Dear Mary,

I worked as a conservator in a historic house for several years.  When I
first arrived, there was an established practice of decorating with
fresh flowers and plants, which, of course, I was ready to ban, but I
knew it would not be without a struggle.  My strategy therefore was to
monitor the plants and rooms containing them for physical proof to
convince the curator and interpreters that it was not a good practice.

The problems I anticipated never arose, and I believe it was for these
reasons:
1.  The museum had a full-time housekeeper, so the rooms and plants were
always well maintained and cleaned.
2.  The museum had a full-time gardener; most plants in the house came
from the museum's greenhouse, where they had been raised and replanted
in  sterile potting soil.
3.  Both the gardener and the housekeeper monitored the plants, removing
dead growth, and the plants were changed with the seasons (part of the
interpretation scheme as well.)  Cut flowers also were inspected by the
gardener and the interpreter whose special charge was the garden, and
the water changed almost daily (so no problems with stagnant water,
mould, etc.)
4.  Containers and cachepots for plants were (for the most part) new
ones that looked period (making it easier to keep them clean, no cracks
for insects to hide in) and were always placed on thick mats to protect
the finish of the furniture.
5.  Plants were usually located in traffic areas, such as the entrance
hall, where they would not be overlooked; plants known to be problems
(such as peonies, which seem to hide ants, even after careful
inspection) were placed away from artifact areas altogether, in areas
containing mainly reproduction furniture and room finishes.

The only insect infestation we had, in the time I worked there, was with
carpet beetles in a costume borrowed from another museum, in a room not
containing or near to living plants!

What this has taught me is that, if you want to have fresh flowers and
plants in your historic house, make sure that you have protective
procedures in place and that everyone knows and follows them.
Monitoring and high standards of housekeeping are absolutely key. Be
careful to protect artifacts and historic building fabric from any
damage (not just water; for example, many sites decorate with Christmas
boughs and wreaths of evergreens, which exude gums and can leave sticky
drips and residues.)
Many historic sites, while banning fresh plants, contain interpretive
material which is equally attractive to insects, such as bunches of
dried herbs and foodstuffs in the kitchen, piles of wood by the fire,
and dried plant arrangements, little of which is regularly inspected.
Insects brought into a museum on plants are less of a threat to museum
artifact materials than those already in the museum, harboured by dried,
warm and undisturbed foodstuffs.  I would not recommend fresh plants or
any other material of this type for any site that couldn't follow a
maintenance program.

Jane Holland,
Conservation Advisor.