Basic HTML Version
46
Historic Gardens 2010
BCD Special Report
in October 2008, work progressed well
during the autumn, and the final critical
measurements could be made to allow
accurate construction of the metal arches
to support the new roof glazing. By early
December the arches had arrived from
Belgium and were being positioned so that by
Christmas most of the glazing was in place.
With the glazed roof and lantern in
place, the internal scaffolding could be
removed to allow work to start inside
the fernery rebuilding the vault over the
entrance, repairing the grotto, reinstating
the paths and steps, and reconstructing the
water supply. There is no electricity in the
building; the ventilation in the lantern is
operated manually, and the water supply
relies on a gravity feed. The barrel vaulted
glass roof has a curved ladder on each side
to provide access for maintenance, and these
ladders can be cranked manually to move
them between the gables. The completed
structure, with the newly restored walls, wall
heads protected by thick lead flashings and
newly constructed glazed roof, is stronger
today than when it was first erected in
1870, a fact that bodes well for its future.
The fernery today
The fernery was re-opened to the public
in September 2009. In the absence of any
historical records, RBGE horticulturist
Andrew Ensoll has used his knowledge
and long experience of fern cultivation
to design the plantings, selecting ferns
from many parts of the world for their
diversity of form, as well as the diversity
of their origins. Most have been grown
from spores at RBGE, and over 75 per cent
are of known wild origin. All are from
temperate or warm temperate regions,
with many from the southern hemisphere.
They include species native to the Juan
Fernandez Islands in the Pacific Ocean off the
coast of Chile and others from the Azores,
Hawaii, South Africa, New Zealand and
Tasmania. Some are now rare in the wild
and in need of conservation protection.
The Victorian fern craze is now largely
forgotten, a curious fragment of Britain’s
cultural and botanical history, but when
visitors find themselves inside the restored
fernery, a lush green world apart, they might
feel a touch of pteridomania themselves.
Furthermore, by preserving historic fabric
and promoting biodiversity the project has
successfully united two different but related
forms of conservation. Both the restored
building and the remarkable plants it shelters
are the product of a belief that we have a
duty to keep such unique treasures alive.
Professor Mary Gibby
is the director
of science at the Royal Botanic Garden
Edinburgh and the president of the British
Pteridological Society. Her research studies
on ferns and their conservation have taken
her from the Atlantic woodlands of Argyll
to the Macaronesian Islands and Bhutan.
She is the author of
The Benmore Fernery:
Celebrating the World of Ferns
, RBGE,
Edinburgh, 2009. Email
Tree ferns flourishing in the renewed fernery (Photo: MAST Architects)