contents 2 contents winter edition 2000, issue 37 chamaerops is the journal of the european palm...

ContentsWinter Edition 2000, issue 37

Chamaerops is the journal of The European Palm Societyc/o The Palm Centre

Ham Central NurseryHam Street, Ham

Richmond, Surrey, TW10 7HA, UK

Phone: +44 20 8255 6191Fax: +44 20 8255 6192E-mail: [email protected]: www.palmsociety.org

A Secret Garden on the Lleyn Peninsula page 5by Steven Brown,135a, Market Street, Edenfield, Bury, Lancashire, U.K.

A trip to a little known garden in Wales where grows, among other treasures, one of the onlymature Butias in the British Isles. Join Steven Brown on an exotic trip of discovery.

Interview with the Editor page 6by Imtiaz McDoom-Gafoor, London, UK

Your editor, interviewed by Imtiaz McDoom Gafoor, talks about his adventures in palmland inthe first of two chats about the world of palms and his part in it.

Fairchild Tropical Garden page 13Mike Horwitz, [email protected]

One of the foremost botanic gardens in the world, Fairchild is a Mecca for palm enthusiasts.Here, Florida born Mike Horwitz whets your appetite.

Winter Growth page 16Alan Hindle, 3 Wenlock Close, Sedgley, Dudley, West Midlands DY3 3NJ

Is it better to encourage our palms to grow over the winter, or to allow them to rest? Alan Hindlediscusses the pros and cons.

Fussing Kills page 19C.S Jackson, Westcliffe on Sea, Essex, England

Transplanted Kiwi Charles Jackson continues the theme, with his take on the winter growth/resttheme.

Happy (or Crazy) Germination!? page 20by Jörg Schumann, Rathausplatz 2, 09247 Röhrsdorf, Germany

Have patience when it comes to germinating palm seeds, and don't give up too soon. So advisesGermany's Joerg Schuman

Editorial• Martin Gibbons, E-ditor, [email protected]

Unless you have recently arrived from anotherplanet you cannot have failed to notice the drift- should I say the rush - towards electroniccommunication technology. The take-up in justthe last five years has been phenomenal,everything now seems to be e-this and dot comthat. Every product advertised on the TV isaccompanied by the website address of themanufacturer, and now there are even mobilephones which allow you to receive emails whileon the move (though quite why anyone wouldactually want to do this is beyond me, thoughthe technology is fun).

Always keen to adapt to changing climates,the European Palm Society is no slouch when itcomes to keeping up with the future. The excitingnews is that ours is the first Palm Society in theworld (and there are many) to go fully on-line.From the current issue, our magazine,'Chamaerops', is being published on the web. Ifyou don't have a computer or access to the worldwide web, don't worry, as we will still bepublishing the 'hard copy' of our journal, andyour membership will remain unaffected.However, consider the following which areexclusively offered on the net.

Our magazine 'Chamaerops' will bepublished on the internet every quarter in fulland glorious colour. Accessible to all e-membersvia an individual password, you will be able tosave pages and read later, or, more likely, read iton-line. As each issue is superseded it will go intothe Chamaerops Archive, where along with ALLback issues (35 to date) it will be fully searchableusing keywords. Thus you will be able to lookup all references to a particular plant, or, say, allarticles by a particular author. We are workingon getting all back issues archived and more arebeing added all the time, though it may be somewhile before the archive is complete.

Secondly, we will have a palm forum in whichall members are invited to join. Make contactwith other enthusiasts, ask a question about palm

cultivation, and generally chat about our favouritesubjects with other members right across Europeand the world. Also we will have a Buy & Sellspot where you will be able to offer,or seek, freeof charge, surplus plants, seeds, or anything elsepalm related. Commercial companies are invitedto buy advertizing space too.

There will be a FAQ (frequently askedquestions) page where you can find out all aboutour Society, contact details, membershiprequirements, information about our get-togethers, etc.

Next, the Palm Shop will be open forbusiness. Here you can buy back issues, badges,T-shirts, Chamaerops binders, etc., at prices thatare specially discounted for members.

Finally, we are planning to build up aphotographic library by and for members, whoare again invited to contribute.

And all this for only £12 (= Euro 20 orUS$19.50) per year!

