Own grown plant of the month for April is Psuedopanax ferox
This wonderful architectural oddity from New Zealand goes through an extraordinary metamorphosis as it ages, when young it has a slender pole like trunk with long narrow, toothed downward pointing leaves evolved to protect the young tree from grazing animals, as the tree reaches maturity after 10 to 15 years the leaves become shorter and broader and it starts to form a branching lollipop head. In spring mature trees produce umbels of star-shaped greenish flowers followed on female plants by green berries which turn black in as they mature. Due to their initial upright growth they are suitable for sheltered sites in even small gardens, they thrive in fertile well drained soil in sun or partial shade, or as a container specimen, a must have for lovers of the unusual.
