Just seen a piece on tree ferns on GW. Does anyone know how fast they grow
in height? Our budget doesn't quite stretch to £150 for a tall one but I've
seen some much shorter ones for about £30.

Thanks,

Clare

In article ,
batgirl wrote:
Just seen a piece on tree ferns on GW. Does anyone know how fast they grow
in height? Our budget doesn't quite stretch to £150 for a tall one but I've
seen some much shorter ones for about £30.

In warm, damp conditions, they grow quite fast. In cold, dry
conditions, they die. Where do you live?


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

In message , batgirl
writes
Just seen a piece on tree ferns on GW. Does anyone know how fast they grow
in height? Our budget doesn't quite stretch to £150 for a tall one but I've
seen some much shorter ones for about £30.

Thanks,

Clare


I've heard somewhere that they take about 10 years to grow a foot. But
possibly someone will have more experience of them than me.
--
Sue Begg
Remove my clothes to reply

Do not mess in the affairs of dragons - for
you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup!

About one inch per year, i'm afraid. If I were you, I would buy the largest that I could afford.
I have 4 Dicksonias at the moment plus various Cyatheas.

Laury

They also cost about £1 to £1.50 an inch.

I think they are wasted packed into a border, the deserve a place but do look good under planted.

Bristol

"Nick Maclaren" wrote in message
...
In article ,
batgirl wrote:
Just seen a piece on tree ferns on GW. Does anyone know how fast they grow
in height? Our budget doesn't quite stretch to £150 for a tall one but
I've
seen some much shorter ones for about £30.

In warm, damp conditions, they grow quite fast. In cold, dry
conditions, they die. Where do you live?


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

On 29/4/05 21:05, in article
, "batgirl"
wrote:

Just seen a piece on tree ferns on GW. Does anyone know how fast they grow
in height? Our budget doesn't quite stretch to £150 for a tall one but I've
seen some much shorter ones for about £30.

Thanks,

Clare


Max of around 2" a year if you're lucky and conditions are optimum. We've
had one on one of our lawns for 3 years and I swear it hasn't altered by a
millimetre. They are *very* slow growing. We sold one last year that was
about 18' tall and I was awed at what age it must be. Some places sell them
for £25 per foot (or more). Perhaps they'd make good Christening
presents.......
--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
(remove the weeds to email me)

On 29/4/05 11:31 pm, in article ,
"Janet Baraclough" wrote:

The message
from Sacha contains these words:

On 29/4/05 21:05, in article
, "batgirl"
wrote:

Just seen a piece on tree ferns on GW. Does anyone know how fast they grow
in height? Our budget doesn't quite stretch to £150 for a tall one
but I've
seen some much shorter ones for about £30.

Thanks,

Clare


Max of around 2" a year if you're lucky and conditions are optimum.

I agree. They self seed in Brodick Castle's woodland, so they must be
happy, but still painfully slow.

Janet

Apropos all this, B&Q in Plymouth were selling 4' ones for £30 yesterday.
--

Sacha
(remove the weeds for email)

In article ,
Dave Poole wrote:

They are desperately slow in putting on trunk height Clare - about a
couple of inches per year at best - even in their native environment.
Kept in a heated greenhouse, they will make more than twice that
amount, but generally produce slender trunks as a result. ...

To put that into perspective, many trees put on only 6" a year and are
merely called slow-growing - and those trees often have 8' of
'twig-like' growth about the 'trunk-like' (16 years!) Similarly,
clump-forming plants like Danae racemosa may spread sideways at only
1/2" a year!

How long do they take from a small plant to a full-width trunk with
a good shower of leaves? I was under the impresion that it is faster
than often thought.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

On Fri, 29 Apr 2005 20:05:00 +0000 (UTC), "batgirl"
wrote:

Just seen a piece on tree ferns on GW. Does anyone know how fast they grow
in height? Our budget doesn't quite stretch to £150 for a tall one but I've
seen some much shorter ones for about £30.

I'm having a go at making a fake one!
I've got quite a collection of ferns dotted around the garden and the
surrounding coppice - and it seems to me that many of them have a
largely unrecognised beauty.

I figure that a stout pole - such as an old tree trunk, or perhaps a
hefty plastic pipe, would make a decent 'bole'. By wrapping this in
fine meshed chicken wire and then covering it in old fern leaves it
would look pretty natural.
A pot placed inside the head of the trunk would provide planting space
for a fern of choice.

OK, so it wouldn't get any higher - but then you have the option of
replacing the fern from time to time, and there must be plenty of
other plants that would look fine in this situation.

