Specimen Plants - Dicksonia antarctica
We stock various sizes and styles of tree fern; singles, doubles, multi-trunks, multi-headers, extra chunky, straight, curved and kinked up to around 7 foot
If you are looking for something extra special or that we don't stock as standard - let us know your needs and we can look to source and deliver to you
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Where it all started
I have been into tree ferns for a number of years. The prehistoric look, the way those tiny knuckles unfurl into glorious lush green fronds, the way the roots grow around the old bases to form a trunk and their will to survive; it is astounding that these were cut, used as ballast on ships for during the Victorian times and then went on to sprout and ended up in UK gardens!
After buying a number of typical single logs, we made a trip to a local garden centre and was amazed to see a huge triple trunked example 10, 9 and 8 foot each twice the girth of any tree fern I had seen. It was on the other side of the nursery but could be spotted from a mile away! As we approached it, there was another triple trunk that had clearly fallen over at some point and then started to grow upwards again resulting in a bendy, twisted growth habit that just looked fantasic; I could visualize this in its natural habitat, next to a stream under the canopy of the Tasmanian forest.
Even more interesting and impressive than the single trunk specimens; I had to have them and it really got me hooked on finding unique specimens for the garden. A few years on, we have 20+ Dicksonia in the garden with 30+ heads/trunks across doubles, triples and even a 9 headed specimen. I continue to seek out interesting and unique specimens and with space running out in the garden, when Nicky decided to set up Hillside, I thought why not dedicate a space to help other tree fern fanatics get their hands on the most unusual and fascinating tree ferns that can be found. I still love regular DA's so we will stock those too, but my real passion is for the unique, the more bizarre the better!
