How fast do Dicksonia antarctica tree ferns grow in the UK - the saga continues

On 4 April 2014 I published a update on the growth rate of the Dicksonia antarctica tree fern in my Plymouth garden.  Two years and three growing seasons further on it's time for another update.

Measured this afternoon in now stands at 46.5 in / 118cm from ground level to the height of the growing point.

Dicksonia antarctica in the rear garden 20/10/2016

This represents a fairly moderate slowdown in growth since I last reported.  Graphically it can be represented as follows:

Dicksonia antarctica trunk growth rate in inches

Still not too bad.  There are many shrubs and dwarf conifers that can't manage this amount of height extension despite ultimately growing larger than the Dicksonia.  It can probably be explained by two factors.  Firstly trunk extension is being matched by a increase in trunk girth and this all takes energy. The fronds are larger and heavier, requiring a thicker stem for support, so the earlier growth spurt is beginning to diminish.  Secondly, watering and feeding has been reduced over the last couple of years.  I've had other preoccupations and constant attention has diminished.  Taken together, growth has slowed a little.  Still encouraging, though.  Plant a number of young (cheap!) sporeling ferns in a lightly shaded spot, nurture well and 15 years later you could have a grove of specimen plants with nearly 4ft stems and their palm like rosettes of fronds.

Working in the walled garden - part the first

Throughout July and August and now into early September the walled garden at the Garden House has looked spectacular.  In particular, the lowest of the four terraces on the hillside below the house, within the walls and ruins of the 15th Century vicarage has been a delight to photograph.

View across the lower terrace borders towards the tower at the Garden House

One trick I've been using is to get height by mounting the camera on a monopod and hoisting it up into the air to give me photo viewpoints at the 10-12ft/3-3.5m level.  It's a bit hit and miss - but when it works it gives me a view over the Phillyrea angustifolia var. rosmarinifolia hedges that are a wonderful feature of this part of the garden.  Planted as an experiment to provide an alternative to the increasingly disease prone box hedging, they're cut three times a year to a narrow topped vertical accent that sways and undulates if the wind gets hold - or a vagrant hand should happen to brush the hedge in passing.

Effectively, they divide the lower terrace into separate planting areas that can be individually themed amidst the overall theme of hot colours at this time of year,  It also leads to some attractive patterns - as with this zigzag of the hedges and the central grass path all framing the tower.

Hedges and grass path produce a zigzag affect leading to the tower at the Garden House

There are a couple of viewpoints that allow a higher vantage without the need to hoist the camera on high.  The window of the tower, visible in the shot above, provides a great vantage point for an overview of the west end of the lower terrace.

Overview of the west part of the walled garden lower terrace taken from the tower

There are also views from the top of the tower.  Regrettably, I suffer from vertigo* so you won't see many of those on this blog.

Given the wealth of colour and interest in this small part of the overall garden it's hard to pick out favourite combinations.  But here's a couple to whet your appetite.  I'll add more in part two of this post.  After I've updated my Dicksonia antarctica growth posts with the latest stats.  It's grown a bit more.

Astilbe, Helenium and cactus Dahlia in the lower terrace of the walled garden

Phlox, alstroemeria, Black mondo grass and Dahlia 'Summertime' in the lower terrace of the walled garden

*Strictly speaking it's not vertigo.  I actually suffer from a fear of standing on any unstable surface and of grounds.  Specifically, of hitting the ground at gravity accelerated speed after a fall from height (any height will do) due to the unstable surfaces.  If my footing is stable I'm - theoretically - OK to gaze down bottomless chasms.  Not many of those around Plymouth so I'm rarely tested. However, I don't care how stable they are, do not invite me to walk across glass bridges.  My reply will not be polite.

Poppies

One of the features of the Garden House is the use of naturalistic planting in a number of different areas in the garden,  Drifts and mixtures of plants - annuals, perennials, shrubs - planted and allowed to seed around to produce tapestries of colour and interest.  It requires a lot of maintenance to avoid thugs taking over but, done well, it can produce some magical effects.  Different combinations and plants dominate at different times of the year.   Late June and early July is highlighted by the annual poppies.

Papaver rhoeas is the Flanders poppy, a common European and British annual that thrives in cultivated land.  The seeds can lie dormant for decades, only to sprout when exposed to light.  Open pollinated variations on the basic red, pink or white theme are all over the Summer garden, Cottage garden, and Bulb meadow, producing bright colour for the start of the long summer season.

Papaver rhoeas provides bright colour in the Summer Garden....

....and in the cottage garden....

..and in the bulb meadow

Most of these are the descendants of an initial planting of Shirley poppies.  Bred from a single seedling found by the Reverend William Wilks in late Victorian times they are characterised by a white centre rather than the black of the wild type.  Two examples are shown below.

Pink flowered Shirley poppy

Red flowered Shirley poppy

Unless rigorously rogued they can revert to type - but enough survive to produce very interesting contrasts with their attractive colouring and crumpled petals.  Tough and hardy, once you have them they will always be there, even if as dormant seeds waiting for the kiss of sunlight as you turn over a bit of the garden.

Much the same can be said of the opium poppy, Papaver somniferum.  Dozens of different seed strains are available, singles and doubles, in a bright variety of different colours and colour combinations, but all having the waxy, glaucous foliage that tells of their arid land origins. Personally, I find them a bit overblown - except when the buds are unfurling.  Then, their beauty is at its most evident.

Unfurling bud of a double flowered opium poppy, Papaver somniferum