Hardy Tropicals UK

It will only take 20 years to get that size from a 2ft trunk.

greendragon wrote:It will only take 20 years to get that size from a 2ft trunk.

I'm 56

You could live to 100 then you will have a telephone pole with miniscule leaves barely visible up in the sky lol.

Bob wrote:

greendragon wrote:It will only take 20 years to get that size from a 2ft trunk.

I'm 56

I`m even older! Twenty years Greendragon!!!!!!!!! Dream on. Dont wast your waggie on your relations, Give it an old age pensioner! Ill have it

Well said!!

jungle jas wrote: I`m even older! Twenty years Greendragon!!!!!!!!! Dream on. Dont wast your waggie on your relations, Give it an old age pensioner! Ill have it

I'd have it too if it was possible!
Plus I'm younger and therefore able to enjoy it for longer

None of the Trachycarpus at Kew get damaged by cold winters, the plant in the picture is extremely old and has indeed been over trimmed, however it is true that very tall old Waggies can look a little unsymetrical with just a small head of leaves!

Rob S wrote:None of the Trachycarpus at Kew get damaged by cold winters, the plant in the picture is extremely old and has indeed been over trimmed, however it is true that very tall old Waggies can look a little unsymetrical with just a small head of leaves!

Then why was there a rotting Trachycarpus stump next to the Waggie in the picture?

You say that the trachies in kew were not damaged but I was there recently and I know that they along with the Chamaerops have been battered.

Talking of battered Chamaerops, here's one I snapped at RHS Rosemoor on Saturday.

Rob S wrote:None of the Trachycarpus at Kew get damaged by cold winters, the plant in the picture is extremely old and has indeed been over trimmed, however it is true that very tall old Waggies can look a little unsymetrical with just a small head of leaves!

You're wasting your time Rob, I tried telling 'em .

grub wrote:

Rob S wrote:None of the Trachycarpus at Kew get damaged by cold winters, the plant in the picture is extremely old and has indeed been over trimmed, however it is true that very tall old Waggies can look a little unsymetrical with just a small head of leaves!

You're wasting your time Rob, I tried telling 'em .

There was a rotten Trachycarpus stump next to the original Waggie pictured in this thread, so I think the people were correct who said that the original palm was damaged and as a result produced stunted leaves. Either Trachycarpus Wagnerianus are not as hardy as people think or Kew don't look after them properly.


Look here at undamaged Waggies, the leaves are more as you would expect, there are not just more of them, the ones that are there are bigger.

Source: http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/showimage/21359/



Source: http://pics.davesgarden.com/pics/2011/0 ... c56cf3.jpg

Unauthorised use prohibited.

I presume the Waggy and stump you refer to are the ones situated just inside the Main gate at Kew, that is on the semi-circle at Kew Green? Can you confirm this? The only difference i can see between your original pic and the ones you use for reference is that the as i said before the former has been overtrimmed,the second pic have been untrimmed for many years forming a skirt of dead leaves and the third somewhere in between! There is no question that Waggies are not hardy at Kew or in most of the British Isles and the only maintenance that Kew may occasionally perform on any of their Trachycarpus's is removal of old leaves which i would say may have been overzealous on this occasion!

The rotten stump and the palm pictured were next to where there are steps leading down to the avenue of cherry trees and benches.

That waggie is not so old, all the Kew waggies originated from seed sourced by peter jenkins around 30 years ago. That particular one was transplanted around 5 years back and is still recovering, it needed a good dose of palmbooster
I suspect it is one of the ones that was growing in the doorway to the palmhouse that were inexplicably dug up and moved.