Regards,



--
Stephen Howard - Woodwind repairs & period restorations
www.shwoodwind.co.uk
Emails to: showard{whoisat}shwoodwind{dot}co{dot}uk

On 30/4/05 11:57 am, in article ,
"Stephen Howard" wrote:

On Fri, 29 Apr 2005 20:05:00 +0000 (UTC), "batgirl"
wrote:

Just seen a piece on tree ferns on GW. Does anyone know how fast they grow
in height? Our budget doesn't quite stretch to £150 for a tall one but I've
seen some much shorter ones for about £30.

I'm having a go at making a fake one!
I've got quite a collection of ferns dotted around the garden and the
surrounding coppice - and it seems to me that many of them have a
largely unrecognised beauty.
snip

This got me thinking about that old Victorian garden feecha - the stumpery.
If you can find a large old tree stump of pleasing shape, fill a 'pocket' in
the top of it with soil and plant the fern of your choice in that. We had
some big apple roots from a person who works in the nursery and are making a
small stumpery with them.
--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
(remove the weeds to email me)

On 30/4/05 2:55 pm, in article ,
"Janet Baraclough" wrote:

The message
from martin contains these words:

On Fri, 29 Apr 2005 23:31:10 +0100, Janet Baraclough
wrote:


I agree. They self seed in Brodick Castle's woodland, so they must be
happy, but still painfully slow.

Why painfully?

However much you torture me, I won't tell.

Janet.

But if you did, you'd have to kill him. Right?
--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
(remove the weeds to email me)

In article ,
Dave Poole wrote:

Dicksonia antarctica does not normally experience sustained high
temperatures - especially in winter and the growth rates achieved were
highly untypical. Some species of tree fern - especially one or two
of the Cyatheas do grow quite quickly. However, few of them are
anywhere near as hardy and are only truly reliable in mild regions or
gardens with very favourable microclimates.

Right! That is one cause of confusion. The ones that I was thinking
of were in west Cornwall. I don't grow Dicksonia antarctica, but have
seen it grow in comparable places (to Cambridge) on the continent.

Thanks for the clarification.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

In article ,
Dave Poole wrote:
Nick Maclaren wrote:
Some species of tree fern - especially one or two
of the Cyatheas do grow quite quickly. However, few of them are
anywhere near as hardy and are only truly reliable in mild regions or
gardens with very favourable microclimates.

Right! That is one cause of confusion. The ones that I was thinking
of were in west Cornwall. I don't grow Dicksonia antarctica, but have
seen it grow in comparable places (to Cambridge) on the continent.

Nick, the fastest and most massive growing tree fern that can be grown
in very mild, sheltered spots is the 'Mamaku', 'King' or 'Black Tree
Fern' - Cyathea medullaris. Its a stunning thing and a bit of a
monster developing a very hefty black trunk, with purplish black 'leaf
stems'. ...

Thanks again. I can't remember where I saw them - one place was
Trelowarren, I don't think that Burncoose had any, but there were
others. Caerhays perhaps, but it could have been another garden.
It was a long time ago, and I don't know the species, but all those
gardens (except perhaps Burncoose) have very mild climates.

The Dicksonias I saw on the continent were all in botanic gardens,
clearly protected in the winter (some were still wrapped) and almost
certainly watered in summer. They still didn't look happy - planting
them in a Cambridge-like climate is for virtuosity not because they
are suitable.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

On 2/5/05 10:24, in article , "Nick
Maclaren" wrote:

In article ,
Dave Poole wrote:
Nick Maclaren wrote:
Some species of tree fern - especially one or two
of the Cyatheas do grow quite quickly. However, few of them are
anywhere near as hardy and are only truly reliable in mild regions or
gardens with very favourable microclimates.

Right! That is one cause of confusion. The ones that I was thinking
of were in west Cornwall. I don't grow Dicksonia antarctica, but have
seen it grow in comparable places (to Cambridge) on the continent.

Nick, the fastest and most massive growing tree fern that can be grown
in very mild, sheltered spots is the 'Mamaku', 'King' or 'Black Tree
Fern' - Cyathea medullaris. Its a stunning thing and a bit of a
monster developing a very hefty black trunk, with purplish black 'leaf
stems'. ...

Thanks again. I can't remember where I saw them - one place was
Trelowarren, I don't think that Burncoose had any, but there were
others. Caerhays perhaps, but it could have been another garden.
It was a long time ago, and I don't know the species, but all those
gardens (except perhaps Burncoose) have very mild climates.

snip

Cyathea medullaris is usually available at Burncoose and you might have seen
some at Trebah, perhaps? Or in Tresco Abbey Gardens?
--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
(remove the weeds to email me)