Page last updated : 8th Aug, 2008
Tree Ferns
I've always liked ferns. It was them, and other curious plants like Horsetails that fascinated me as a child and ultimately took me to university and a degree in Plant Biology (Hull, 2:1, 1979). They're easy to grow, have a strange and curious lifestyle and when they're happy grow like mad things.
Huge, fast-growing fronds on a slow-growing trunk make spectacular green architecture, all grown from spores too small to see. Wonderfull.
Tree ferns are not exactly easy to keep, but they're not that difficult either. They need a fair bit of care and attention in the UK climate, they're tough, but they can be vulnerable too.
Like all ferns they like shade and to be kept out of the wind. They don't mind small pots, but they do like lots of water. When you water them you should water into the crown, and when they are growing, feed every two or three weeks.
This is my biggest - Dicksonia antarctica for the Pteridophyte geeks. The trunk is about 20" high, which makes it around 20 years old. The fronds are a little over a metre long.
The base has been colonised by some native Scaly Male Fern (Dryopters affinis).