The free Public Area offers a selection ofChamaerops articles to give you an idea of whatto expect in the Members' Area. Becoming amember is easy. Get enrolled online within oneminute, using our secure, encrypted enrollmentservice. And for a limited period only, you canaccess the whole site using the password 'tryout'and login 'chamaerops'. Our website address isof course www.palmsociety.org. Go check it out!

I hope that you will be as excited by this newdevelopment as I am and will want to enjoy thebenefits of the European Palm Society in the 21stCentury.

See you in Cyberspace!

Martin GibbonsE-ditor!

www.palmsociety.org

A Secret Garden on theLleyn Peninsula

Steven Brown,135a, Market Street, Edenfield, Bury, Lancashire, U.K.

Thrusting out into the Irish Sea, like an armfrom the mountainous shoulder of Snowdonia,is the Leyn Peninsula, North Wales. Boundedby the sea on three sides, with the mountains tothe east, it is a wild landscape. Shrubs and treesare sculptured by westerly winds. But, as youenter Abersoch, its sheltered position is apparent.This is especially true at Haulfryn Coach House,situated to the rear of the town, where its positionhas allowed sub-tropical plantings.

After hearing rumours of a ninety year oldButia Palm, planted on the Lleyn Peninsula atthe turn of the Century, I decided to investigatethe story. So we booked into the Port TocynCountry House Hotel, Abersoch. The propriator,Mr. Fletcher-Brewer, informed us of the probablelocation of the palm. Having found the propertysituated behind the ‚Palm Bistro,‘ we walkeddown a gravel drive. On either side of us, Echiumpiniana had self-seeded to weed proportions,which I have only before seen on such a scale inthe U.K. at Tresco (Scilly Isles).

Originally the property - a large stone houseand gardens - belonged to the Minobrias familywho have been in the area for a long time. Imanaged to track them down but they could notoffer me much information other than the factthat the property now belongs to the Warrenfamily, who, for their part, have turned it intoflats.

As you approach the stone property, not onlyare Echiums prevalent but there is also a rareCordyline banksii ‚Purpurea,‘ along withCordyline australis of different ages, and a lovelyeight foot Cordyline australis ‚Albertii.‘ To theleft of the drive is a very fine grove of Trachycarpusfortunei. To the front of the house is a group ofChamaerops humilis which, at eightteen totwenty feet, are the biggest I’ve seen in Britain.Then, as we approached the back of the house,

we got our first glimpse of the Butia capitata -standing about thirty feet tall. It has to be saidthat it has got quite a poor trunk and is full ofholes. But who cares? It’s a fully grown Butiagrowing on mainland Britain and there are notmany of them around!

Along the stone wall, which goes round theback of the house, are some plants which areworth mentioning. Acacia verticillata was in fullflower (it was April when we were there).Grevillea juniperina was dripping with flowers.In the corner of one of the walls there was thebold, jagged, blue-grey leaves of Melianthusmajor. Sophora microphylla was full of its yellowlantern-like flowers. Nerium oleander were inbud. And, Pelagonium sp. were thriving againstthe wall, so they obviously survive the winter inthis mild climate.

At the back of the garden there was a Yuccabank with quite a few good sized Agaveamericana. Oscularia caulescens was spilling overthe rocks. Osteospermum ‚Nairobi Purple‘ (syn.‚Tresco Purple‘) was in full flower. Carpobrotusedulis and Carpobrotus acinaciformis had spreaditself all over the bank. The orange flowers ofLampranthus aureas shone in the spring sunshineand Sedum dendroideum was spreading itselfaround the Agaves.

We had now reached the lower edges of thegarden, so we made our way along a side pathback to the house where there were several shrubsdemanding our attention, such as Euphorbiamellifera with its honey scented flowers. Therewas a large, imposing Drimys winteri with its ballsof fragrant creamy white flowers. The red flowersof Crinodendron hookerianum looked quitemagnificent in its cool, sheltered site. Nearbywas an old shrub of Leptospermum lanigerum.

All too soon it was time to head home. Thefuture of this private garden remains to be seen.

Above: Butia capitata and Trachycarpus fortunei in the back garden.Below: Chamaerops humilis in the front garden.

