Researching and Restoring the Danesbury Victorian Fernery
Sourced from Dr Sarah Whittingham
Thomas Bates Blow
‘Successes and Failures” British Fern Gazette vol 6 No.7
December 1932 pp 185-6
Re: Danesbury
p.185 – “ 7 or 8 years ago this fernery was abandoned and ferns went to Mr Fitt at The Frythe“.
Conclusion: Danesbury Fernery was not abandoned until 1924?
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.
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.
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
The following is written and posted by Colin Adlam
I was looking through my old photos to see what triggered my interest in ferns. The photos show a tendency towards structural things, those not of family and friends. Buildings, trees, vehicles and latterly ferns. We used to visit a lot of National Trust properties with the kids and I think my first fern purchase probably came from one of them as a memento. In the mid ‘Noughties’ we had our front garden landscaped and had to re-plant the whole area. I acquired a small plot for the few ferns I had in containers and planted them out eagerly. The site was in the shade but above the root system of 2 vast Laurels that had once been the hedge, and a tall conifer. Not ideal.
Every spring copious watering would bring the ferns back to life again and continuous watering kept them lush for the summer months. I always looked forward to seeing those first croziers peek out and unfurl. They fascinated me. From about the year 2000 to 2010 my random collection grew to over 20 different species and cultivars with purchases at other NT houses and at Hampton Court RHS Flower Show, mainly bought from two guys that call their company ‘Fernatix’.
In 2009/10 we landscaped our back garden, with patio, water feature and fish pond, and I moved the main collection to two new areas. Leaving just a couple of large Blechnum nudum out front, the remaining plants were split between the small area next to our patio and a larger area below the pond. Both are on the southern boundary and shaded by a tree or the tall hedge. Masses of organic material was, and still is, dug in to keep the soil moist. Pride of place was given to the Polystichum setiferum ‘Plumosum Bevis’, a very darkly attractive Soft Shield fern.
Lower Fern Bed
The interest in collecting leads naturally to wanting to learn more about ferns; to see, photograph and uncontrollably purchase more. I am a besotted and incurable ‘fernatic’, or what the Victorians called – a Pteridomaniac! In the last 10 years I have taken over 3 further areas of the garden, the most successful being the shady and sheltered unused strip along the side path.
A few years back my wife and daughter, visiting the Chelsea Flower Show, saw a stand run by an organisation with an unpronounceable name. Deciding that it would be a good joke, they signed me up for membership of the British Pteridological Society. The regular publications started arriving, 3 different formats of newsletter plus emails, and I eventually got to this year’s AGM. I was fearful that the number of ‘Dr.’ prefixes in the organisation would make for a very academic day. Far from it. The day included a reasonably short formal AGM, some interesting presentations and slide-shows, a sale of BPS branded goods and a spore exchange. I met nice people with a similar interest, but often a far greater knowledge of ferns than I have memory capacity for.
Having recently visited two couples in Norfolk who are Pteridoligical Society members I realise my collection, and my retention of details, is woefully short of optimum. So I consider myself a Pteridomaniac, rather than a Pteridologist, enjoying collecting ferns and learning what I can from browsing books and catalogues.
I hope to help the Friends’ of Danesbury Local Nature Reserve community that have welcomed me with open arms, and occasionally get the name of a fern correctly identified. I look forward to seeing you all at working days at Danesbury as often as I can make it.
Colin Adlam
The following is reported by Colin Adlam
For the June 17th Open Day, I planted some spare ferns from my garden, leaving them at that stage in their plastic pots. Most of these have survived thanks to the teams’ brilliant watering efforts throughout this exceptionally hot summer. Wasn’t it glorious?
All those new ferns that survived have now been properly planted in the beds where they were located, as the beds have now been properly dug-over. Only one or two ferns were lost completely, and those can easily be topped up later in the year.
I also trimmed any totally scorched fronds on other plants and can report that many of those had new croziers popping their heads up. We should see some good growth in a mild damp autumn.
All the ‘Tatting ferns’ up the back wall of the dropping well have survived, and I hope for a good show of an interesting decorative fern next year.
In 1851 William Blake employed a highly-regarded Head Gardener Anthony Parsons. His obituary published in The Gardeners Chronicle of 1881 ³ confirmed his gardening expertise and sound judgement: he was “successful in originating some fine new varieties of British and other Ferns, one being named in his honour Gymnogramma chrysophylla Parsoni.
