BRANCHING OUT

These days, you’re likely to find the skylines of Britain’s finest gardens punctured with frothy fronds sprouting from the trunk of a Dickonsia Antarctica. Tree ferns, as they’re more commonly known, are the heroes of contemporary green spaces. We first spotted them in landscape architect Tom Stuart- Smith’s 2013 design for the Keepers’ House garden at the Royal Academy ( left) – a sheltered, walled space rendered tropical by these evergreens, whose punky perennial foliage thrives in shady, humid spots. They are now the urban jungle’s tree du jour, adding an architectural high point. Make a space in your patch for this slow-growing sapling immediately – it’s yours for £55.99 from Waitrose Garden (waitrosegarden.com).