'Trunky Trachycarpus' 39 Year old Trachycarpus You Tube video

[Dave Brown]

Trunky Trachycarpus has been around for quite a while now, and has seen some extremes in his time. From the -12.9C and being buried under a blanket and 3 feet of snow in Jan 1987, to experiencing the warmest temperature experienced by a UK town since records began.... 38.1C Official, 39.2C here on 10th August 2003.

All taken in his stride

I have been meaning to put this together for a few years now.

Trunky Trachycarpus You Tube Vid

[bev]

another interesting vid dave



cheers

lee

[Robin Cassell]

Good stuff Dave..like that...

[bobbyd44]

great to see how the rest of the garden has come along at that time too!!!

[Dave Brown]

Thanks guys,

great to see how the rest of the garden has come along at that time too!!!

Yes, notice the first pic of it planted, was beside a rose bush The garden certianly evolved rather than being planned out to start with, but essentially the backbone planting has remained the same for well over 10 years now. The arid bed which goes up to it now was completed in July this year, so it is always 'work in progress'

[Las Palmas Norte]

Well done Dave. It would seem as though the Cordyline is about to take over in height.
Only someone such as yourself, who has lived in the same place this long, could make this type of video.

Cheers, Barrie.

[delboy12]

wow great that dave,
wish id done that with our lass over the years lol(well maybe not)happy new year this dam cold weather just carrys on. :

[redsquirrel]

cool beans Dave like the bit of kent john sat in yer garden on one of your other vids too

[jezza]

Now i know how long it will take for mine to get that size

[JohnH]

A very enjoyable video David. I have been browsing some of the others you have on YouTube. It is very helpful to collate photographs and videos of a single plant over a long time span. It gives one a good idea on what to expect.

I saw the video regarding "Washy", have you done any other on long standing plants?

[tenchy]

nice one mate love it

[JohnH]

I was thinking about your video last night David (My nephews would probably call me 'Sad' at this point), but it must be one of the oldest urban palms in the UK.

These plants were very hard to come by 40 years ago, and one would only see them in parks or places such as Kew, not in a domestic back garden.

In the days before the world wide web that must have been a dificult task in sourcing such a plant?

JH

[Dave Brown]

John,

I have to say yes and no to that

Yes they were diffucult to find 40 years ago, but they seemed to be available in Victorian times then fell from favour for some reason and were forgotten

I have heard of one a few miles from me in Rainham (Medway Towns), not seen it yet myself, but Mixie and Kentgardener have. It is about 40 feet tall. and 100 or so years old. The land was recently sold and it was feared it would be felled, but they have built a Doctor's surgery and incorperated it into the landscaping.

[redsquirrel]

that is good to hear.do trachies have an average lifespan?

[Las Palmas Norte]

Dave ... this reminded me of a local palm I photographed last year. I stopped and spoke to the owner who purchased the property (5 acres) back in 1955.
He planted this palm in 1972, which makes it 37 years planted. He'd said it was not even knee height then and it was protected until it became unreasonable to do so.
It's very close to 40' now, probably 37' or 38' tall. In my travels around this area, it's the tallest on private proerty, with some comparable in public settings. (couldn't get the bottom few feet of trunk in the pic)

Cheers, Barrie.