Interview with the EditorImtiaz McDoom-Gafoor, London, UK

We are approaching the 9th anniversary ofthe formation of the European Palm Society andso I thought it would be a suitable opportunityto interview our editor. On a recent visit to thePalm Centre I interviewed Martin and weexplored such subjects as the European PalmSociety, The Palm Centre, and of course his manypalm expeditions abroad which have introducedso many new palms into cultivation. In this issuewe cover most of the exciting new palms andother exotic plants, and how they were discoveredand made available to cultivation. In the nextissue we look at the challenges of palmexploration, the formation of the European PalmSociety, the Palm Centre and other matters.

IMG: You are associated with introducingseveral new species of palms into cultivation. Let’sexamine some of these starting with the genusTrachycarpus. What prompted you to get involvedwith Trachycarpus and where is it found?

Martin: Investigating Trachycarpus was a spinoff of starting the Palm Centre. My first love ishardy palms and it was discovering which speciescould be successfully grown outdoors in the UKthat prompted my explorations. I knew there wereseveral other species of Trachycarpus that werewritten about but there seemed to be very littlein cultivation. I developed a passion forTrachycarpus and over the next seven years I wenton several major expeditions to try and find thedifferent species.

Trachycarpus grows in a broad band acrossthe foothills of the Himalayas from west to east.There is T. takil in the extreme west in westernNepal and northern India, and T. nanus at theother end. The genus grows across Nepal intonorth-east India, Sikkim, Burma, Thailand andChina. I also suspect that there are more,undiscovered species of Trachycarpus where theHimalayan mountains taper out, over towardsVietnam.

IMG: Who do you travel with?

Martin: Most of my trips were done withToby Spanner who has a nursery similar to thePalm Centre, in Munich in Germany. Ourpassion for Trachycarpus developedsimultaneously.

IMG: What is your favourite Trachycarpusspecies and why?

Martin: My favourite species would probablybe the most obscure of them all, which is T.princeps, which grows where China, Tibet, andBurma meet. It is the most difficult to get to andis in a politically very sensitive area. We were ableto find and name it but we were only able to findtwo seeds despite a thorough search. It will be along time before it comes into cultivation becauseof the remoteness of the area.

IMG: Why is Trachycarpus princeps not incultivation outside of its native area?

Martin: It grows in an extremely remote anddifficult place which is absolutely off limits toforeigners. The first time we tried to get to it wewere picked up by the police and returned in nouncertain fashion to civilisation. Although wesubsequently went on an officially sanctionedexpedition when we were able to find it, wehaven’t been able to get back since. The otherreason is that they seem to seed so sparingly. Wefound only a few seeds although at that time ofyear you would have expected to find lots. I alsoknow two or three Chinese people who have goneback since and they also report the paucity ofseeds, so I think it will be a long time before theycome into cultivation.

IMG: How does princeps differ from otherspecies of Trachycarpus?

Martin: It is unique because it has a waxywhite underside to the leaves. You can literallyscrape it off with a fingernail. It is very distinctivein that respect. It grows on the banks of theSalween River, now the Nu Jiang river („AngryRiver“), which starts in the Himalayas andempties out into the Gulf of Martaban in Burma.It grows in the most spectacular setting: it’s asthough there was a range of mountains and agiant took a huge axe and cut a great gouge inthe mountain with the river now running throughthe bottom. These almost sheer rock faces are 700or 800 ft tall and T. princeps grows on one ofthese rock faces.

IMG: What is the most cold hardy of theTrachycarpus species?

Martin: Takil is probably the most cold hardyspecies. It’s from central northern India where itgrows on a hillside near a place namedPithoraghar, which these days is a trekking resort.It grows at a high altitude, about 2400 m, whereit is said to be covered in snow from Novemberto March and consequently should be anextremely hardy palm. It was 5˚C when we werethere in October and it gets progressively colderthrough November onwards, until it is bitterlycold in the depths of winter. Old records describethem growing in great clumps and rows, but weonly found seedlings. We learned that all the adulttrees had been cut down in recent years. To thinkthat in the space of fifty years it has gone fromhundreds and hundreds of mature trees down toa few hundred seedlings is a terrible tragedy.

IMG: Which species would rival the ubiquitousfortunei in time and why?

Martin: Fortunei has two serious rivals. Thefirst is wagnerianus because the leaves are so stiff,it’s fast growing once it gets to a reasonable size,and it’s much more wind tolerant—which is themain weakness of fortunei. I think it will rivalfortunei as soon as it is more widely available.The other one is T. latisectus which we found innorth-east India. That has much broader leafsegments than fortunei, it has a bare trunk which

to my mind is more attractive, it’s very fastgrowing, and has glossy leaves. It’s such a beautifulpalm and I think when it becomes more widelyavailable it will rival fortunei.

