Hello

we are looking to purchase a monkey puzzle tree and do not want to wait years and years to enjoy it. Is it best to start with a 1.5m tree or smaller? How much does it grow per year on average?

We appreciate any help/ advice you can offer!

Thanks

Claire & Tom

"tom@claire" wrote in message
s.com...
Hello

we are looking to purchase a monkey puzzle tree and do not want to wait
years and years to enjoy it. Is it best to start with a 1.5m tree or
smaller? How much does it grow per year on average?

We appreciate any help/ advice you can offer!

Thanks
Claire & Tom

They seem to be slooooooow growers:
http://www.stratsplace.com/gardendia...zzle_tree.html

Jenny :~)

In message m,
writes

we are looking to purchase a monkey puzzle tree and do not want to wait
years and years to enjoy it. Is it best to start with a 1.5m tree or
smaller? How much does it grow per year on average?

About 20cm/year once established. And continues doing that almost
forever.

We appreciate any help/ advice you can offer!

I have grown them from seed. They progress rather more slowly then.

Watch out for and protect from severe cold weather in the first couple
of years. Otherwise they seem to do pretty well in most parts of the UK.

Regards,
--
Martin Brown

In article , JennyC
writes

"tom@claire" wrote in message
ws.com...
Hello

we are looking to purchase a monkey puzzle tree and do not want to wait
years and years to enjoy it. Is it best to start with a 1.5m tree or
smaller? How much does it grow per year on average?

We appreciate any help/ advice you can offer!

Thanks
Claire & Tom

They seem to be slooooooow growers:
http://www.stratsplace.com/gardendia...zzle_tree.html

No, not particularly slow - ours is growing at least a foot, possibly 18
inches, a year.
--
Kay Easton

Edward's earthworm page:
http://www.scarboro.demon.co.uk/edward/index.htm

We lived in a Cheshire village on end of which was sandy soil on sandstone
the other clay and marsh.
Two very old monkey puzzles at the clay end-may be around 100years if they
put on a ring of braches per year -were dense , not very tall, and ugly.
The tree at the sandy side was open spaced and very beautiful somewhat like
the related Norfolk Island pine we are trying to nurture.
We have now have a monkey puzzle in Devon which touch wood (ouch!) seems to
have got off to a good start.
"Martin Brown" wrote in message
...
In message m,
writes

we are looking to purchase a monkey puzzle tree and do not want to wait
years and years to enjoy it. Is it best to start with a 1.5m tree or
smaller? How much does it grow per year on average?

About 20cm/year once established. And continues doing that almost
forever.

We appreciate any help/ advice you can offer!

I have grown them from seed. They progress rather more slowly then.

Watch out for and protect from severe cold weather in the first couple
of years. Otherwise they seem to do pretty well in most parts of the UK.

Regards,
--
Martin Brown

Monkey Puzzle trees grow quite quickly but need very large gardens and
should be planted when less than 12" high. Expect to pay through the nose!
Our garden centre has one at about 14" in a container at £88!!
They can be grown from seeds, or cuttings from vertical growths~~for your
grandchildren.
I have a dozen at about 70' high and nothing could look more ugly!
Planted 1832 and long ago lost any attractiveness. Branches are now just a
mophead with all lower growth long gone. Seedlings have appeared over the
years but were not noticed till too late to transplant.
"JennyC" wrote in message
...

"tom@claire" wrote in message
s.com...
Hello

we are looking to purchase a monkey puzzle tree and do not want to wait
years and years to enjoy it. Is it best to start with a 1.5m tree or
smaller? How much does it grow per year on average?

We appreciate any help/ advice you can offer!

Thanks
Claire & Tom

They seem to be slooooooow growers:
http://www.stratsplace.com/gardendia...zzle_tree.html

Jenny :~)

In article , Brian
writes
Monkey Puzzle trees grow quite quickly but need very large gardens and
should be planted when less than 12" high. Expect to pay through the nose!
Our garden centre has one at about 14" in a container at £88!!

That is outrageous!
You can get them far cheaper than that.


--
Kay Easton

Edward's earthworm page:
http://www.scarboro.demon.co.uk/edward/index.htm

Kay Easton11/4/04 3:32

In article , Brian
writes
Monkey Puzzle trees grow quite quickly but need very large gardens and
should be planted when less than 12" high. Expect to pay through the nose!
Our garden centre has one at about 14" in a container at £88!!

That is outrageous!
You can get them far cheaper than that.

Yes it is and yes, you can. I'm really horrified at that, unless of course,
the container is made of pure jade!
We have them in 3l. pots and they're between 18" and 24" tall and cost
£14.00! Somebody is having several people on!
--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
(remove the weeds to email me)

"tom@claire" wrote in
message s.com...
Hello

we are looking to purchase a monkey puzzle tree and do not want to
wait
years and years to enjoy it. Is it best to start with a 1.5m tree or
smaller? How much does it grow per year on average?

We appreciate any help/ advice you can offer!

If you plant a monkey puzzle tree you will quite soon be overwhelmed
by its expanding ugliness. That is one of the reasons why,
mercifully, there are so few of them around. Surely it is something
only a mother can love.

Franz

The message
from Kay Easton contains these words:

In article , Brian
writes
Monkey Puzzle trees grow quite quickly but need very large gardens and
should be planted when less than 12" high. Expect to pay through the nose!
Our garden centre has one at about 14" in a container at £88!!

That is outrageous!
You can get them far cheaper than that.

