Hardytropicals UK

It all started for me on October 1st 2006 when I took my son, Aido, to Portsmouth University. We got him settled into his halls, and were starting to get in the way. So we decided to have a tour around the area to see what was close at hand. We drove along Southsea Common, and THERE! they were, not just one, but at least 7.... large, stunning Canary Island Date Palms (CIDP). These had obviously not just been planted, and seemed in perfect health. Of couse we had to park up and drool! The picture opposite was taken then.

These palms are at least 15 feet tall and more than 20 feet diameter, and were in perfect health. My son had come back from holiday in Majorca less than a month before so we dragged him down to see them. Even with a garden full of palms at home, he was impressed. A couple of weeks later I signed up to the ukoasis forum (sadly no longer public) although the HTUK Hardytroicals has continued to operate a public forum

I posted a picture of the Southsea CIDP on UKO, saying they were in excellent condition, did anyone know anything about them? To my surprise members did know and also who had inspired the Council to plant them. Someone suggested that Nate Wilson was responsible for these magnificent palms.

Nate replied, by courtesy ukoasis "Going back to the Southsea CIDP's (& the Butias too), they were indeed planted after I suggested it to the local council. They were planted in the spring of 1996 & were rather small, a little bigger than the size of the biggest ones you can get from B&Q or from supermarkets. The photo below (left) shows the very same one pictured earlier in the spring of 1997, after their first winter. As you can see the leaves were damaged by the cold salty winds & they all looked very brown & ragged, however a complete new set of leaves were produced that summer & apart from having the fronds tied up for the next couple of winters they have not received any protection & have been flowering for the last 5 or so years & have even been reported to have produced seed, though I have not seen this for myself...

Even though it was mid December, 15th, to be precise. it was a beautiful morning, the sun had just risen and it was a balmy 13 deg C. The palms were flowering, and there were both male and female within a 100 yards or so of each other. Some of the female trees had small embrio fruits on the latest flower branches. This at least meant the flowers were being pollenated, and so fruit would be possible. I wandered along the row of CIDPs inspecting them, much to the bemusment of a couple of local dog walkers.

When I came across the very tree in Nate's photo in 1997, it had mature, although unripe fruit on it. Please view the video clip opposite. (it may take a few seconds to load at busy times). There were not many fruit which could be for a variety of reasons: poor pollenation as there is quite a distance between trees; knocked off by wind; picked by tourists, or taken by animals. I picked just one unripe fruit to see if it would be viable, not daring to believe that it would.

I then collected Aido who came home for Christmas holidays. The unripe fruit was placed on the sunny kitchen windowsill, and forgotten about. Christmas came and went... the wind blew my gazebo onto my roof.... Aido broke his arm...had it patched up... and we took him back to Portsmouth. On the 15th January, exactly 1 month after picking I noticed the date looked as in the picture. Still not bright orange as in the Canaries, but looking ripe. I dug my thumbnail into the flesh, it was soft and smelt sweet. IT WAS RIPE!

The sweet smelling flesh was removed, It came off surprisingly easily, in one piece. I didn't taste it as they are supposed to be bitter. The seed appeared to be perfectly formed and was firm, confirming the seed was ripe. It was then soaked in a small glass of water on the same windowledge for 72 hours. Then scrubbed to ensure no flesh was left on the seed, and sowed on the 18th January using the'damp kitchen towel in a sealed container' method as suggested by Helen, on ukoasis The container was then placed on the top of the kitchen wall cupboards where the temperature is around 19C to 25C.

Please click here for Date sowing procedure.

Please click here for Phoenix canariensis page.

The seed was checked every few days for signs of germination. Finally on 4th February the root was visible, and the Southsea produced seed confirmed viable. Also the germnation time from sowing was just 17 days which is pretty good by palm standards. I contacted Nate about the good news, and as the instigator or the planting of these palms 11 years ago, he can justifiably be proud of the outcome.

 

Finally 5 weeks after gemination, the Southsea Island Date Palm, poked up it's first spear. You are now viewing possibly the first ever totally English grown CIDP.

Nate Wilson has kindly agreed to give an email interview about what inspired him to get involved in exotic gardening, and how the Southsea CIDP plantings came about.

Hi Dave,

Glad your seed is doing well! Hopefully mine will also germinate

Dave : How did you get interested in exotics, at what must have been a fairly young age? Mine was a Majorca holiday in Decmeber... bloody freezing!.

Nate : I must have been about 15 & I was looking through a Readers Digest gardening book & found a pic of Trachycarpus fortunei. I couldn't believe that a palm tree could grow in the UK (though the book said it could only be grown in the "balmiest" parts of the south & west!) Then looking in another gardening book I found out that Phoenix canarienses could also be tried in the south west. My first palms came by mail order from the Palm Farm on Humberside & not long after my Dad drove me to The Palm Centre, in the days when Martin Gibbons ran the small shop alone on Upper Richmond Rd West! He sold me my first CIDP. It all snowballed from there really & I got a real passion for palms & other exotics that would bring a touch of the tropics to my garden!

Dave : What inspired you to ask the council to plant the palms, and what was their reaction?

Nate : It was in an issue of Chamaerops (the European Palm Society journal) that Martin Gibbons suggested people wrote off to their local councils to try & get them to use palms etc.. in their planting schemes. So in the autumn of 1995 I wrote to the parks department (who's head at the time was Brian Kidd, who now has a weekly gardening feature in my local paper & he is on the panel of BBC Radio Solent's "Topsoil" gardening phone in show) Brian sent me an enthusiastic letter back saying that the parks department had a younger team now & they liked trying new plants & ideas & he said that they would try & plant some palms the following spring. I suggested to him that Phoenix canariensis & Butia capitata would be ideal candidates for near to the seafront. I also said that the palms could aid tourism as the ones do in Torquay, I don't know whether that had anything to do with it!

Dave : How do you feel 10/11 years on about these magnificent specimens?

Nate : Even I am surprised that they have grown so big & well in a relatively short space of time, I remember a few people saying that they wouldn't survive & would be wiped out in a cold winter.

Infact one person who said that posts on UK Oasis, but I shall name no names! There even seems to be a bit of jealousy with them by certain individuals, again I won't say by who! My family are actually proud of me for getting them planted, my Mum always has to drive by "my" palms & takes great delight in letting people know I had a part in their planting! It does make me feel proud too, knowing that (hopefully) they will be there long after I am gone & that they will give pleasure to many who visit Southsea.

I even joked that when I die I want my ashes to be scattered under them!

Dave : How do you feel about viable seed in the UK?

Nate : I am amazed that they have even fruited, let alone that the seed is viable! I have heard that this is the very first recording of this happening in the UK & even the 100 + year old ones on Tresco have never fruited, but I guess someone out there will know the answer for sure. It's also exciting as because of the provenence of the seed, the palms that grow from it have the potential to be super hardy & could allow CIDP's to grow sucessfully in other areas of the UK.

Dave : Thanks Nate, for that insight into the origins of those magnificent palms and best of luck with your seed.