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monkey puzzle tree

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  • 08-06-2011 9:03am
    #1
    celticbhoy27
    Registered Users Posts: 880 ✭✭✭


    hi guys seen a few of these trees dotted round the country in peoples gardens and i think they look great! any idea where you can purchase a young tree?


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    #2
    Sonnenblumen
    Registered Users Posts: 5,834 ✭✭✭Sonnenblumen


    Have you tried the zoo?:p
    No, seriously any good nursery should stock them,eg Tully Nurseries (Ballyboughal), Flannery Nurseries (Donadea), Gardenworld Garden Centre (Kilquade).

    Striking looking tree, very sharp leaves and slow but very tall growing.


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    #3
    slowburner
    Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators Posts: 5,219 Mod ✭✭✭✭slowburner


    Sonnenblumen wrote: »
    Have you tried the zoo?:p
    No, seriously any good nursery should stock them,eg Tully Nurseries (Ballyboughal), Flannery Nurseries (Donadea), Gardenworld Garden Centre (Kilquade).

    Striking looking tree, very sharp leaves and slow but very tall growing.

    Intriguing trees but crazy expensive.


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    #4
    Ophiopogon
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,189 ✭✭✭Ophiopogon


    I hate these myself but just be warned they are very slow growing


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    #5
    slowburner
    Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators Posts: 5,219 Mod ✭✭✭✭slowburner


    Bit like Marmite really.


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    #6
    touts
    Registered Users Posts: 6,438 ✭✭✭touts


    Why would you inflict that on future generations. They seem to have been very fashionable in stately Victorian homes. One estate I visited a few years ago still had the Monkey Puzzle tree 5 or 6 stories high beside the ruined shell of the house. I would best describe them as a vertical weed. Unless you have a landed estate and a mansion to suit I wouldn't go near the thing.


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    #7
    TheFatMan
    Registered Users Posts: 57 ✭✭TheFatMan


    Heard that these are almost extinct in their native regions.


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    #8
    Alun
    Registered Users Posts: 21,432 ✭✭✭✭Alun


    I'm a woodturner, and you can make some really nice wooden bowls out of the trunks, lots of nice circular whorls where the side branches come out of them and some great colouring, but that's all that's good about them IMO.

    http://www.google.ie/search?q=monkey+puzzle+bowls&hl=en&rlz=1G1GGLQ_ENIE368&prmd=ivns&source=lnms&tbm=isch&ei=s3fvTcnIBo24hAfU8-mTCQ&sa=X&oi=mode_link&ct=mode&cd=2&ved=0CBcQ_AUoAQ&biw=1280&bih=869

    They can grow absolutely huge, and look OK in the right setting, i.e. grounds of a large country estate, but not in an anything near normal sized garden.


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    #9
    celticbhoy27
    Registered Users Posts: 880 ✭✭✭celticbhoy27


    cheers for the replies guys, didnt realise they had such a bad rep though :eek: looks like i'll have to turn my attentions to something else so :(


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    #10
    slowburner
    Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators Posts: 5,219 Mod ✭✭✭✭slowburner


    I was asked to plant some monkey puzzles recently. When the price was mentioned, the plan changed - quite decisively!
    An alternative is the Irish Yew: taxus baccata, I think. T.B. fastigiata is the columnar one


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    #11
    jezko
    Registered Users Posts: 454 ✭✭jezko


    From what I gather in the first 7-10 years they Grow very Slowly and most plants for sale in Garden Centres would be this Age hence the hefty cost.

    If you have the space they are a lovely tree... as for the Cost ... have seen "Common" trees at crazy prices too.... You can find bargains out there too if you look for them....Seen them for 7 Euro.... Not bad for an exotic looking tree


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    #12
    looksee
    Registered Users Posts: 28,118 ✭✭✭✭looksee


    In my youth, which was -ahem - quite a while ago, these things were planted in every suburban garden that had notions. I always thought they looked horrible. I have seen them growing in parks and very large gardens and they look ok mixed in with other trees, but as a specimen, no thanks! Apparently they (eventually) produce edible nuts, right at the top of the tree, so you have to wait for them to fall off to get them!


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    #13
    slowburner
    Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators Posts: 5,219 Mod ✭✭✭✭slowburner


    looksee wrote: »
    In my youth, which was -ahem - quite a while ago, these things were planted in every suburban garden that had notions. I always thought they looked horrible. I have seen them growing in parks and very large gardens and they look ok mixed in with other trees, but as a specimen, no thanks! Apparently they (eventually) produce edible nuts, right at the top of the tree, so you have to wait for them to fall off to get them!

    I've a notion they don't produce an edible fruit in our parky climate. They are supposed to have evolved so that their lower branches fall off so that dinosaurs couldn't get at the fruit. :)


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    #14
    looksee
    Registered Users Posts: 28,118 ✭✭✭✭looksee


    The only reason I know about the fruit is because I was on a tour of Mt Congreve gardens in Waterford where they have some Monkey Puzzles. The Gardener pointed out the fruit and told us about them.


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    #15
    slowburner
    Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators Posts: 5,219 Mod ✭✭✭✭slowburner


    looksee wrote: »
    The only reason I know about the fruit is because I was on a tour of Mt Congreve gardens in Waterford where they have some Monkey Puzzles. The Gardener pointed out the fruit and told us about them.

    I bow to your superior wisdom :)
    Did a quick search and found that they are apparently ideal for a temperate oceanic climate; western Scotland was mentioned, so it would seem our parky climate would be perfect. But I think you need both male and female trees in order to produce edible nuts. You'd be waiting a while for a feed - they bear fruit at about 30/40 years. The male tree bears cones which are for pollen production and are not edible - this is probably what you saw at Mt.Congreve. The male cone is about 4" long, green and looks like a pineapple - a bit like me, really.


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    #16
    looksee
    Registered Users Posts: 28,118 ✭✭✭✭looksee


    Sorry to persist, but I am only repeating what the Head Gardener at Mount Congreve told us. They have a number of trees and he said the fruit/nuts were taken to the house to be served there as any other product of the gardens. The trees are very big and there is no way you could harvest the nuts other than waiting for them to fall, which is what they did.


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    #17
    slowburner
    Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators Posts: 5,219 Mod ✭✭✭✭slowburner


    Clearly, there are both male and female Monkey Puzzle trees at Mt.Congreve then. It must be one of the few places outside Chile where they produce a viable crop. Did you get to taste one?
    Thanks for the info :)


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    #18
    redser7
    Registered Users Posts: 2,729 ✭✭✭redser7


    If you're still interested ...
    http://www.adverts.ie/plants-pots/monkey-puzzle-tree-seedlings/658851


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    #19
    Tiffy6666
    Registered Users Posts: 28 ✭Tiffy6666


    I wouldn't recommend it to be honest...


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    #20
    slowburner
    Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators Posts: 5,219 Mod ✭✭✭✭slowburner


    Tiffy6666 wrote: »
    I wouldn't recommend it to be honest...

    Not unless you are very, very patient.


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    #21
    MOSSAD
    Closed Accounts Posts: 317 ✭✭MOSSAD


    celticbhoy27 wrote: »
    cheers for the replies guys, didnt realise they had such a bad rep though :eek: looks like i'll have to turn my attentions to something else so :(

    Great looking tree, I think, and a protected species in their native country. Remember the story of the ugly duckling?


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