I agree it's outrageous, but I've noticed more and more GC's doing the
same; they have a few strategically placed plants with astronomical
prices, and amazingly, they sell like hot cakes.
The plant themselves are not rare, or very large.

I suspect that it's a (highly successful) sales tactic aimed at the
kind of designer-label shoppers who confuse high price with high value.

Janet.

Janet Baraclough..11/4/04 5:19
k

The message
from Kay Easton contains these words:

In article , Brian
writes
Monkey Puzzle trees grow quite quickly but need very large gardens and
should be planted when less than 12" high. Expect to pay through the nose!
Our garden centre has one at about 14" in a container at £88!!

That is outrageous!
You can get them far cheaper than that.

I agree it's outrageous, but I've noticed more and more GC's doing the
same; they have a few strategically placed plants with astronomical
prices, and amazingly, they sell like hot cakes.
The plant themselves are not rare, or very large.

I suspect that it's a (highly successful) sales tactic aimed at the
kind of designer-label shoppers who confuse high price with high value.


I think that's on a par with the sort of nursery customers who buy anything
if it's in flower. But if they ask for suggestions for a shrub for a
particular spot and what you suggest is perfect but in its dormant phase,
they will reject it. Even showing them pictures and RHS Encyclopedia
descriptions doesn't help. It's a combination of not knowing enough to
plan forward and wanting 'instant gratification'. ;-) Perhaps it's the
same sort of gardener who comes in to buy a tree or shrub because their next
door neighbour has one. If you suggest they buy something different so that
both houses will have something else to enjoy you get a funny "have you got
two heads" sort of look. I'm not blaming them BTW - it's their garden! -
but it seems that fewer people now buy shrubs in the autumn for
forward-planning.
--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
(remove the weeds to email me)

In article , Sacha
writes


I think that's on a par with the sort of nursery customers who buy anything
if it's in flower. But if they ask for suggestions for a shrub for a
particular spot and what you suggest is perfect but in its dormant phase,
they will reject it. Even showing them pictures and RHS Encyclopedia
descriptions doesn't help. It's a combination of not knowing enough to
plan forward and wanting 'instant gratification'. ;-)

There may be a bit of that, but there's also the wanting to see the
thing in the flesh to be sure you're going to like it. If seen things in
books which look good, and which have wonderful descriptions, but I
don't like them at all when I see them in RL.

That means that if I know a plant well, I will buy it in the autumn, or
whenever I see it if it's a thing which isn't so readily available. But
if I'm not sure about it, I want to see it in bloom (or in autumn
colour, or in winter bark, or whatever I'm buying it for) before buying.


--
Kay Easton

Edward's earthworm page:
http://www.scarboro.demon.co.uk/edward/index.htm

Kay Easton12/4/04 2:48

In article , Sacha
writes


I think that's on a par with the sort of nursery customers who buy anything
if it's in flower. But if they ask for suggestions for a shrub for a
particular spot and what you suggest is perfect but in its dormant phase,
they will reject it. Even showing them pictures and RHS Encyclopedia
descriptions doesn't help. It's a combination of not knowing enough to
plan forward and wanting 'instant gratification'. ;-)

There may be a bit of that, but there's also the wanting to see the
thing in the flesh to be sure you're going to like it. If seen things in
books which look good, and which have wonderful descriptions, but I
don't like them at all when I see them in RL.

That means that if I know a plant well, I will buy it in the autumn, or
whenever I see it if it's a thing which isn't so readily available. But
if I'm not sure about it, I want to see it in bloom (or in autumn
colour, or in winter bark, or whatever I'm buying it for) before buying.


I can see that but often these are people who have been gardening for quite
a long time and are not considering unusual or out of the ordinary plants.
Even Forsythia will 'walk out' of the nursery when they're in flower but not
when they're not. I'm not criticising people for buying only or mainly when
things are in flower but am observing that for many people the lure of
something already blooming is greater than buying it dormant and waiting.
Even with Primulas, some people will buy those in full bloom while others
are aware that buying the ones with buds on means a longer flowering period
once they get it into their own garden.
--

Sacha
(remove the weeds to email me)

In article , Sacha
writes

I can see that but often these are people who have been gardening for quite
a long time and are not considering unusual or out of the ordinary plants.
Even Forsythia will 'walk out' of the nursery when they're in flower but not
when they're not. I'm not criticising people for buying only or mainly when
things are in flower but am observing that for many people the lure of
something already blooming is greater than buying it dormant and waiting.
Even with Primulas, some people will buy those in full bloom while others
are aware that buying the ones with buds on means a longer flowering period
once they get it into their own garden.

But aren't a lot of primulas bought for presents? In which case the
'wow' factor is important.
--
Kay Easton

Edward's earthworm page:
http://www.scarboro.demon.co.uk/edward/index.htm

Kay Easton12/4/04 9:17

In article , Sacha
writes
snip
Even with Primulas, some people will buy those in full bloom while others
are aware that buying the ones with buds on means a longer flowering period
once they get it into their own garden.

But aren't a lot of primulas bought for presents? In which case the
'wow' factor is important.

Not here but does it matter what they're bought as, though? Surely the idea
is to keep them going for as long as possible? But no, most of our
customers are buying for their own gardens. Primulas rush out of here
pretty quickly and this isn't a garden centre where they're displayed in
'present pots'.
When I made up a few large pots to give to friends, I planted one plant in
pretty strong flowering mode BUT with lots of buds still to come and the
others still mostly in bud. That way our friends saw what they were getting
and what they had to look forward to!
--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
(remove the weeds to email me)