palm cities.

[billdango]

here is a list of my favorite palm cities that i have visited during the last twenty years.
all of these places have a climate similer to southern england and all of the palms seen can be grown by forum members here..
no1, sochi in southern russia. this city is on the shores of the black sea and has a climate similer to tresco but with warmer sunnier summers. large specimens of syagrus romanzoffianum and phoenix canariensis can be seen growing here ,also there are many examples of t fortuni and some of these are quite large?.
no2, the city of pau in s.w france. this place is just amazing ,thousands of t. fortuni line the boulevards and fill the parks and gardens. the best street to visit on google earth is the boulevard des pyrennes,which has hundreds of t fortuni,s and c humilis,s lining the sides of the road for at least a mile . some of the t fortuni in public gardens are an amazing 50 feet tall. iff they can do this in france why not in southern england?.
no3 ,vancouver island. this part of canada has a climate similer to s.e england but with 25 percent more sunshine hours. here at a place called english bay you can also see dozens of good sized t fortuni lining the waterfront area.
also there are a number of interesting palms in the inner city,including c humilis and butia capitata.
a visit to saltspring island would be worthwhile as well iff time permits .
all of these places i have mentioned so far can be visited on google earth and thats the reason i have not included any pictures on this discussion.
no 4, nelson, new zealand . the sunniest place i think on south island with 2.400 hours each year [compare with eastbourne u k with about 2.000 hours a year].
avenues of p. canariensis and w.filifera palms abound . many old favorites like t fortuni and t wagnerianus are commonly planted.
also seen are b capitata and b armata. a few others can be found with a bit of searching like s romanzoffianum and h forsteriana ,some of these to 30 foot plus.
whenever i visit these cities on holiday i always ask myself ,as the climates of these places is so similer at least to the south coast of england why can,t we do it here?
rgds ,to all forum members,billdango.

[Maxine]

Hello,
I am really keen on travelling overseas. Earlier this year I saw coconut palms in Colombia. I saw the palms at English Bay Beach in Vancouver last year. I visited Nelson is New Zealand in 2001 and saw the palms there.

Maxine

[Rod]

Here's Clive Square in Napier New Zealand, taken from Google Earth.
Mature specimens of Phoenix canariensis & Washingtonia robusta.

[Rod]

More from Clive Square

[billdango]

Now thats what i call a palm city?we definitely cannot do that here in the uk.
the best i have ever seen.
thanks rod.

[Rod]

Now thats what i call a palm city?we definitely cannot do that here in the uk.
the best i have ever seen.
thanks rod.

Thanks Bill, glad you like it.
Napier is about 2.0°c - 3.0°c warmer than Christchurch.

Climate data of Napier City
Mean Temps:
JAN: 24.4°c / 14.6°c
JUL: 14.1°c / 4.6°c
SUN: 2188 Hrs
RAIN: 803 mm

Climate data of Christchurch City
Mean Temps:
JAN: 22.7°c / 12.3°c
JUL: 11.3°c / 1.8°c
SUN: 2144 Hrs
RAIN: 618mm

[billdango]

the nearest we have to napier is torquay[which could do a lot better]and of course tresco.
i still think that southsea could do just as good as the weather is similer to many places on south island.
even right down as far south as riverton on south island [where i stayed in 1989 while visiting a friend] i saw some small specimens of p caneriensis.
the one advantage that new zealand has on the uk is that they are about ten degrees nearer the equater then us and there is no cold continental land mass just off their shores.
that means no biting winds off snow fields in winter and higher sunshine hours during the cold months.
that said the climate is broadly similer and the main advantage enjoyed by both countries is the rainfall is reliable and long droghts rarely occur.
so come on all you forum members get planting?.

[Rod]

the nearest we have to napier is torquay[which could do a lot better]and of course tresco.
i still think that southsea could do just as good as the weather is similer to many places on south island.
even right down as far south as riverton on south island [where i stayed in 1989 while visiting a friend] i saw some small specimens of p caneriensis.
the one advantage that new zealand has on the uk is that they are about ten degrees nearer the equater then us and there is no cold continental land mass just off their shores.
that means no biting winds off snow fields in winter and higher sunshine hours during the cold months.
that said the climate is broadly similer and the main advantage enjoyed by both countries is the rainfall is reliable and long droghts rarely occur.
so come on all you forum members get planting?.

