Hardy Tropicals UK

everyones got tree ferns, my biggest is only a baby one just 1 foot tall.

who has the biggest onse?

post photos please and mo please dont post frogs on motorbikes

here is my tallest one.i got it from todds in essex 7.5 tall when i planted it in 2007

I have 5 Dicksonia antarctica ranging from 1 to 2 feet of trunk. However, I'm quite impressed with my Cyathea medullaris

very impressive cyathea

looks good Dave,do you bring it in for winter?

My biggest is 19foot, although I had to put 2 1/2foot in the ground.

good on you henry,do you water it?

]The biggest tree ferns I've ever seen up close are in Groombridge Place, in Kent. There's a forest with what could be desscribed as a tree fern valley, loads of them there, many around the 10-20ft mark, I would estimate.





Not only is it a sheltered / shady location, but the whole area is on a South facing slope, lifting the temperature by a few degrees due to the greater intensity of sunshine it receives (they also have a vineyard to take advantage of this extra sunshine). Pretty much the perfect location for tree ferns in England.

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Edit, although whoever wrote the above article is mistaken, IMO. Ground root size seems to have a direct impact on frond size. Tree ferns in pots always seem to have smaller fronds than planted ones.

hi we have 2 8ft tree ferns in our front garden , which we brought this year from akamba , we dug them in about 1 and a half foot deep, they have been really lush this year, but we woken up this morning after all the rain to find one of them flat on the lawn , very annoying Greg had to dig it back in before work this morning which he wasn't pleased about , and now there staked till after the winter

I still water them , although not that much, I have planted 3 bromiliads in the trunk fibres of the big tree fern, they will take alittle while to get established.
It amazes me that some people think that the 'ground roots' are only for stability, the woman in the plant sales area at Trebah gardens said to me "it's amazing how they get all there water from what falls on the trunk", some of the treeferns had 10' fronds!, plus it hadn't rained for weeks.
Frond length is definatly limited to roots, the big ferns fronds get larger each year and produce more fronds. I plant the smaller tree ferns up to 6 foot only 4 inches deep and prop them will bamboo canes. They soon root in 1-2 years to become stable enough to remove.

becky wrote:hi we have 2 8ft tree ferns in our front garden , which we brought this year from akamba , we dug them in about 1 and a half foot deep, they have been really lush this year, but we woken up this morning after all the rain to find one of them flat on the lawn , very annoying Greg had to dig it back in before work this morning which he wasn't pleased about , and now there staked till after the winter

really sorry to hear that Becks, It happened to me two months ago ..one of the tree ferns above the seating. Fortunately the fronds had not opened. I hope that it has not done to much damage to the fronds and your garden. I learnt my lesson and planted all the new tree ferns with long camping tent stakes spikes. Four spikes holding each tree fern in.

I also buried the tree ferns abit deeper then I did last year. It is only this year you need to worry about..this time next year the tree ferns would have produced enough roots to anchor and support themselves.

Mine is 6ft 10in tall with fronds about 6-7ft long from Simon at Turn It Tropical,
I left mine on a bed of soft soil so it will root into the ground, with an angle iron stake to surport it,I've fed it with banana skins chopped up and placed in the grown, I also have a little 2ft planted in the ground that's been growing there happily for about 4 yrs now.

Mine has a 5ft trunk, but I picked it because it had a really thick trunk... It came from B&Q about 2/3 years ago...

Nathan wrote:Mine has a 5ft trunk, but I picked it because it had a really thick trunk... It came from B&Q about 2/3 years ago...

I see. I suppose I would boast too.

themes wrote:

Nathan wrote:Mine has a 5ft trunk, but I picked it because it had a really thick trunk... It came from B&Q about 2/3 years ago...

I see. I suppose I would boast too.

Don't you have a B & Q then