36 replies to this topic

[_Wal]

I picked up 2 x Cyathea tomentosissima today, I was curious if anyone else has these. They are from PNG highlands and supposedly can grow in all manner of climate, and take full sun. A common name for this tree fern is ‘Highland Lace tree fern’.

I already have 1 x Cyathea cooperi 'Lacy Tree Fern' which is powering. Tree ferns really add that immediate rainforest touch in my humble opinion. pics to follow.

So who's growing tree ferns ?

[_Wal]

Forgot the pics.

Here's my cooperi, loves this weather, this is real rainforest stuff of late.

[_Wal]

The tomentosissimas I planted straight away.

Highland Lacy 1





Highland Lacy 2

[Tassie_Troy1971]

I am Wal
Cyathea tomentosissima is a great little tree fern and has taken 40 c 102 F down here in full sun .

Here is mine




Other Species include -

Cyathea cooperii
This has been very fast grower for me .



Dicksonia antarctica (Tasmanian native )

[Tassie_Troy1971]

Cyathea australis
another Tasmanian native



Cyathea brownii from Norfolk Island one of the biggest tree ferns when mature .


Cyathea medullaris from New Zealand and high altitude peaks on Fiji . This fern is one of my favorite it has jet black petioles and is EXTREMELY FAST growing this fern was a mere 15 cm tall in a small pot 18 months ago .
Unfortunately it got sunburnt on the 40 c day .

[BS Man about Palms]

I would like to get more of these eventually.

[Palm crazy]

Those are some beautiful tree ferns.


I only have one, but it's a nice one I think. Leaves are 10' wide. Three more weeks and I will have my first spring flush of the year. Dicksonia antarctica.


The trunk.


This one I p/u last year and is a cross of two native ferns here in PNW.
One is non-trunking crossed with a prostate native trunking one.
Sorry can't find the tag.

Edited by Palm crazy, 17 March 2012 - 10:13 AM.

[bgl]

Wal,

I can't really say that "I'm growing tree ferns" in the sense that I can't take the credit. They are just naturally occurring here. Some properties have very few while other properties have lots of them. I am fortunate in that my new garden has quite a few of them and I intend to leave all the healthy ones, and use them in my landscaping plans. The Hawaiian name is "hapu'u" and the botanical name Cibotium splendens. There are a few other species on the Big Island, but this is the most common one. First photo shows the view from my lanai, and there are quite a few on the opposing slope. The last photo has Kim for scale. Many hapu'us are considerably larger than this.

Bo-Göran

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[_Wal]

Thanks for the additions Troy, Roger and Bo, I never knew about Cibotiums. Bill, sooner the better.

One would think South America would have a lot of native tree ferns, and doesn't New Caledonia have some native tree ferns as well ? Perhaps New Cal palm collectors might consider hunting these down.

[Peter]

There are some fantastic New Cal tree ferns, although they tend to be a bit hard to track down. The best tree fern I ever grew was an unnamed species from Costa Rica that I got from a collector in Northern California. My climate isn't really a match, so I took all of them out as it was tough to keep them looking good all the time with my hot and dry climate. Not impossible, but just too much work for me. That species from Costa Rica was a real winner; bigger and faster growing than even the 'brentwood' variety of cooperii.

[BS Man about Palms]

There are some fantastic New Cal tree ferns, although they tend to be a bit hard to track down. The best tree fern I ever grew was an unnamed species from Costa Rica that I got from a collector in Northern California. My climate isn't really a match, so I took all of them out as it was tough to keep them looking good all the time with my hot and dry climate. Not impossible, but just too much work for me. That species from Costa Rica was a real winner; bigger and faster growing than even the 'brentwood' variety of cooperii.

Sounds perfect for Oceanside... where did you put them when you took them out?

[ariscott]

I have a few in my shadehouse..... Yep... I don't water enough for them to live outside at the moment, as I have to water them a lot to survive the dry season here. But, I am sure once the canopy is up, I should be able to grow them outside. Not sure what they are.... just some volunteer from pots of stuff....

Regards, Ari

[realarch]

Some great photos of nice looking stuff.

I received a couple of seeding 'New Caledonian' tree ferns a few years ago and they have done well.
I'm assuming they are Cyathea novae caledoniae, but not certain. The mother plant had buttress roots.
There were also a few large old Cimbotium splendens or Hapuu tree ferns on the property, and they create such a nice
canopy for the smaller plants.




New Cal. with a close up of the trunk. A real nice shade of violet.



Here are the Hapuu with a small New Cal. in front.

[LJG]

Those are great Tim.

Wal, I think NewCal has some of the nicest tree ferns around. Rare palm seeds always comes up with some great spores for sale but I have no idea how to grow from spore so I have never bought any.

[Peter]

Very nice Tim; that C. novea calidonea was one I was growing as well-please post photos as it gets older. I'd love to see a cyathea with buttress roots. And Bill, sorry but I already traded all of my cyatheas.

