When Andrea moved to a new home, 12 years ago, there was a Monkey Puzzle tree in the front garden. She wasn't keen, it was marked down to go but it is still there. Find out why in this Monkey Puzzle Plant Story.

These trees first came to the UK in 1795 but they didn't really start to become popular till the 1850s. Queen Victoria saw the tree and wanted one for Prince Albert.

We have a Chilean botanist in the podcast to help us understand the tree, learn how to grow it and unravel that story about the original Monkey Puzzle nuts being stolen off a dinner table in Santiago.

Our Plant Stories is presented and produced by Sally Flatman

The music is Fade to Black by Howard Levy

Can I dig into more plant stories?

YES! You can check out the website where there are lots of photographs of plants and how to grow instructions. Our Plant Stories website

You can also follow the weekly blog where you will get the behind the scenes lowdown on making the podcast and you could also contribute - readers have suggested gardens to visit, plants to feature, experts to contact.

Our Plant Stories blog

And you can follow more plants over on my Instagram account Instagram

You can click the Buy Me A Coffee link here or on the website to buy a virtual coffee and join the crew and get a shout out.

Everyone shares their stories for free and I make it because I love it but there are costs like the hosting platform and the editing programmes etc. Buy Me A Coffee

THANK YOU!

Can I share my plant story with you?

YES PLEASE! I called this OUR Plant Stories for a reason and that is that I love to hear from listeners wherever you are in the world!

You can email me Sally@ourplantstories.com and tell me your plant story. That's all you need to do - I'll do the rest. I'll work out who we can talk to. Can we find someone who shares your passion for the plant, they maybe in the same country as you or the other side of the world.

Expert Guest: Eduardo Olate

Eduardo is from Chile and is an experienced lecturer, horticultural advisor, and business development consultant specializing in the agricultural sector, with over 25 years of expertise in plant propagation, plant tissue culture, plant breeding, and crop physiology in ornamental plants. He was a co-founder of the Chilean Native Plants Conference. He loves the Monkey Puzzle tree; Latin name - Araucaria araucana. It's the National tree of Chile

Timeline of the episode:

00.35. Intro to what listeners have been growing thanks to the podcast.

01.16   Every Monkey Puzzle leaf can last for 25 years!

01.42. Andrea’s plant story about the Monkey Puzzle tree in her front garden

04.25 Who planted the tree?

05.18. What do passers-by think of the tree?

06.37.  What do the seed pods look like?

07.55. Introducing Eduardo Olate, a horticulturalist from Chile and one of the co-founders of the Chilean Native plants conference

08.47. When did the Monkey Puzzle tree first arrive in the UK and where does the name come from?

09.44. How do the Indigenous people in Chile use this tree?

10.43 So how does this tree end up in English gardens?

14.28. When did they start to become popular in the UK?

15.25. Andrea asks Eduardo about the seedpods

20.23  Eduardo tells us about their native habitat in Chile of a Monkey Puzzle tree

24.00 Were they around when dinosaurs walked the earth?

27.46. How to grow a Monkey Puzzle tree

32.00 How to plant a Monkey Puzzle seed

Mentioned in this episode:

Finalist in the Independent Podcast Awards 2024

Check out the blog to see what happens!

Our Plant Stories blog

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