gardening | style
Fantastic Unfurling
We’ve the Victorians to thank for introducing the Tree Fern to our gardens. But only recently have we realised these characterful plants can survive in less than sub-tropical conditions, says Chris Kidd, curator of Ventnor Botanic Garden.
B
ecoming familiar in British gardens once again is Dicksonia antarctica, one of the Tree Ferns. The original and oldest Tree Ferns we can see growing in
places like Cornwall were introduced in Victorian times as exciting new garden plants. This sub-tropical planting was limited to the warmer parts of the country, but in recent years they have proved to be hardier than previously thought, and sustainably harvested plants from Tasmania can be grown in a wide range of locations.
These new plants arrive as trunks, having been transported on a long sea voyage. Harvested from locations in Tasmania that have been earmarked for development, they have a fi ghting chance in our gardens. Make sure you select ones that have documentation – though strict controls mean it’s actually very rare that illegal Tree Ferns enter the UK.
A moist site is essential, particularly in the 104
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early years. The trunk of the Tree Fern is a thick log of roots, and these will need to be encouraged with weekly watering to establish them. Soon a fresh ‘shuttlecock’ of leaves will emerge, so water into the crown too. The tidier gardeners like to cut the old fronds away, though at Ventnor Botanic Garden we leave them on as we want our plants to resemble how they would look in their natural habitat.
In the wild in Tasmania, Tree Ferns grow in dense thickets, famously so close together as to be impenetrable. Where Tree Ferns grow no human foot has trod. The trunks can grow to amazing lengths, and will often have fallen over and grown upwards again to weave a complex maze. Plants of all ages will combine, quite unlike the specimen plants in European gardens.
Since we planted our Dicksonia antarctica in 2005 at Ventnor Botanic Garden we’ve been keeping an eye open to see if we have any natural regeneration. We had assessed the viability of spores in vitro on
several occasions, and had successfully grown prothalli [a germinating spore] that developed onwards into young ferns. We had expected the young ferns to arise in the shady, humid and moister zone in the ravine beneath the parent Tree Ferns – but it appears we were looking in the wrong direction. A little distance away on a hillock dominated by self sown divaricate Coprosma spp. are some mossy rocks that have become home to these self- regenerated baby Tree Ferns.
‘We expected the young ferns to arise in the shady, humid zone beneath the parent Tree Ferns - but we were looking in the wrong direction’
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