Tree Ferns

Tree Ferns: the ultimate plant for the tapestry garden........
In October 2008 I visited Papua New Guinea, searching for orchids and rhododendron in the high altitudes of the Highlands. On Mount Wilhelm, 5,000 metres above sea level, I found species of tree ferns not yet named by botanists. I love tree ferns, perhaps the ultimate plant for the tapesty garden. The lime green of fresh, new leaves emerging on the bare limbs of trees, and the soft, unfurling fronds of ferns can be just as energising as the colour and scent of spring and summer.  

The combination of shapes, textures and shades is central to the success of any garden, and among the plants that contribute to the creation of a lush, cool tapestry of foliage is the tree fern.
Tree ferns date back some 400 million years to the Devonian Era, and range from tall growing plants to low, delicate ground covers. They evoke a variety of images: of intrepid plant hunters risking their lives in mountain passes and in dangerous jungles to transport botanical prizes back to garden owners hungry for the rare and unusual.  They speak of elegant days past: of tea dances in palm courts and of pink gins enjoyed in the shadowy courtyards of the Far East.

 Most are located in two genera, Cyathea and Dicksonia, and are native to the humid sub-tropical and tropical, frost free regions of the world. An umbrella-like crown of lacy, weeping fronds emanates from a central bud held aloft a stem, which can reach up to 20 metres. The stem is a complicated system of tissues which conduct nutrients, and is often covered in brown, fibrous, aerial roots. Tree ferns love rainforest conditions of misted, dappled light and moist, humus rich soil.

There are some 600 species in the Cyathea genus; most are single stemmed, growing to 15 metres. They are topped with a crown of fronds, most of which have scales at their base which, once removed, leave scars on the trunks. The entire plant can be transplanted.

I took the picture below left, of a forest of Cyathea atrox growing in the valley of ancient glacier, in October 2008, four thousand metres up Mount Wilhelm, in the Central Highlands of Papua New Guinea: the twin peaks opposite are in the Bismarck Range. A little higher, where sometimes snow falls, two affiliated species are as yet unnamed.

The rough tree fern (Cyathea australis), flourishes in the moist, basalt soils of Mount Wilson, in the Blue Mountains, west of Sydney. In these deep volcanic soils, and under the protection of old growth forests, these dramatic and elegant tree ferns – reminiscent of a corps of long legged ballerinas - grow to some 15 metres in height, reaching toward the light.  Native to the east coast of Australia, this graceful tree fern grows happily in association with exotic species.

                          
             Above:Tree ferns some 3,000metres            Above:  Cyathea cooperi
             up Mount Wilhelm