Research

Pteridomania

Pteridomania - An obsession with ferns or “fern fever”

At the beginning of this project a huge staring point and inspiration for me was the fernery at Newstead abbey. Although my project has now moved on, I thought it prominent to add in the back ground research to my earlier work. So personally I am a huge lover of plants, a plant mom with over 30 green children so I was totally drawn to the gardens at Newstead, but the fernery was by far my favourite. As soon as I walked in I could feel the power of the place, the arches built purely to frame a plant, the vast varieties it housed, the original fern pots, it really portrayed prestige onto the on looker and you could really feel how proud mrs William Fredrick Webb was of her collection. So upon research I discovered the Victorian fern craze, and this perfectly backed up my thoughts about the fernery and gave me the background information I needed. The Victorian fern craze was a period in the Victorian era where a love for the natural world and ferns in particularly really grasped a hold of the society at the time. This obsession was taken on by every part of society, a boost in foliage adorned arts, the growth of Darwinism, and it brought the classes together, well for a small time at least. The hobby of fern expeditions was born, a hobby that could be taken on by The upper class and lower class but also male and females, a truly inclusive activity for the time. This obsession also made its way  into the home with the invention of the fern case, a cheap alternative to the prestigious fernery. Although the upper class could afford to invest in the craze and created the ferneries and hothouses, big places purely designed to show of there plant collection and in turn really just show of their wealth, the natural plant just became another vessel for showing of their wealth, like the big houses they owned and clothes like lace that they adorned themselves in.