On 13/04/2013 18:10, AmyJane13 wrote:
Hello everyone,
I'm new to this site and I want to buy my Mum a Monkey Puzzle tree for
her 50th birthday! She has been going on about wanting one for as long
as I can remember but I don't know where I can get one, how much they
cost or even how to maintain it!

Need help please!

Most nurseries or garden centres would be able to get you one if they do
not stock it. The cost varies, but they are not cheap plants as they
are very slow at first. You can reckon on paying around £10 - 15 for a
plant less than 1 foot high, and maybe £40 - 60 for a 2 - 3 feet plant.
Above that they get very expensive; you would be hard pushed to find a
5 feet plant for less than £100 - more like £150 - 200. Look around for
one which has a straight trunk and regular growth, although if a bit
uneven at first they tend to grow straight as they get older.

The male and female plants grow as separate trees. But neither will
show flowers (cones) until late teenagers. Remember that these are big
trees, growing to 120 feet in the wild, and can easily reach half that
in a garden. Do not grow them close to a house or where the upper
branches reach over a pavement or path. If you look at pictures of
mature Monkey Puzzles you will see they are all "mushroom" shaped. That
is because they shed their older branches as they mature. A 12 feet
branch dropping from 25 feet can do a lot of damage! They need no
maintenance or pruning, and seem remarkably disease-free. Grow in full
sun. They do not like dry soil or waterlogged soil, but otherwise seem
happy enough even in clay soil, although it won't harm to dig a deep
hole and add some good compost when planting them.

Do get one if you have the space for it. As a specimen tree there is
nothing to beat them (except other members of the Araucariaceae,
perhaps, none of which are hardy enough in the UK, sadly).

--

Jeff