I love tree ferns. Besides the most common, Dicksonia antartica and Cyathea cooperi, what do you think are the best looking tree ferns? see my Brentwood C. cooperi below.
thanks, Dave
Tree fern beauty
Bit close to the building for those 3-metre long fronds to display well!
I like Cyathea dealbata best, but it isn't quite hardy enough to grow where I am.
Resin
I know it is close to the wall, fortunately the wall is only 5 feet tall, so when the fronds are really large it should clear it. I will check out the dealbata.
thanks, David
I vote for the C cooperi!
I too, thought I had planned okay for the fern tree, and must admit was quite unprepared for the explosive growth this plant is capable of. These fronds are so vast that they span 15 feet from one end of a frond to the other side of the other frond. I never dreamed it would conflict with the bird of paradise next to it, let alone be poking me in the eye where I have my garden chair at! Last year, I was looking down at this plant and it was less than a 5 foot span.
There was no trunk at the beginning of 2007 on this fern tree.
Enjoy! I sure have. It's my favorite!
Rj
Here's a sunny picture of it. It has totally engulfed the pond area.
It's beautiful RJ. I'd love to go read a book in that space, it seems so peaceful.
Thankyou!
The garden is modled after a tropical jungle. Although I'm going to have to pick up pieces when I get home as a cold front is blowing through with ferocious winds and rain. I think old father winter is upset it's been in the 80's here all month.
Very nice fern. It makes the area look so lush. The cooperi has a very tropical look.
It does. I went to the Botanical Gardens in Kauai, and they were majestic looking, if not a bit jurassic.
My inlaws live in Kerville and they said the same thing RJ- went from 80 to 40 in a night- brr, sounds like Chicago. Hope none of your beauties got frost bit.
No, we were lucky..it is only 50'/40's and it's always a couple of degrees warmer here. Even when it did freeze last year, and the garden looked like a fire went through it, everything recovered including a papaya tree I have. Big oak trees around provide a canopy even without leaves. One thing I was very surprised at, was the fern tree. It didn't flinch, while the bird of paradise next to it got fried. Good thing to know on the ferns.
This was my sad attempt to show the size of the fern with the broom after the rain.
Laugh, it's bigger than I thought! Will have to go look and see if it might grow around here. We've got a side of the house that is always in shade and bushes fail in that area (would help if I quit planting bushes that need sun, but I'm still in the learning process) I was going to build a wall to get the height needed, but this would be an easier and much prettier backdrop.
I know, I'm always saying on that fern, "I didn't plan for success!"
Hyblaean, There are cold hardier tree ferns like the Dicksonia antartica, the Tasmanian Tree Fern, but you might just get to cold. Last January my Australian and Tasmanian Tree fern sat threw many hours in the low to mid 20'sF and a week of low 30's at night. One of my Australians got some leaf burn but looks great now.
One thing I like about tree ferns, is that below they create nice filtered sun light.
I do have a Tasmanian tree fern, but I'm not sure where to plant it. I will look up the Dicksonia antartica.
I just realized that I have a spot light that comes on at night, I wonder if that kept it warm, as it is sheltered by the deck on one side, the pond on another and a fence on the 3rd side.
Have any pictures of your ferns?
David, I think that we are just too cold :(
Oh well, I'll have to look at pictures- alot of beautiful plants are like that for us up here. The nice thing about yours having that wall right there, is that it protects it while it's growing, and then when it gets big and doesn't need the protection it will have cleared it. Or is protection not a consideration in CA? Julie
That wall will protect it from the drying winds while it is small. It doesn't get too cold where I live, but a few degrees warmer from the wall, may help it grow faster and look better. Spot lights at night will keep it warmer as well as canopy from taller trees. Having plants next to the house does seem to keep plants a little warmer as shown by the west's last cold spell.