Tasmanian tree ferns HELP

[Lisa Marie Claire]

I hang my head in shame i have successfully kept tree ferns for six years and i love them! However the freezing winter seems to have murdered them- could they comeback to life in time does anyone know?  They are big
Can anyone make any revival suggestions.....please
Many thanks

[Maggi Young]

Hi Lisa,
 This winter has meant the death of a lot of tree ferns in the UK and Scotland in particular. 

I strongly suspect they may be dead but don't be in too much of a hurry to dipose of the bodies.... there is always a tiny hope that a wee shoot will emerge from the centre of the plant.... give them another couple of months before arranging the funeral. 

How is your "green" roof doing?

[Lisa Marie Claire]

My sedum roof is looking fantastic thank-you maggie
Well my tree ferns wont be disposed of as i will let them decompose in the garden if they do not come back to life, i really hope they do though as im gutted at loosing them! Was going to wait till next year to pronounce them dead!
I need fences put up and i need some landscaping done in my garden- do u know anyone good?
;-)


 

[Lisa Marie Claire]

If only i could check for a pulse or just ask them!! Soo frustrating not being able to tell

[Maggi Young]

Lisa, I don't think I know of anyone who would be able to help you right now.... but if I hear of someone with not enough work, I'll let you know. 

[Lisa Marie Claire]

That would be appreciated  its really a landscaper/designer i need as my garden is needing major major overhaul!

[Lesley Cox]

Keep them a lot longer than a couple of months, a full year at least (wrap the trunks next winter) as they can sprout after an amazingly long time. If the worst has happened, still keep them as they are wonderful as supports for Clematis, Tropaeolum, Lapageris or other not too vigorous climbers and give a satisfyingly tropical look to a garden. Lifted and laid flat like railway sleepers they support plants like dwarf rhodos, pleiones, philesia, cassiopes, Asteranthera ovata et al., even little trilliums and the like.

[Lisa Marie Claire]

Thankyou Lesley, i was planning and hoping they will come back in the next year as ive a feeling they might take a while come back to life, one of them is 61/2 ft and another is 2ft and 3ft and a really short one- i have four
I really want a tropical like garden and was planning to get more but in future keep them in a greenhouse or make a long sack and fill with straw over winter...
If they dont live they will definately be a feature and i like your ideas

[fermi de Sousa]

Hi Lisa Marie,
These ferns, if they are the Dicksonia antartica - the soft tree fern, survive quite low temperatures in the mountains and I've seen them looking like igloos with the snow weighting down the fronds into perfect domes. 
However the winter you guys have just had is probably more than they would ever get over here
Anyway, good luck with them and if they haven't survived they have a lot of uses as Lesley has suggested. Orchid growers uses tree fern slabs as a great backing material on which to grow epiphytes!
cheers
fermi

[angie]

Hi Lisa Marie - missed this topic I have three Dicksonia tree ferns and they aren't showing any growth as yet.  I wondered if yours were soft inside. I have had mine for 5 years but like you have said this was a bad winter for us in Aberdeen.
My mum had a small fern and we threw it in the woods behind my house thinking it was dead but I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw a new frond coming out the plant,  wasn't even in -touch with any soil it was lying on dead branches.
Lets hope we get some growth.

Angie

[Lisa Marie Claire]

Ooooh there may be some hope yet! I dont think they are soft inside....

[angie]

Keeping my fingers crossed   

Angie

[Ragged Robin]

I am too...it's so upsetting when a plant friend is 'under the weather' and I think Angie's story has a real sense of hope - hoping  your tree ferns pull through, Lise Marie, they are such characters.