In preparation for this special edition of the newsletter, earlier in the year I asked a number of IATFG members how they were keeping their Pyrrosia throughout the year. After the winter of 2022 some of my Pyrrosia were looking a little tatty compared to Peter Blake’s. I had successfully kept a P. heteractis outside for two winters in Milton Keynes and it got through both unscathed. But alas, I lost it through the unusual 2022-23 winter.
With many of us looking to reduce our greenhouse heating bills and to be as efficient and effective as possible with our horticultural expenditure, this information may
prove interesting and helpful. Over winter, I refer to my hothouse space as premium fern ‘real-estate’, so if I can keep a fern cooler, or even better outside, then I try.
The table below summarises the Pyrrosia collections of four members: myself, Valdy Pierozynski, Peter Blake and, of course, Evan Sharp. It simply lists the species and the winter and summer temperature conditions at which they are being kept. I’ve not included any unnamed Pyrrosia in the table, however, I do have this information for anyone interested. It would perhaps be interesting to work out the source of all clones of Pyrrosia circulating in the UK.
If you wish to contribute more information to this table, we can publish it again in a later edition.
Notes
GH = greenhouse, PT = polytunnel, HH = hothouse.
Temperatures given in Celsius and are the minimum temperature across the season.
Where the collector had multiple accessions, the data for fern kept in the coolest conditions is shown.
Unidentified or specific clones were not included in the table.
*see Remko Beuving’s article on P. similis in the Pteridologist published by the British Pteridological Society (‘A Mysterious Hardy Pyrrosia’, 7:5, 2023). Based on Remo’s article this is potentially a variety of P. lingua.
MATTHEW REEVE
Matthew is an amateur pteridomaniac with a passion of tropical, tender and aquatic ferns. He works in theatre as a musical director and composer. He is Publicity and Communications Officer for the BPS and co-leads the Tropical and Indoor Fern Group with Peter Blake.
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