Planted in the Past
Linda Chiavaroli and her husband, David Rosenbloom, like houseplants. Unfortunately, so do their three cats. Following an episode--a final episode--when feline Miranda sat on and broke a treasured potted dracaena, the couple decided to give up on having plants indoors. Until now.
Growing in the living room of their Glassell Park house, untouched by cat paws or teeth, are ferns and bromeliads, safely encased in an ornate enclosure that is a throwback to Victorian times.
This is no simple terrarium: It is a Wardian case, a glass and metal structure designed to give plants a tropical home in grand style. The cases had their heyday in England in the 1800s, and the things that made them a hit in that era are becoming newly appreciated in this one. The cases are named for their creator, Nathaniel Bagshaw Ward, a London physician who stumbled on the concept while pursuing a biology experiment.
Most modern adaptations of the plants-under-glass idea are terrariums, simpler in style and design. But recently, the charm and practicality of the more ornate Wardian cases has been rediscovered. “This solved a double problem for us,” says Chiavaroli. “The indoor plants are protected from the cats, and it also serves as a piece of furniture.”
The Wardian case in the Chiavaroli-Rosenbloom home is more than 4 feet tall, in a rectangular style called “Essex House” (it measures 52 inches tall by 27 inches wide by 14 inches deep). A removable, curved plexiglass roof, decorated with a Victorian floral relief print on the hammered-metal edging, tops it off. It is one in a series of cases designed and manufactured by Jerry Peed, whose company, H. Potter, is based in Lincoln, Neb.
About five years ago, Peed began making what he calls “a pretty little house for your plants” by scaling down versions of English conservatories. Using 20th century technology and materials, he based his designs on the 19th century Wardian cases. He created a variety of shapes and sizes, from small tabletop models to ornate 5-foot cases made to display orchids.
When Chiavaroli and Rosenbloom were on a trip to the San Francisco Bay Area, they stopped to browse in a Los Gatos decorative arts gallery, Studio Forty Two Gallery. They saw the cases and were impressed by the quality and craftsmanship. “It’s a decorative art item that’s really well made,” said Rosenbloom, a professional woodworker.
The cases retail from $60 to $600 and are available through Internet stores and land-based ones, including the Glass Garage and La Bella Cosa in Los Angeles. Shirley Cooper, owner of English Creek Gardens, an Internet retail site, is also a fan of Wardian cases and sells H. Potter items. “They’re wonderful for orchids, African violets, ferns and miniature gardens,” she said. “They’re so versatile.”
Cooper says the cases are popular with her customers who have physical limitations that restrict their gardening. “They love gardening in Wardian cases because of the ease of creating and caring for these indoor gardens,” she says.
The idea for the cases came by happenstance to Ward, a physician who practiced in London’s East End in the early 1800s. In his spare time, he studied botany and entomology. He tried to maintain a city garden, but ferns and other greenery were barely surviving in the notoriously polluted air of England’s Industrial Age. In 1830, while studying moths, he encased some moth larvae in a sealed glass jar. He was astounded to find that a fern and some grass emerged from the jar’s soil.
This chance event began a transformation that greatly affected horticulture around the world. Ward hired a carpenter to build a case for further research. In 1833, he conducted his first major experiment by shipping two custom cases filled with British ferns and grasses to Sydney, Australia. After a six-month ocean voyage, the still-thriving plants reached their destination. Following Ward’s directions, the cases were cleaned and repacked with native Australian plants that previously had been too delicate to ship. After an arduous eight-month voyage, the plants reached Ward in excellent condition.
When he published the results of his tests with what he called miniature greenhouses or fern houses, others followed his example. Orchids and other exotic plants crossed the seas in their protective glass enclosures. Industry was quick to follow. Robert Fortune used the cases to ship 20,000 tea plants from Shanghai to the Assam region of India, thus beginning a tea industry that still flourishes.
Ward’s display at a World’s Fair set off the craze for these unique glass structures that people termed Wardian cases.
They were manufactured in a wide variety of sizes and in fanciful shapes, like miniature Taj Mahals and Brighton Pavilions.
While today’s gardeners don’t have to contend with the coal-polluted air or the other issues the Victorians did, they do have the problem of growing plants indoors where air conditioning and forced-air heating create conditions that harm most foliage plants. Wardian cases solve the problem.
“They require very little attention because they recycle moisture as the leaves release water vapor, which condenses on the glass, trickles down into the soil and re-waters the plants,” Peed says. “Plants typically can go for one month before requiring supplemental water.”
Most houseplants are tropical in origin, so they naturally thrive in humidity. Guidelines for growing in Wardian cases include proper selection of plants and keeping them away from direct sunlight. Fertilizing is discouraged; plants are kept small by pinching new growth.
The case has turned out to be a valued addition to the Chiavaroli-Rosenbloom household--and because they both work at home, they are around it a lot. Chiavaroli runs United Arts, specializing in marketing and public relations in the performing arts; Rosenbloom designs and builds custom cabinets.
The couple maintain an outdoor vegetable and herb garden (Rosenbloom tends that) as well as the Wardian case (which Chiavaroli tends).
The plants do indeed thrive on minimal care. So far, she has only needed to water the small plants occasionally, and she doesn’t worry about leaving them untended when she and her husband travel. Cats and plants coexist, and the finely detailed Wardian case evokes a garden tradition from another time and place.