IMG: How hardy is it likely to be?

Martin: No test has yet been done on its coldhardiness, as there are none growing outside theKalimpong area, but I believe it will probably bealmost as hardy as fortunei.

IMG: What prompted you to look for it?

Martin: A botanist from the Edinburghbotanic garden told us about two strangeTrachycarpus palm trees that were growing at theentrance to the famous Windermere Hotel inDarjeeling. We were on a trip in India anddecided to go up there and take a look at them.We thought we would be able to identify themat a glance, but in fact we didn’t have a clue as towhat they were. They were certainlyTrachycarpus. We knew everything that theyweren’t. They certainly weren’t takil, they weren’tfortunei. We wondered whether they couldpossibly be hybrids. We decided to leave thatparticular problem for a while. Later we were inKalimpong in north-east India and were stayingin the Everest Lodge, and there was one of thesetrees in the garden. It was so much like the othertwo we realised immediately that it must be anew species. We decided to call it latisectus whichmeans ‚broad segment‘ and refers to the broadsegments of the leaves.

IMG: What is the difference betweenTrachycarpus martianus ‚Khasia Hills‘ and ’Nepal’forms and where have you seen them?

Martin: They are very similar, one beingslightly finer, and the Nepal form being slightlyhardier as it grows at higher altitudes. They areboth actually the same species although at onetime they were considered different species. Onewas called Trachycarpus martianus, the otherTrachycarpus khasianus. They have since beenlumped together and I think for good reason.

They grow at a fairly high altitude. The one thatgrows near Shillong in Meghalaya province is onthe side of a very steep valley and is shrouded inmist for half a day which gives an indication ofits requirements. Again it is in an absolutelybeautiful setting; you drive along a plateau andthen this very steep valley begins. You can lookdown into this valley and at the far end you cansee Bangladesh, which the whole plateauoverlooks. The other species, martianus Nepalform, grows not far from a popular trekking routein Nepal. The route goes around Annapurna andyou can see the palms from this trekking route.So we went along with the other trekkers withour rucksacks and climbing gear, but whereas theywent along the path we headed up into the hills.We climbed up these rock faces and after two orthree hours we were in an area where there werejust hundreds and hundreds of them. They werein an incredibly beautiful area; these palms choosereally beautiful places in which to grow, or maybethey simply make the area beautiful.

IMG: Trachycarpus oreophilus is yet anothernew species that you have discovered. Where is itfound?

Martin: Oreophilus grows on a mountaintopin northern Thailand. The mountain is called DoiChiang Dao, and it grows near the city of ChiangMai which is the second city after Bangkok. Ithad been known about for years and for a longtime it was considered to be a species of Livistona.Then it was decided it was Trachycarpusmartianus and was given that name in the absenceof herbarium material. We went up there two orthree times, though it’s a killingly difficult 4 hourclimb. It’s very wet, it rains, the sun comes out,it rains again, the sun comes out. So all the timeyou are soaked and then you are dried out andsoaked again and dried out. Again, it’s an area ofunbelievable beauty. You get up to the top andyou can see all these Trachycarpus growing onlimestone cliff tops, in little crevices, on ledgesand they get absolutely battered about by thewind so nobody knows what they look like incultivation in a sheltered position. A closeinspection revealed them to be a new species. We

named them ’oeophilus’ which means ’cloud-loving.’ There are none anywhere in the worldapart from those which came from our originalcollection. When the plants we have collectedhave started to grow they will show their truecolours and I’m sure they will look quitedistinctive.

IMG: Where have you seen the best example ofTrachycarpus growing in cultivation outside of itsnative Asia?

Martin: Without a doubt, around the lakesin Switzerland and northern Italy. They reachperfection and look better than they do in thewild. In fact, palms generally look better incultivation than they do in the wild. TheTrachycarpus around the north Italian and Swisslakes look absolutely gorgeous, almost like adifferent species. I put that down to the absenceof wind and also the high humidity caused bythe lakes. I have never seen a single fortunei inEngland that looks half as good as most of thefortunei in northern Italy and southernSwitzerland.

