West Lothian,
United Kingdom 
Hello
Despite protecting my tree fern with the existing fronds and packing the crown with straw and then wrapping the whole plant in garden fleece there has been no growth this year. The plant is 5 years old and has responded succesfully to this treatment in the past, has anyone else had the same experience this year?
Thank you, Guest
10 Jul, 2010
Answers
Too late now, but for future protection it might be a good idea to use the new insulation materials which are used in lofts and houses, the reflective aluminium foil stuff with multiple layers. This is lightweight, easy to tape into position, and would probably give far better protection to things like tree ferns than just fleece, which only gives one or two degrees of protection.
My sympathies over the loss of your fern. I wish we could grow them here, but we have lost several with temperatures falling to minus 20C over the last few winters.
10 Jul, 2010
Previous question
Hi Guest,
Sorry to hear about your Tree Fern. This last winter was exceptionally harsh and many plants that have successfully over-wintered through previous years have been lost all over the UK.
Although we don't have any Tree Ferns in the garden here we have lost a lot of trees and shrubs, including several very well established 30 foot tall trees that suffered from severe bark split. Tree ferns natural retain a lot of water in their "trunks" and this makes them particularly susceptible to frost damage.
10 Jul, 2010