of a group that have glorious golden or silver powder effect on young frond stipe, or stalk, and later a complete golden covering on the reverse of each mature frond, in the case of P. austro-americana.
We have found the following enticing information. In the 1850s AP was a well respected gardener, cultivator and exhibitor of both his fruit and flowers. In the 1860s he continued showing and added ferns, particularly his Pityrogramma calamelanos parsonii. He was mentioned in the ‘ Journal of Horticulture and Cottage Gardener in 1865 for showing and gaining First Class Certificates.
Benjamin Samuel Williams of Victoria and Paradise Nurseries, Upper Holloway, London, wrote a book in 1868 called ‘Select Ferns and Lycopods: British and Exotic’. It is a comprehensive instruction book and catalogue of ferns no doubt intended to encourage visits to his nursery and on page 140 he says:
“G chrysophyla parsonii – A most beautiful variety, obtained from seed (spore, Ed.) in this country. It retains all the beauty of the species, and, in addition, the apex of the fronds and every pinnae is densely and beautifully tasselled. This plant should be in every collection of tropical Ferns.”
George Schneider’s “Book of Choice Ferns” , 1893 describes Gymnogramma calamelanos parsonii as “A beautifully crested form, of comparatively dwarf dimensions, with fronds seldom exceeding 1ft. in length, and covered on their under-side with a beautiful dark yellow powder. They are of a very upright habit, their extremity being formed into a broad but finely-divided tassel, while each leaflet terminates in a crest, becoming smaller as they reach the base of the fronds. This variety is very variable in its mode of fructification, some plants producing fronds with more or less flattened crests. It is very liable to damping-off through excessive or accumulation of moisture in the crests of the fronds during the winter, when it must be kept in a particularly dry place, and as close to the light as possible.”
Peter has seen the un-crested Pityrogramma austro-americana in his travels to India and Ceylon as well as growing them in his own glass-house. He mentions that they are hard to grow but, as I have seen, are gloriously yellow stipe when young.
So in conclusion, it appears our Victorian gardener here at Danesbury Fernery was either lucky or brilliant at cultivation and was one of the few people recorded then or since to have cultivated the Gymnogramma chrysophylla parsonii. We now believe it to be based on Pityrogramma austro-americana, which if anyone can find a crested version should again be named for Anthony Parsons.
Report – BPS East Anglia Group – Autumn Meeting – Norwich
On 27th October 2018 a small group from The Friends of Danesbury Fernery (FODF) met in Welwyn for a convivial drive up to Norwich for the regular autumn social get together of the British Pteridological Society East Anglia Group (BPS EA). Thanks go to Andrew for driving myself, Sarah and Harry all that way.
A visit en route to – The Plantation Norwich
The Plantation is a restored Victorian garden in an old chalk pit very close to Peter and Nick’s house, where the BPS EA Meeting was to be held. Before the start time of the EA Autumn Meeting we therefore took the opportunity to visit the Plantation under Nick’s guidance. Go to The Plantation -Norwich for a separate report.
The BPS East Anglia Group Meeting – attended by Andrew, Sarah, Colin and Harry
After our visit to The Plantation, everyone was pretty chilled so warming coffees pulled us away from the Fern haven of a front garden, rising in steps to the house. A very friendly welcome and a quick tour highlighted Peter and Nick’s love of India, as well as Peter’s vast and impressive collection of ferns. More impressive is Peter’s knowledge of ferns. Later we wandered outside again for the plant (fern) sale and got a chance to explore the front garden delights again and discover that the rear garden is similarly profuse with Pteridological delights.
We four had interesting conversations with attending BPS members over lunch provided by our hosts. There is a great deal of knowledge in the group, as I’m sure there is in any enthusiastic and specialist organisation.
With most members comfortably seated in Peter’s lounge Andrew began the presentation of Danesbury Fernery. With much interest and questions, and the other three of us chipping in occasionally, I think we ran over our time slot a little, but nobody seemed to mind. There was surprise at how much had been achieved in such a short time by a relatively small volunteer group at Danesbury. I am sure we can expect a good group of BPS members when they visit Danesbury on Saturday 20th July 2019.
Two more interesting and varied presentations took us on tours of foreign lands with ferns in the forefront and many splendid photos. Time constraints meant we had to make our excuses and we packed the boot of Andrew’s car with our purchased ferns. Some were for individuals, but the bulk have now been planted at Danesbury.
If you wish to see the individual plants and know where to find them just catch Sarah or myself on one of the working party days. We moved many of the Dryopteris filix-mas (male fern) and Matteuccia struthiopteris (Ostrich, or Shuttlecock fern) to ‘themed’ beds under trees to make room for the more interesting varieties.
Ferns being ferns, they will look a bit sad for the winter, but with the return of warmth, and some moisture, I am sure they will look beautiful by the summer next year. The themed beds should slowly become impressive as they form homogeneous banks.
Colin Adlam