Monkey Puzzle Tree (Araucaria araucana)

in my opinion the monkey puzzle tree is my fave tree in the uk because i think it looks really exotic and nice and they can grow to over 70ft which i think is incredible! also with its hugh spikes it looks really nice but i would be very careful because those spikes are razor sharp and i you poke one you will know about it because i one felt one to see how sharp it was...(it hurt alot) i personally would not have one in my garden because they put sharp spikes everywhere and i will have loads of them because of the seeds but when i see them i think the are very nice because you dont see many i think i have only seen about 10-20 in the uk. i think this has got to be the ...  Read the complete review

Messy tree. Saw my first one in mid 80's when I moved to the Pacific NW and was mistified. Someone else wrote "exotic" and that's what I've thought too...until recently. A few yrs back I purchased an old house on large lot w/ mature landscaping and on this property is such a tree & it's huge! (60ft?) I finally had an oportunity to pet (touch) a tail and OUCH! Each time I walk under the tree I think I should wear a helmet and offer one to my visitors as a safety precaution. Each wind storm scatters the seeds (monkey balls) throughout the yard. The yard is speckled with them as I type this. The seeds are pokey too, but not as bad (needle sharp) as the tails ...  Read the complete review

I have just returned from Lanzarote and was admiring the trees there, so I bought a seed and brought it back. I found this while looking for info on growing the trees, so thanks for the info - wish me luck!

The first memory I had of Monkey Puzzle trees was as a toddler, playing beside one in my great-grandmother's front garden in the heart of Edinburgh. Looking back, it was an incredibly strange place to find a Monkey Puzzle tree - an exotic, orphaned misfit amidst a row of run-down terraced houses and melodious rose gardens. Unfortunately no-one in my family claimed to know how it got there so in my teens I decided to do some investigating of my own. I discovered that the first Monkey Puzzle trees in Edinburgh were planted en-masse in Lauriston Gardens in 1843, around 40 years after their introduction into Britain. From this, I could only conclude, knowing the ...  Read the complete review