Southsea Canary Island Date Palms.

[Rob S]

Washies are not tough enough even for Southsea imo.

They need volcanos and ceriferas though.

Try telling that to my Washingtonia planted 10 years ago & never been protected

Even small ones planted in Southsea have come through the last few cold winters too...

The record low in Southsea (from the now closed weather station) is -8.0C in January 1987 & the coldest temperature I could find for the last few years is -4.9C at Southsea Marina in Eastney, my low has been -2.5C.

That washy is very sheltered now. As you know they get very tall very fast, what happens when they are over the roof over your house and are fully exposed to the elements and cold winds. Then it would be goodnight.

Mr Greendragon i'm sure you know Chamaerops are slow growing and take a long time to get large enough to make an impact whereas Washingtonia are much cheaper and faster growing and get reasonably big! You do seem to worry unnecessarily a great deal about what might happen in decades to come when these plants get very tall however even with fast growth rates here in the UK it is unlikely that a Trachycarpus let alone a Washingtonia would loom above the roof of your house like in LA or somewhere, wouldn't it be great though!

[billdango]

I think i saw a huge Washingtonia shown some time back on this forum as tall as the roof of a 2 story house taken here in Southampton?

If I could find out more about it I would try to get a picture of it for this forum.

rgds billdango

[Rob S]

That would be very interesting and also to know if it is still around with any recent pics?

[billdango]

That would be very interesting and also to know if it is still around with any recent pics?

I wish that I knew where it was but at the moment I can't get any more information.

If I could get a rougth location I could try to locate it on google earth as I know Southampton pretty well.

I do know that it came through the last severe winters intact so must be thriving somewhere around here.

It is so frustrating to be unable to find out more.

billdango

[billdango]

One day on that huge wasted wind swept sea front there will be a little palm planted.

And people will say when they look up at a 30 foot Trachycarpus ...

I thought Trachycarpus wasn't tolerant of windy sites?

They probably are not that suitable for very windy sites but they seem to thrive at a place called english bay on vancouver island which in winter at least can be just as wet and windy as any South coast UK resort.

Take a google earth trip along that bay road and you will not only see what I mean but also see how well the Canadians display their hardy exotics.

English councils could learn a lot from this?

rgds billdango

[Nathan]

There are a couple in London that I know of which are around 20ft tall already, they came through the last few winters too (the photo of the one at the Chelsea Physic Garden was taken after the cold winter of 2010)...

[JakoMonster]

There are a couple in London that I know of which are around 20ft tall already, they came through the last few winters too (the photo of the one at the Chelsea Physic Garden was taken after the cold winter of 2010)...

Nice! i would of stripped them but i know some people like old boots left on

[Nathan]

Here's another one in Wimbledon, photo was taken several years ago & it is apparently much bigger now...

[Nathan]

These ones are growing in Totton, Southampton. Though they were planted large three years ago...

They are given protection with a spotlight providing some warmth to the crown...

[Nathan]

And a couple of photos of Washingtonia from Ventnor Botanic Garden (I.O.W)...

These are ones that were planted small, unlike the more recently planted ones which went in quite big...

These pics are from a few years ago too.

[billdango]

So in london and on the South Coast Washingtonias are virtually hardy?

If they grow that well in southampton there may be a lot more around in peoples backyards that we will never know about.

It seems to me from looking at the above pictures that when they get to a certain size they come back even after a winter as cold as 2010 and a february as cold as 2012.

I think we should keep a Washingtonia thread open all the time and collect all the pictures that we can.

These can then be kept on this thread for all members to study.

All updates and new pictures can then be added as needed.

The same can be done with any mature CIDPs on a special Phoenix canariensis_CIDP only thread.

rgds billdango

[Nathan]

The good thing about Washingtonias is that if they get damaged fronds during the winter, as they grow so fast they easily replace a whole new crown of leaves the following year. Which doesn't happen with many other palms...

[Si]

This is without equal in this land, each petiole plus fan are 10ft, I hope to god this survives the long haul

[jezza]

I would love to plant my biggest washy out but costa del chesham is way too cold for one outside.

[Nathan]

This is without equal in this land, each petiole plus fan are 10ft, I hope to god this survives the long haul

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