Natures designs

I pass this fern several times a day as I go to and from the house to the office and yard, that's yard as in work area, not yard as in American back yard!

It's Dicksonia lanata, a relative of the tree fern most commonly seen, which is Dicksonia antarctica.

D. lanata is native to both the North and South Islands of new Zealand and the northern strain apparently grows a trunk up to about 7ft - I've not seen this. The southern form, which I suppose is what we have, doesn't grow a trunk but is clump forming, and mine has been forming a clump ever since I acquired a small division from Inverewe many years ago. I've split it up and spread it out on several occasions but it's hard to split and an axe is better than a spade! I think I've finally decided to leave it alone now and one day, many years hence, it will be amazing - it's pretty good now actually!

Our 'normal' tree ferns are seeding, or rather sporing, all over the top part of the garden, hundreds of them! What will that look like in 100 years' time!

In New Zealand the trunkless form has several common names including ‘Prostrate Tree Fern’, ‘Woolly Tree Fern’ and ‘Stumpy Tree Fern’ due its relative lack of height! I think I prefer 'Stumpy Tree Fern' - it has a rather down-to-earth ring about it!