For a tree, the chief hazard is that this is one of the stormiest places on earth<\/p><\/blockquote>Magellan’s beech (Nothofagus betuloides) \u00a9 Getty\/Andrew Geiger<\/figcaption><\/figure>The world\u2019s southernmost tree (Magellan\u2019s beech, Nothofagus betuloides<\/em>), on the other hand, has to put up with some very different problems. It grows on Isla Hornos, the southernmost island in the Cape Horn archipelago at the very tip of South America. Here the climate is extremely oceanic and relatively mild (certainly compared to the home of Dahurian larch in Siberia), with the minimum air temperature only occasionally falling below freezing. For a tree, the chief hazard is that this is one of the stormiest places on earth, with winds often exceeding 200 km per hour.<\/p>The most exposed trees survive simply by growing sideways rather than vertically<\/p><\/blockquote>
The effects of such extreme windiness are obvious. Under good conditions, Magellan\u2019s beech can make a handsome tree up to 25 m tall, and even on Isla Hornos they achieve 5 m in sheltered places. But the most exposed trees, at the actual southern limit, survive simply by growing sideways rather than vertically.<\/p>
But can you buy them in the UK?<\/strong><\/p>But now the really big question: if you fancy growing these three, are they actually in cultivation? Two of them certainly are; the RHS plant finder lists a few suppliers of both Magellan\u2019s beech and various subspecies of Dahurian larch. But if you want to grow Polylepis tarapacana<\/em>, then you have a problem, despite it being the most garden-worthy of the three, certainly for a small garden. My advice would be to grow the equally attractive Polylepis<\/em> australis<\/em>, which certainly is in cultivation. Trust me, no-one will know the difference.<\/p> <\/body><\/html>\nFaced with a warming climate, many gardeners are thinking carefully about resilient plants for their garden. But what about three of the world’s most extreme trees? <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":33598,"template":"","categories":[1,17,48,51],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"4"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2024\/03\/the-worlds-most-extreme-trees-grow-in-the-fiercest-conditions-but-should-you-plant-them-in-your-garden.jpg",2560,1707,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2024\/03\/the-worlds-most-extreme-trees-grow-in-the-fiercest-conditions-but-should-you-plant-them-in-your-garden-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2024\/03\/the-worlds-most-extreme-trees-grow-in-the-fiercest-conditions-but-should-you-plant-them-in-your-garden-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2024\/03\/the-worlds-most-extreme-trees-grow-in-the-fiercest-conditions-but-should-you-plant-them-in-your-garden-768x512.jpg",768,512,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2024\/03\/the-worlds-most-extreme-trees-grow-in-the-fiercest-conditions-but-should-you-plant-them-in-your-garden-1024x683.jpg",800,534,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2024\/03\/the-worlds-most-extreme-trees-grow-in-the-fiercest-conditions-but-should-you-plant-them-in-your-garden-1536x1024.jpg",1536,1024,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2024\/03\/the-worlds-most-extreme-trees-grow-in-the-fiercest-conditions-but-should-you-plant-them-in-your-garden-2048x1366.jpg",2048,1366,true]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/gardensillustrated\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"Faced with a warming climate, many gardeners are thinking carefully about resilient plants for their garden. But what about three of the world's most extreme trees?","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/gardensillustrated\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/33597"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/gardensillustrated\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/gardensillustrated\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/gardensillustrated\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/gardensillustrated\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33598"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/gardensillustrated\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33597"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/gardensillustrated\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33597"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Dahurian](\"https:\/\/c02.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/40\/2024\/03\/GettyImages-1437824269-scaled.jpg\")
![\"Magellan's](\"https:\/\/c02.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/40\/2024\/03\/GettyImages-1204693354-edited-scaled.jpg\")