Tree ferns have been around since prehistoric times when dinosaurs roamed earth. Originally popularised by Victorians, tree fern has undergone something of a revival in recent years, helped no doubt by it frequent appearances in many of television garden makeover programmes.

Varieties of tree ferns to grow in UK

Tree ferns can roughly be divided in hardy and non hardy when growing in UK. It is likely there are up to a thousand species of tree fern, with most of them growing in Southern Hemisphere and tropics. Many of these are not a all cold hardy and it would be very difficult to grow them successfully outside in UK. The two main cold hardy types for our climate are called: Cyathea and Dicksonia. The most commonly available of these are: Cyathea spinulosa, Cyathea australis, Cyathea dealbeta, Dicksonia Antarctica, Dicksonia fibrosa and Dicksonia squarrosa.

Different sizes of tree fern and where to buy them

Tree fern are available as plants that have been propagated from spores and complete trunks that have been harvested from rain forests or tropical areas of world, often as a by-product of other activities. You can usually buy them at garden centres or specialist nurseries. The trunks are often sold without fronds straight from container and fronds will start to appear after a few weeks. Expect to pay more if you want to buy a tree fern with fronds.

Choosing a position for a tree fern

Tree ferns prefer to grow with some shade. They will adapt to a sunny position but will need very regular watering and may suffer from sunburn to fronds. So ideally you need to pick a spot in garden with some shade during at least part of day. Ferns also like a moist surrounding and tree ferns really need watering every day during warmer months especially inside and down trunk. They will grow equally happy in containers but again will prefer a shady spot.

1. Check with your local gardening center or florist for best type of roses to grow in you climate. If you are a novice, you should look fo? disease resistant types of roses because they require a lot less maintenance.

2. When planting roses, you want to pick a spot that is well lit in morning. You also want an area that is sunlit for at least 6 hours a day. Roses need a great deal of light if they are to grow properly. If you live in a really hot climate though, you'll probably get best results by not planting your roses in direct sunlight.

3. Pick an area that has plenty of well drained soil. Great soil has a PH level where amount of acid in soil is at about 5.5-7.0. You can get a testing kit for your soil at any garden center.

4. Organic matter like manure or lime helps to nourish roots of your roses. You should soak roots in water or puddle clay for many minutes, and cut off any root's ends that are broken.