Gina, you're in a warmer climate so it should be much faster-growing. Around here (inland SoCal) I would expect around a foot a year in the ground, faster with feeding. They can be very slow-growing in containers or with limited water. How fast do Star Pines grow in your area? I would expect similar rates.
“That which is, is.That which happens, happens.” Douglas Adams
Name: John Scott County, KY (Zone 5b) You can't have too many viburnums..
Here are images of ~20 year old Monkey Puzzle Trees (Araucaria araucana) from 2010 in Germany near Dusseldorf. My brother-in-law lives there, and we've been visiting there since 1987.
Maybe there is something wrong with the subject plant, if it is only a meter tall after 20 years. Having bright reddish brown foliage doesn't sound good, either - since that is the color of dead tissue on this plant.
Name: Daisy I Reno, Nv (Zone 6b) Not all who wander are lost
Yes, we need photos. The color doesn't sound good.
I have a couple in pots - they are about 20 years old, very healthy but less than a meter tall. I grew them from seed from the UK - maybe UK Monkey Puzzles are slower growing? I had a cutting grown Monkey Puzzle in the ground in California zone 8. It is now 50 years old but probably only 40 ft tall.
Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and proclaiming...."WOW What a Ride!!" -Mark Frost
President: Orchid Society of Northern Nevada
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