This is definitely a tree you plant for your grandchildren. It grows slowly, but lasts for ever in a garden, and you are unlikely to see the full glory of your handiwork in less than a hundred years after you have planted it. Some related trees are known to live for 2000 to 3000 years; the lifespan of ironwood trees in cultivation is not known, but is unlikely to be much less than that. So, to visualise what a mature tree would look like in a garden, I cannot do better than to suggest you go to Durban Botanic Garden and seek out the two centenarian ironwoods, one either side of the path a few yards north of the Spanish mahogany.

The hard wood and potentially vast age of these trees suggest that some planning is necessary before deciding to plant one. It would be the wrong choice in, for example, a shopping centre parking lot, where the management are unlikely to resist the temptation to flatten everything for building for more than about ten years at a stretch. But in partial shade in an area that will remain a large garden for centuries, there can be few finer trees. Gardeners rich in time rather than space may wish to consider growing black ironwood as a bonsai rather than in open ground.

Seedlings and, occasionally, saplings can be bought from a good indigenous nursery. This is probably a more desirable way of acquiring plants than germinating seed, not only because the seeds will (presumably) have been harvested legally, but also because seeds are known to take four to six months to come up. Their progress after that is just as leisurely. Plant your new tree according to the method described by Carr (1994), which will enable it to get established relatively quickly. These trees have some tolerance to drought and frost, so a relatively sheltered, well-watered site is probably helpful. Once your tree is established there is little short of a direct hit from a small nuclear device that can harm it - the wood is so hard that it is more likely to destroy an unwary feller's tools than the other way around!