For a while in the nineties , when television programmes such as Home Front and Ground Force ruled the line waves , tree diagram ferns almost became a horticulture cliché . They were saved from turning into the industrial plant eq of shrimp cocktail by their comparative expense ; a good quality , legally reap specimen will position you back around £ 40 per human foot . When one look at it might have taken a 4 ft fern around 60 eld to achieve that height , the cost seems pretty modest . Once established , the hardy of the tree fern , Dicksonia antarctica , can produce frond 6 ft foresighted , lending garden a highly desirable , jungly look .
Until now we ’ve grown just one specimen in our London garden , purchased from a garden centre when it was a bare 6″ magniloquent . Five long time later it ’s not a lot taller , but consistently redact forth a magnificent bird of lush Modern fronds in spring . Encouraged by the fledgling fern ’s tolerance of our heavy London cadaver ( the opposite of the conditions it favor ) we ’ve take the plunge and buy it a 5 foot familiar . They will henceforth be know as David and Goliath .
carbon paper geological dating indicates that tree fern were alive and kicking on our planet at least as long ago as the Jurassic period . Their arrival in UK garden occur substantially after and by stroke . As the 19th 100 come to an remainder , ship returning to British port from Australia would use tree fern shorts as throng to prevent lading crashing around in the cargo hold in grievous seas . On arriver the trunks were toss out on the quayside . Thanks to the South West ’s balmy clime , some of the forsake torso found conditions tolerable enough to go grow , much to the surprisal of the dockers . It did not take long for the squires and aristocrats of Cornwall and Devon to catch on , and soon alien Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree fern abound in their gardens where they still flourish today . Trengwainton , Trewidden and The Lost Gardens of Heligan all have extensive collections ofDicksonia antarcticawhich have live on changing mode , block winter , violent gales and foresightful periods of carelessness .
Today tree diagram fern are exported from Tasmania , Victoria and New South Wales in just the same way as they were in the 19th century . Although they are plentiful in their born home ground , they must be harvested under licence and should get from the nursery tag with the position of ancestry and a traceable act . When collected in the wild the frond are cut and the bottom is sawn , pull up stakes a completely bare trunk . It ’s in this enforced State Department of sleeping that they are transported , still by gravy boat , to Europe and the USA where they go forward to be highly valued .
David ’s new leaves emerging above the old
Unlike a real tree which has a woody stem covered in bark , a tree fern has a ‘ stock ’ composed of rhizome which have conform to grow vertically . The rhizomes carry nutrients to and from the fronds and base . What we might call a luggage compartment is in reality a dense mass of disintegrate earlier increment through which the tree fern ’s root grow . InDicksonia antarctica‘s aboriginal home ground , and indeed some Cornish gardens , epiphytic plants will happily make their home on the bole ’s surface . In our London garden , Galium odoratum(sweet woodruff ) find the hairy airfoil a perfect climbing frame .
The picture below shows Goliath , newly planted and barren of frond after his long journey from Victoria , Australia , via Cornwall , following in the footsteps of his ancestors . He will take watering daily from the top of the trunk to advance new foliage to unfurl . Tantalisingly , there ’s already a cluster of frond quick and expect to poke out into the lighter .
Goliath ’s scanty poll , sheltering a clustering of tightly furled fronds
The genus ‘ Dicksonia ‘ honours James Dickson ( 1738 - 1822 ) , who was a large British nurseryman . It ’s thought that James Dickson was join with Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree ferns as a issue of his friendly relationship with Sir Joseph Banks ( 1743 – 1820 ) who took part in Captain James Cook ’s first great voyage on HMS Endeavour . The species name ‘ antarctica ’ is deceptive and merely suggests that the specie hails from a southerly or cooler localization as match to the Torrid Zone . There is no fogey evidence that tree ferns ever populated Antarctica . Although established plants are brave to around -10 degrees , they prefer Robert Lee Frost free conditions and require wintertime aegis in colder parts of the nation .
The secret to successfully growingDicksonia antarcticais to understand how it get in the wild . Like many ferns , these hobo camp giants rise on the woodland floor in dappled sunlight , seeking out damp area where there is little air movement . These atmospheric condition create a humid microclimate where the ferns ’ trunks can remain constantly dampish and the fronds can offer without being damage by strong wind . Tree ferns also appreciate a neutral to acid soil , rich in leafmould and not too heavy in grain .
Siting a tree fern in a UK garden can therefore be tricky , especially as they need distance spread their gorgeous frond and protection from winter cold . If you do have a spot beneath trees , or in the lee of a wall , then that ’s a sound start ; my experience is that even the grave of soils can be ameliorate with a bit of ericaceous compost , leafmould and skin chippings to produce the correct kind of growing metier . David was container grown and planted in the normal way , take care to engraft at the same deepness as in the pot . Goliath came to us as 5 ft trunk , of which around 8″ need to be buried in the ground for stability . A reasonably tight planting hole , backfilled with squeamish organic affair and well firmed in , ensures the trunk will not tip over . It will take the remainder of this time of year for roots to drop anchor the tree trunk to the ground . Now it ’s a vitrine of reviving Goliath after his ocean trip , with day-by-day watering from the cap to re - wet the stock and recoil start the production of frond . Hopefully he and David will become friends rather than adversaries . If not , the equally rude magnolia under which they both shelter may have to mistreat in and class them out .
Goliath was purchased fromBurncoose Nurseriesin Cornwall , experts in chain armor guild and part of theCaerhaysestate , which would have been among the first Cornish gardens to cultivate tree ferns . Also worth a expression in the UK areAmulree ExoticsandThe Palm Centre .
David and a thus far au naturel Goliath in our London garden .
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Categories : Cornish Gardens , Foliage , Plant Portraits , plant , Trees and Shrubs , Tropical Gardens
Posted by The Frustrated Gardener
