Fern trees and other exotics

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Paul O Mahoney

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Irish gardener wins gold at Chelsea Flower Show

Irish gardener Billy Alexander has won a gold medal at this year's Chelsea Flower Show in London for his display which features ferns from Kells Bay House and Gardens, near Cahersiveen in Co Kerry.
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The above is the story on Bill Alexander winning gold at the Chelsea Flower show, but as a fern tree grower , very amateur grower I have a tinge of sadness as the price of them will now increase further, they aren't cheap anyway.

But they are just magical plants and I grow them in pots along with banana tree and canna lilies and every garden should have one and while the ones at Chelsea are the premier specimens they will grow anywhere in Ireland once you protect them in winter.

They give a Jurassic feel to your garden.
 
I love that Jurassic type feel in a garden! I have many plants with huge leaves which is the closest I can get, garden not damp enough to grow a Gunnera but my father's garden has magnificent ones! I had a tree fern and a banana but lost both unfortunately even with fleece etc. Again in my father's garden there are very tall tree ferns, I was just looking at one of them last week and thinking that thing is worth a fortune! :D
 
Monbretia said:
I love that Jurassic type feel in a garden! I have many plants with huge leaves which is the closest I can get, garden not damp enough to grow a Gunnera but my father's garden has magnificent ones! I had a tree fern and a banana but lost both unfortunately even with fleece etc. Again in my father's garden there are very tall tree ferns, I was just looking at one of them last week and thinking that thing is worth a fortune! :D
Click to expand...
I bought a small poly tunnel last year and I overwinter cannas , fern tree's and banana tree in there still fleece them too. In summer I got tomatoes, blueberries, peppers lemon grass, tomatoes are almost finished now, so they're space will be occupied by the exotics.

On the Gunnera big pot big big and plastic bottles upside down water into those, but I've seen them growing in London in dry conditions.
 
I know Billy well and a visit to Kells Bay is an absolute must if you like ferns.

He'll talk to you all day about ferns if you give him a chance. And he'll be easy on your pocket if you are a fan of ferns.

Here's a photo of his Chelsea display.
IMG-20210921-WA0004.jpg
 
Absolutely love tree ferns but have been quoted €100 per ft by a few different sources and to think they they might still die even if fleece is used :(
 
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