Hi Bill

Northernmost tip of New Zealand: 34°23'S
Southernmost tip of New Zealand: 47°17'S ( Tip of Stuart Island )
Average Latitude of New Zealand: 40°70'S
My House: 43°32'S

Tresco Abbey Gardens, UK: 49°56'N
Southhampton, UK: 50°54'N

[Rod]

Phoenix canariensis - Auckland New Zealand

[billdango]

thanks for those stunning pictures rod maybe one day i will visit new zealand again and have a longer look around.
i only had a month last time and thats not enough.
now as to the palms; i suppose the best most of us forum members can do is to grow the few cold hardy specimens that will take our colder winters?.
there is no chance of having palm gardens like those in north island but we can grow a lot of new zealand plants outside in the uk. these are mostly cordylines and phormiums and lots of shrub species .
there is no chance of growing w robusta to the great sizes seen in napier and huge phoenix palms are a dream for most of us as well unless we live on the extreme south coast.
but its not all doom and gloom as we can still grow t fortuni to a large size as well as b capitata and j chiliensis does extremely well,so it may be best if we can copy cities like pau and sochi which have cold continental winters yet grow big palm trees.
rgds billdango.

[JakoMonster]

well the average low tempatures Napier get in the winter are about the same as the south coast over here, it they can grow somewhere which has a near enough climate to us why not here ? i would be so happy if my area and other areas around the uk looked like Clive square but i think it can be done over hear, sure some palms might not survive for what ever reason but also some palms some will survive and grow really well like in southsea so i think the council and Government should plants more palm tree around the public areas, towns, Gardens and beach areas

[Conifers]

well the average low tempatures Napier get in the winter are about the same as the south coast over here,

Errr, no . . . they're about five degrees warmer!

[JakoMonster]

well the average low tempatures Napier get in the winter are about the same as the south coast over here,

Errr, no . . . they're about five degrees warmer!

Napier > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napier,_Ne ... nd_Climate

Worthing (UK) > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Worthing#Climate

The average lows (not highs) are near enough the the same

[billdango]

i think we could just about do it in places like ventnor on the i.o.w as large specimens of w robusta and cidps grow very well there and managed well in severe winters like 2009 and 2010.
the high sunshine hours found there help a lot as well.
southsea is another possibility,so also is torquay but i think to compare with north island new zealand is just a dream.
we could still do a lot though with what we have and it just needs a bit more effort on city councils and us forum members to push things along.
and who knows we may one day have are own clive square in london or southsea or torquay.
rgds billdango.

[Rod]

i think we could just about do it in places like ventnor on the i.o.w as large specimens of w robusta and cidps grow very well there and managed well in severe winters like 2009 and 2010.
the high sunshine hours found there help a lot as well.
southsea is another possibility,so also is torquay but i think to compare with north island new zealand is just a dream.
we could still do a lot though with what we have and it just needs a bit more effort on city councils and us forum members to push things along.
and who knows we may one day have are own clive square in london or southsea or torquay.
rgds billdango.

Hi Bill - I have been looking at some climate data re: temps, for various towns and cities in the UK, And i am pretty sure you would be able to grow Rhopalostylis sapida in Portsmouth.
I know the exact conditions you can grow these in, and what they can take.
Portsmouth to me seems to be one of the very few places in the UK that you could grow this species. Plant it amongst other plants in a sheltered warm position out of icy winds from the north, and you should be right.
What R.Sapida needs to succeed in the U.K is:
A mean low temp in the coldest month of no less than 4°c
An extreme low temp in the coldest month of no less than -3°c ( direct frost ) -5°c under evergreen tree canopy. The palm must be established.
Summer heat is not an issue - any summer in the UK is fine.
For it to survive it relies on the mean low temp and the extreme low temp not getting too low.