Thursday, October 18, 2007

Araucaria Heterophylla (Norfolk Island Pine)


Also known as "Christmas tree plants", these are at their best when four years old. Because of their starkness, they seldom look well mixed with other plants, but a most striking effect can be created by grouping several of these conifers together to give a Japanese look.

Mini-climate
Cool, filtered sun.

Size
Araucaria heterophylla are slow-growing: a ten year old plant rarely exceeds 6 feet in height and 4 feet width.

Feeding
Feed with standard liquid fertilizer every two weeks in spring and summer.

Potting
Repot every two or three years in spring using soil-based potting mixture. Once plants are in 9-10 inch pots topdress instead.

Special points
Water more sparingly during the winter rest period.

1 comment:

Dan said...

I recently found a mature Norfolk Pine tree cone and took some good pictures of what the cones and seeds look like up close. I´ve posted them to my Tree Species blog if you are interested.