The Best Flowering Vines and Climbers to Grow in Garden & Containers can add vertical interest, frame doorways, or even create privacy screens. And the best part? They’re really easy to take care of.
03.05.2024 - 14:12 / gardenersworld.com
The monkey puzzle tree (Araucaria araucana) is a large evergreen tree with a distinctive shape – its often horizontal branches are covered in spirals of sharp, triangular leaves. When mature, trees produce large cones at the tips of the branches.
Also known as the Chile pine, the monkey puzzle tree is native to Chile and Argentina. The seeds, similar to large pine nuts, were long part of the staple diet of the indigenous people of the region.
The tree dates back 200 million years, which means it was around in the dinosaur (Mesozoic) Era. It’s thought that the sharp leaves protected the tree from being eaten by dinosaurs and other long-extinct animals.
The monkey puzzle tree was introduced to the UK at the end of the 18th Century and was a favourite with the Victorians. It’s thought it got its common name when a guest saw a tree at a country estate in Cornwall and remarked that it would be a ‘puzzler’ even for a monkey to climb.
While the monkey puzzle tree is a common sight in large gardens and parks in the UK (thanks to those Victorians) it’s now classed as an endangered species in its native habitat. Human interference in the form of heavy logging, forest fires and grazing from introduced animals has taken a heavy toll on the trees. It can take 40 years for the tree to produce seeds, so re-establishing them is a long-term challenge.
Conservation efforts in the UK have seen Chilean ‘forests’ of monkey puzzle trees planted at Royal Botanic Gardens Kew’s Wakehurst site in Sussex, the Eden Project in Cornwall and the Benmore Botanic Garden in Scotland. If you plant one in your garden, you will play your part in conserving a ‘living fossil’. The monkey puzzle tree is a slow grower, reaching 6m x 3m after 10 years.
The Best Flowering Vines and Climbers to Grow in Garden & Containers can add vertical interest, frame doorways, or even create privacy screens. And the best part? They’re really easy to take care of.
Like many northern gardeners, I had red-hot poker envy for many years but ruled out growing them because of their iffy -chances of surviving winter in my region. However, I am very excited about some of the newer Kniphofia introductions we are growing at the Chicago Botanic Garden. Being able to overwinter a South African plant in the Midwest is pretty cool, right?
Cucumbers are among the most popular crops for home gardeners. They’re easy to grow and just a handful of vines can provide enough cucumbers for fresh eating from mid-summer through late fall. But proper cucumber plant spacing can mean the difference between healthy, productive plants and disease ridden, low yielding ones. Let’s take a look at how far apart to plant cucumbers based on your growing technique and the method you use to plant them. Why properly spacing cucumber plants matters Before we dive into the details on proper plant spacing for cucumbers, let’s take a
Drought-tolerant, laden with nectar, evergreen, long-flowering, and so pungent that it fills the garden with scent, lavender is deservedly popular. The late garden designer Rosemary Verey said, «You can never have too much of it in your garden». In its preferred conditions, of well-drained soil that is baked by the sun, it is easy to grow.
If you’ve owned a TV set, chances are you’ve come across QVC before.
TODAY’S TOPIC is orchids, but not the ones you might be growing as a flowering houseplant. Our subject is native terrestrial types that are more often than not under great pressure in the wild, their numbers dwindling.
Bridgerton is coming to Chelsea this month, as Netflix makes its debut at the flower show, with a garden themed around its popular TV show. First time Chelsea designer Holly Johnston has created a garden based on the personal journey of the show’s main character, Penelope Featherington. The Bridgerton Garden is part of the Sanctuary Gardens area at the show.
There are a tonnes of trees in the nature with some having really interesting names, while some have funny ones. We have 15 of the latter examples!
People who are living in an apartment are always looking for plant options that are easy to maintain and can be grown in a limited space. if you are one of those, this list is curated especially for you!
Chives (Allium schoenoprasum) are among the most popular herbs for home gardeners to grow. They are easy to plant and care for, and since they are a hardy perennial, they return to the garden year after year. The fragrant and flavorful leaves of the chive plant are delicious to people, but the deer and rabbits leave them alone. To add yet another benefit, chive flowers are a favorite nectar source for many of the pollinators who also help pollinate other edible crops. Learning how to harvest chives for use in the kitchen is key to enjoying this easy-to-grow herb. Let’s take a look at several different ways to harvest chives for both fresh use and for preservation. The best time to harvest chives Before we get to the information on how to harvest chives, it’s important to understand
Do you remember that garden Bunny Guinness designed at Chelsea Flower Show in 2011? You know, the one with the beautiful hazel-hurdle-raised-beds burgeoning with edibles and ornamentals. Well, if you don’t, it was stunning. I could not stop staring at its honed perfection. But, I thought at the time, ‘this is a Chelsea Garden that can’t be recreated in reality’. So, was I right? Can you combine ornamentals and vegetables without either party being compromised? Can you truly make a space that is at once pretty, productive and practical?
Reviews and recommendations are unbiased and products are independently selected. Postmedia may earn an affiliate commission from purchases made through links on this page.