When Wiliam Blake (senior) died in 1852 his son William John Blake inherited the house. He asked Head Gardener Anthony Parsons
to build a Fernery in an old chalk pit about 500 metres to the East of the House, incorporating Pulhamite artificial rock work.
No papers exist to describe how the Fernery was constructed and then planted, but Pulham’s promotional catalogue of the time confirmed the construction of a ‘cave, dropping well, pass for ferns and other rockplants in an old chalk pit but in artificial stone’.
After the death of Anthony Parsons on Christmas Day 1880, and although still receiving praise in The Gardeners Chronicle of 1881, it is doubted that the Fernery will have continued to be managed on anything like the same scale for the following reasons:
Treasurer Andrew has succeeded in arranging a group membership for “The Danesbury Fernery Volunteer Group“
The BPS are very interested in our Project and Andrew has already had contact from Dr Alison Evans, BPS Membership Secretary, and Dr Peter Blake acting Representative for the East Anglia section.
As East Anglia Area representative, Peter Blake (from Norwich) hopes to visit us in person at our work party of 15th March 2018.
Peter is also circulating all east Anglia members with details about our activities and our social media contacts, and we might therefore expect visits by local members of the society. Such contact would give us hands-on guidance on growing ferns. Peter is suggesting that if any BPS member has spare ferns, then we would be pleased to have them. (Many BPS members grow their ferns from spores that take two to three years to become a sustainable plant).
Peter Blake also recommends that the Friends of Danesbury Local Nature Reserve (FOD) visit the BPS website for details of regional events that are currently at the planning stage. To access the BPS Members’ area which contains the plant exchange scheme details, you will need to note the user-name and password : BPSMember (case-sensitive) – the same for both boxes.
Out of interest, BPS Secretary Alison has commented to Andrew on one of the posts from our own website, How to Grow Specimen Ferns (principally the extract from Robinsons’s book documenting Anthony Parson’s systematic approach). She endorses the need to remove any chalk from the planting beds, and to try to plant domestic cultivars as ‘they are more resistant to rabbit and deer taste’.
The following is an extract from Alpine Flowers for English Gardens by William Robinson and published in London by John Murray, Albermarle Street in 1870
Source: https://archive.org/details/alpineflowersfo00robigoog
(Ed: I have corrected a few original typing/printing errors and introduced emphasis where helpful).
Part I – The Rock Garden (pages 24-26
Popular and almost universally cultivated as hardy ferns are, however, it is not at all common to see some of the most noble and interesting of them – The Royal Fern and several other Osmundas – otherwise in a shabby, or at best in a half-developed, condition.
Mr A Parsons, of Danesbury, a well-known florist and cultivator of ferns, has overcome this difficulty, and narrates his marked success in the pages of the ‘Florist and Pomologist’ [fruit grower].
He formed a very large fernery in an old chalk pit, and with much success; but notwithstanding all the care taken of the Osmundas and allied ferns, they were tried for four seasons with no satisfactory result, the roots of the surrounding trees robbing them of both soil and water.
“A change was then made: a piece of ground, of irregular shape, large enough to contain about twenty plants, was staked out, and the mould, or more correctly speaking, the chalk, was removed to the depth of three feet; a bricklayer followed, and put in a floor of three bricks laid on the flat, set in good Portland cement, and over this a layer of plain tiles, the sides being made up to the ground level with a four-and-a-half-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.
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, provision was made for the escape of the surplus water, by introducing into the front wall, at about four inches from the bottom, a common three-inch drain-pipe, which communicated with a small tank, about three feet square, sunk into the chalk, so that all waste water became absorbed. This method proved to be eminently successful, the plants far surpassing in size any I have ever seen under artificial cultivation and judging from report, rivalling their growth in their natural habitats.
Last season I could boast of Osmunda regalis with fronds at least eight feet in length, Osmunda spectabilis four feet and a half, Osmunda Claytoniana five feet, Osmunda cinnamomea three feet and the beautiful Osmunda regalis, var. cristata, three feet in length. Adiantum pedatum grew from two to three feet in height, and others were proportionally fine. The plants were not drawn up by being planted closely together, but were placed at a fair distance apart, and became handsome and noble specimens.
Every spring, I apply a dressing of about two inches of rotton manure to the surface, and just cover it with mould for the sake of appearance. This 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. In concluding my remarks upon which I may term ‘growing Osmundas under difficulties’ I would observe that the points to be principally attended to are:
Even the rare Killarney fern, usually kept in houses may be grown successfully in a cave in the rock-garden ….