[realarch]

Thanks Len, thanks Peter. I meant to say 'seedling' not seeding. Oops. Mine are growing pretty fast and I'll keep you up to date.
Actually, here is a garden photo of one of the mature C. novea caledoniae where mine came from. It is really tall and the base was
way down in the canyon. Almost impossible to get a picture of the base.

[Peter]

wow!

[Funkthulhu]

These are really beautiful. Thank you, everyone, for sharing.

I realize I'm most likely out of the running, but what Zones do tree-ferns thrive in? Survive in? Outright die in?

-Erik

[JasonD]

The most cold-hardy commercially available tree ferns, Dicksonia antarctica, take temperatures as low as 15F but don't love dry, hot summers. I've never seen Dicksonia antarctica in lowland Hawaii or Florida. There are other species like Cyathea australis and some other Dicksonias and Cyatheas from NZ & Australia that might take equally low temperatures. Cyathea cooperi, the other commonly available tree fern in California, Hawaii & Florida, is more prone to frost damage. Some plants seems to burn below 30F though they easily regrow from 20-25F. Cyathea cooperi is an aggressive weed in Hawaii. Dicksonia squarrosa is a suckering tree fern from NZ that should be able to rebound from the roots after some pretty severe freezes.
Cibotium glaucum, the hapu'u, recovered from temperatures in the mid-20s F at the San Francisco Botanical Garden, but it required five years to finally show life again. There are two other species, Cibotium menziesii, the "black" hapu'u, and Cibotium chamissoi. There's a fourth, Cibotium nealiae, on Kaua'i. Cibotium glaucum is the most common and easy to ID because the undersides of the fronds are glaucous, in keeping with its species name.

[realarch]

Wow, Jason thanks for the info on Cibotium. I've seen two different types up in Volcano, but had no idea there were more. Of course when it comes to plants there is a bit of 'palm' tunnel vision going on.

[Eric in Orlando]

here are some we are growing at Leu Gardens;

Cyathea princeps (native from southern Mexico to Central America)






Dicksonia antarctica







Cyathea australis






Cyathea brownii

[Eric in Orlando]

Cyathea cooperi 'Revolvens'






Cyahtea cooperi






Cibotium barometz

[Eric in Orlando]

While not a true tree fern, Angiopteris evecta can get a pseudo trunk sveral feet high

[Eric in Orlando]

Another false tree fern, Osmunda regalis. I saw this specimen hiking in Spring Hammock Preserve, never saw one with that much stem

[Mr Cycad]

Cyathea rebeccae at the top of the canopy in my backyard (7 metres plus)

Juvenile

[_Wal]

Sweet Kurt, 7 plus metres, that's up there...

[Palm crazy]

A few (26-29) Artful frolicking....rarely captured on camera.

[richnorm]

No shortage of tree ferns here! I would urge caution in mixing these with your palms though as they can have very aggressive roots which can be detrimental to surrounding vegetation. Around here they also drop sap which becomes blackened with fungus. I don't think this does too much harm but can be unsightly in a formal setting. Cyathea robusta is a personal favourite of mine, it's from Lord Howe and the ones in cultivation here have very white scales. There are some pretty cool large species from PNG too like "Giant Orange" which don't need much heat.

[gsytch]

Can any of them take zone 9b and 4-6 hours of sun? They would look so excellent in my garden and I have a spot like that just begging for something exotic!

[JasonD]

If you'd like to see a pretty good movie thriller with tons of tree fern footage (Dicksonia antarctica in Tasmanian habitat), check out The Hunter, with Willem Dafoe. I just saw it tonight and thought it was pretty good. Incredible footage of Tasmanian wilderness.

[Tassie_Troy1971]

I saw the Hunter last week and alot of it was filmed 2 hrs from where i live .
Here are a few tree fern i saw 2 months ago bushwalikng !

[krishnaraoji88]

Can any of them take zone 9b and 4-6 hours of sun? They would look so excellent in my garden and I have a spot like that just begging for something exotic!

The common Australian tree fern (C. Cooperi) has done well in a similar situation in 9a. It can lose its leaves if it gets too hot (occasionally during the summer) but comes back nicely.

-Krishna

[wrigphi]

My C. australis has only grown this much in 12 months

[wrigphi]

some big ones in the Blue Mountains:

[gtsteve]

Some of ours. First the big one, Cyathea brownii, across from the 2nd storey bedroom window.



a group shot the young C. robusta, C. cooperi, C. australis and the Brownii trunk



The robusta from the side and the top



A C. cooperi



a big Dicksonia 7' on a lean



a Dicksonia with 5-6' of trunk splitting into 2 heads



Another dicksonia with a pup half way up it's 6' trunk.



Cyathea australis frow the side and top 5' trunk



Another australis lobsided from being too crowded for light

[gtsteve]

Phil, your australis is doing well. They are very slow, put in a cooperii and in about 5 years it will be above your head, and the australis will be a foot taller.

[JEFF from Trabuco Canyon CA]

Nice pictures everyone!