TREE FERN TRAGEDY
Many years ago, just after we’d planted up a tree fernery at the garden I worked at, I met a Tasmanian. I’d mentioned my recent job, planting several K worth of tree ferns, all “sustainably imported” from Tasmania, their labels said so. Legit, with traceability codes and EVERYTHING!
The Tasmanian sort of snorted, then illuminated me to the reality of the situation. The tree ferns weren’t “sustainably” harvested. They were cut out of the native Tasmanian (and Australian in general) rainforests as a lucrative by-product before vast swathes of ancient trees were clear-felled by logging companies, denuding huge areas of natural, ancient, established habitat. Read this interesting post HERE and THIS ONE, which is the official Tasmanian “Forest Practices” guidelines for tree fern “management”.
Common sense should have kicked in really and I’m dissapointed that I, like so many other horticulturists have been so slow to pick up the ball with this. As practitioners of plants, nursery owners, professional gardeners, designers and consumers we need to start getting responsible with this! The nature of tree fern growth (very slow) means anything of a saleable size is very likely to have been “wild harvested” and shipped as a greenwashed commodity of a deeply, at best troubling, at worst, corrupt, system. A tree fern bunged in a pot to root and sold as a “home-grown” specimen, is quite frankly, bullshit too. As far as I know there are no nurseries producing tree ferns from spore or offsets. Many places may source their stock from other wholesalers, who have also imported them, so you can’t just pass the buck on and claim ignorance! We can literally educate ourselves and trace everything within two minutes of being sat at a computer!
There needs to be some serious awareness provided to consumers and nursery owners now, this practice is not OK! Consumers are driving this market and thus driving the continued extraction of these incredible plants! Nursery owners need to stop providing them! It’s OK to say no and tell people why! Sadly, there aren’t enough people on the planet who will take the hit on a nice little earner for the sake of doing the right thing… I suspect.
