Fernley Goes To Bedfordshire

Back in November I put Fernley to bed for the winter and worried about quite how hardy he would be I decided to wrap him up well...

I started by wrapping his trunk with netting - my reasoning was that I didn't want the trunk to be constantly wet as it might be if it had fleece or bubble wrap directly against it and also the air gap, I hoped, would provide some insulation for the trunk.

I read that the crown is the most sensitive to the cold so I stuffed it with straw and dead leaves to provide a dry protective layer.

Then he had his trunk wrapped in horticultural fleece before being covered in a fleece house, constructed by Dad a few days earlier...

And then, just before his birthday in April, I woke him up...


We had a pretty cold February when the snow settled on his house but other than a few burnt fronds he came through the winter looking pretty good and now he's throwing up a few new fronds.
So Fernleys' winter home was certainly a success, though I think it might have been a touch over-engineered as I've since seen plenty of tree ferns left to the element for the winter with only a bit of straw stuffed in to the crown. However I'm not sure I'd take that risk, even though we're pretty sheltered here.