Monkey Puzzle Tree Birthday Surprises Part 3 Of 3

Pressie 2

So, to recap my birthday, I now have some actual Monkey Puzzle tree seeds and have been to a pub called The Monkey Puzzle that has a real Monkey Puzzle tree in its beer garden. This had left me in possibly the best mood ever, I really believed nothing else could improve what had turned out to be a brilliant 49th birthday.  But oh how wrong was I......

After getting back to Nathalie's from the pub I was told that I wasn't under any circumstances to look in her bedroom. It didn't occur to me what possible reason she was saying this, except maybe she had another man stashed in there but I was happy to oblige. Once we had settled I was told that in the bedroom was my last birthday surprise and I could now go and get it, I immediately scurried off to find out what was awaiting me. Never thinking for a minute what I was likely to find I threw open the door to discover, sitting on Nat's bed, the most adorable little Monkey Puzzle Tree! 

I still don't know how I didn't explode in a mix of happiness and excitement as I was totally blown away with my little tree. I immediately began to barrage Nat with questions, where did she get it? How she had hid it from me? How old was it? Though I never bothered to ask why she bought me it as that kind of went with out saying. The answers I got were, she got it online, a friend had tree-sat for her till my birthday and it was 4 years old. Naturally, I was immediately besotted with my new tree and spent the rest of the night gazing at it lovingly.

So for the first time since I was young I had my very own Monkey Puzzle tree the big question now is, where am I going to plant it? You see as I live in a 2nd floor flat and I have no access to a garden where I can plant it, I am now having to think about where I can find a permanent home for my little tree. Until then I have a plan of where it can live and will post an update once it's at its new home.

Monkey Puzzle Trees Seen - 10       Monkey Puzzle Trees Yet To See - 4

Monkey Puzzle Tree Birthday Surprises Part 1 Of 3

Last week I celebrated my 49th birthday, which if you ask me only has the fact that it is 7 squared going for it, it's now got to that stage where I'd rather get to 50 and be done with it. However, despite my lack of enthusiasm for my new age what I hadn't anticipated was that this year my birthday would include 2 presents and a surprise I was so not expecting all thanks to my wonderful girlfriend Nathalie. The reason they were so special was of course because they were all Monkey Puzzle tree related!

Pressie 1

Before my actual birthday Nathalie was rather excited about an auction she was interested in on eBay, when I enquired as to what was going on I was told to mind my own business as it would ruin a surprise if I found out. I immediately suspected that this must mean it was birthday related but couldn't for the life of me think of what it was likely to be. Well I found out what it was all about on the opening of one of my presents on my birthday, a small unassuming present was unceremoniously ripped open to reveal........Monkey Puzzle tree seeds!

My Very Own Ngülliw

I was, it is fair to say, absolutely blown away. Lately I've been reading all I can about Monkey Puzzle trees and have been fascinated by the fact that an ancient people in Chile, the Pehuenche, lived for thousands of years amongst the forests of Monkey Puzzle trees, which they called Pehuén. The seeds from the tree (ngülliw in Mapudungun) were central to their diet, which they supplemented with meat and fish. (I'll be posting more about all this soon).

So now I have some Monkey Puzzle seeds of my own to experiment with in the kitchen! Which, as you can guess, has put a huge grin on my face and even though I can't count these in either of my categories I really don't care!

(to be continued...)

Monkey Puzzle Trees Seen - 8        Monkey Puzzle Trees Yet To See - 4

Another Local Monkey Puzzle To See And A Dilemma Resolved

The other day I was given a photograph by Nathalie of a sweet little Monkey Puzzle Tree that resides in one of her client's back garden. Hopefully I will be allowed to join her when she's working there in the future and then I'll be able to say hello to this cute little tree.

However, this new tree discovery brought to the fore a dilemma I was having with this blog and has made me have to think of ways of addressing it. The problem is that even though I can't imagine many (if any) people will be bothered about checking any of the Monkey Puzzle Trees I mention here there is a possibility, no matter how unlikely, that one day someone will decide to try and visit one or more of the trees featured. When it comes to Monkey Puzzle Trees that are in public spaces like Regents Park and Hyde Park this is obviously not an issue but some of the trees are going to be in places where there is no public access like private gardens or where an admission is charged to enter the location, such as Kew Gardens.

So to prevent a number of angry residents complaining about people traipsing through their private spaces and to avoid upsetting potential Monkey Puzzle Tree spotters by sending them on what would effectively be a wild goose chase, I have decided to retrospectively start a labelling system. From now on the location of all the Monkey Puzzle Trees I blog about will be categorised depending on their location in respect to both Private/Public, Free/Charged etc. I have also decided when a tree is in a private location which requires permission to gain to access then the location details both here and on the Map Of My Quest will be more generic rather than specific.

These are the categories I intend to use from now on, I will add any other categories as and when I think of them:

• Public Space (free public access)
• Admission Charge (access to public with charge)
• Private (no public access)
• Private Front Garden (viewable from public space)
• Private Rear Garden (viewable from public space)
• Private Front Garden (Restricted View) (viewable from public space)
• Private Rear Garden (Restricted View) (viewable from public space)

Monkey Puzzle Trees Seen - 8        Monkey Puzzle Trees Yet To See - 4