You'd better not be in a hurry (understatement) but you can open up a whole new avenue of gardening interest by growing your own trees from seed.
By Paul Hooper-Kelly
See the video by Paul
Obviously this is a long term project, but there's something about growing such a long living plant that puts your own short lease on this planet into perspective. Perhaps it is because trees seem so permanent they were worshipped by many cultures and still have a place in the affections of gardeners.
The seed featured here is the acorn from the English Oak (Quercus robur). There are many varieties of Oak, mainly confined to Europe. Some lack the characteristic deeply serrated leaves of the English Oak, which is very much a symbol of England.
Another "national" tree is, of course the Maple of Canada. The one shown in this video is Field Maple (Acer campestre) . It is most common in Europe and western Asia. One of the most notable examples is the tall clipped hedge at the Schonbrunn Palace in Vienna, Austria.
Finally, the Monkey Puzzle Tree (Araucaria araucana), which was originally known as the Chilean Pine, is a popular specimen tree in European gardens, since the first seeds were brought to Europe in the late eighteenth century. Although particularly associated with Chile, it grows wild all round the southern hemisphere: South America, Malaysia, Australia, New Caledonia, the New Hebridies and Norfolk Island.
It gets its name from a remark that "It would puzzle a monkey to know how to climb it.".
Bearing in mind trees have managed to propagate themselves without human help for thousands of years, they don't need any special attention.
A good test to check if the seed is fertile is the water test, as shown in the video, Any seeds that float should be discarded. That should give you a reasonable germination rate. In the video, of the six seeds we planted, five germinated.
One of the secrets of success with gardening is to know a bit about the origins of plants. This enables you to duplicate the sort of conditions found in their native environment which will lead to better results for you.
In the case of trees, the seeds of some trees, which originate from cold climates benefit from "stratification". This means they need some exposure to cold to trigger successful germination. This is the climatic conditions they are used to where the relative warmth of spring follows the winter cold.
If your climate has these conditions, just leaving the seeds on moist soil, sheltered from the harshest frost against a south facing wall in the northern hemisphere and against a north facing wall in the south, will suffice.
If you are lucky enough to live in Hawaii, or some other, tropical location, there's no need to trek up a mountain in search of some cold conditions for your seeds: simply pop them in a polythene bag and place in the refridgerator for a month or so and then pot them up and place them in the warm, keeping them well watered at all times.
See the video by Paul
By Paul Hooper-Kelly
See the video by Paul
Obviously this is a long term project, but there's something about growing such a long living plant that puts your own short lease on this planet into perspective. Perhaps it is because trees seem so permanent they were worshipped by many cultures and still have a place in the affections of gardeners.
The seed featured here is the acorn from the English Oak (Quercus robur). There are many varieties of Oak, mainly confined to Europe. Some lack the characteristic deeply serrated leaves of the English Oak, which is very much a symbol of England.
Another "national" tree is, of course the Maple of Canada. The one shown in this video is Field Maple (Acer campestre) . It is most common in Europe and western Asia. One of the most notable examples is the tall clipped hedge at the Schonbrunn Palace in Vienna, Austria.
Finally, the Monkey Puzzle Tree (Araucaria araucana), which was originally known as the Chilean Pine, is a popular specimen tree in European gardens, since the first seeds were brought to Europe in the late eighteenth century. Although particularly associated with Chile, it grows wild all round the southern hemisphere: South America, Malaysia, Australia, New Caledonia, the New Hebridies and Norfolk Island.
It gets its name from a remark that "It would puzzle a monkey to know how to climb it.".
Bearing in mind trees have managed to propagate themselves without human help for thousands of years, they don't need any special attention.
A good test to check if the seed is fertile is the water test, as shown in the video, Any seeds that float should be discarded. That should give you a reasonable germination rate. In the video, of the six seeds we planted, five germinated.
One of the secrets of success with gardening is to know a bit about the origins of plants. This enables you to duplicate the sort of conditions found in their native environment which will lead to better results for you.
In the case of trees, the seeds of some trees, which originate from cold climates benefit from "stratification". This means they need some exposure to cold to trigger successful germination. This is the climatic conditions they are used to where the relative warmth of spring follows the winter cold.
If your climate has these conditions, just leaving the seeds on moist soil, sheltered from the harshest frost against a south facing wall in the northern hemisphere and against a north facing wall in the south, will suffice.
If you are lucky enough to live in Hawaii, or some other, tropical location, there's no need to trek up a mountain in search of some cold conditions for your seeds: simply pop them in a polythene bag and place in the refridgerator for a month or so and then pot them up and place them in the warm, keeping them well watered at all times.
See the video by Paul
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