JohnBrew
Active member
Hi Chris, I did a similar thing with a ficus. It outgrew the house and I had to put it outside. Last winter I covered it as best I could in the cold weather and it came back more lovely than ever. This winter has been a different story since we dropped down to 19 degrees (a record) and while I double-covered it so far there has been no hint of green. I'm going to give it another month and keep watering it before I give up on it. We've had it 20 years.Norfolk Island grows a particular fir tree, which looks very primitive to me - like something from a Jurassic landscape. These poor little trees are now grown in the warmer parts of north America, then sprayed with glitter paint, and then sold as living Christmas trees. Generally, they die no matter what you do, as the paint prevents them from photosynthesising. This particular one might be called a 'rescue tree' - we washed and wiped off all the paint we could, and placed it outside in the sun, the rain and the wind each summer for the last several years. Now it is growing to the point where our cathedral ceiling will not cope, and we may have to prune out the central shoots if we are to keep it alive rather than throw it away. Obviously, no choice there! We may have to raise a roof to continue to support it.
Roleiflex 2.8GX, Ilford XP2 Super @ ISO 50, Ilfotec HC, Hasselblad X1 scan:
Norfolk Island Fir by chrism229, on Flickr