IMG: What do you think about the naturaldistribution range of the genus Trachycarpus ingeneral, and could there be other undiscovered speciesout there?

Martin: As I said, Trachycarpus grows in aband from west to east which tapers out in Chinaand towards north Vietnam. It is also worthmentioning that several species we found growin very tiny areas. Princeps immediately comesto mind. It just grows in one tiny area just a fewhundred square metres. Takil is the same, as isoreophilus. It just grows on one cliff top and,although it could be a couple of square miles, itis still very local. In all of these cases if you didn’thappen to know they were there you could easilypass by and not even notice them. This makesme optimistic that there are more species to bediscovered especially in a place like north Vietnamwhich hasn’t had a great deal of botanicalexploration. Another example is T. latisectus. Inthe wild it just grows on one tiny cliff face and

Martin Gibbons collecting palms in Ecuador in his own, unusual way.

there are perhaps forty individual trees and that’sit. When they are gone it will be extinct in thewild, but if you didn’t know they were there youwould certainly not stumble across them byaccident. Since we have found several species insuch tiny areas, it is logical to assume that thereare other tiny areas that we have missed. I alsothink there are other species of Trachycarpus inthe hills of northern Burma, an area that hasn’tbeen explored properly for over fifty years andeven then not terribly well. But I will never gothere whilst that terrible regime is in power; assoon as it falls, however, I’ll be on the first planeto Mandalay.

IMG: What is Plectocomia himalayana, wherehave you seen it and what conditions does it growin?

Martin: Plectocomia himalayana is a veryinteresting palm. It grows in the Kalimpong areaof West Bengal in north east India. It is a climbingpalm, a rattan, grows to about 80 ft and snakesitself up into the treetops. It doesn’t have a verythick stem, maybe about an inch in diameter; isvery spiny; and the leaf rachis, the central stemof the leaf, is extended into a cirrus which is along whip-like leaf extension covered withbackward facing spines. It is using this thatenables the palm to climb up into the treetops.They are in an area that gets frosted every year,growing at about a 2500m elevation. I amoptimistic that they can grow outdoors in thiscountry, particularly in a sheltered area such asLondon or the south west of Britain, based onthe natural environment in which they grow.They don’t grow in an area with hot temperatures,but rather mild summers, cool winters, and plentyof rain.

IMG: What are your recollections of visitingthe high Atlas Mountains of Morocco? What werethe conditions in which Chamaerops humilis varietycerifera was growing?

Martin: We heard about Chamaerops humilisvar. cerifera from a customer who had seen itgrowing in the Atlas Mountains. Prior to that it

was only represented in collections in very smallnumbers such as the south of France and Valenciabotanical garden in Spain. We went up to thehigh Atlas Mountains of Morocco and whatcompletely surprised us was that we found nothundreds, not thousands, but tens of thousandsof examples of ‚Chamaerops cerifera.‘ Sometimesthey covered the entire landscape from horizonto horizon in a sea of blue. The extraordinarything is that they are so common in the wild yetso rare in cultivation with no real explanation.We were able to collect hundreds of thousandsof seeds, and our friend there is still collectingseeds for us. We have distributed them aroundthe world. In fact, the seeds in the wild have avery poor germination largely due to the attentionof goats, rats and other animals. Also theharshness of the climate means only a smallpercent germinate, but the seeds are good, andwhen brought into cultivation, and given idealconditions, they germinate well. As regards coldhardiness of the climate, they grow up to veryhigh altitudes up to 1700 m where it is bitterlycold in winter, scorchingly hot in the summer,and very dry in the dry season. They grow wellin such extremes of climate but adapt well to moretemperate conditions.

IMG: Do you consider it a variation of the greenleaf Chamaerops humilis or a distinct species?

Martin: I think they deserve species statusbut it really has to be examined scientifically andcompared with all the other forms in a veryvariable genus and perhaps DNA analysis donein order to prove that it is different from the rest.There are tall Chamaerops, short ones, ones withthorns, others with no thorns, blue ones, greenones, silver ones, suckering ones and solitary ones,so it could be said that it is just another variationin a very variable genus. However, we think thatthe differences are so marked, particularly the paleblue colour which is on both sides of the leaves,unlike some which just seem to have bluecolouring on the back of the leaves, which isunique in Chamaerops. Also the speed at whichit grows is much slower than the regular greenform. The thorns are black, which is also unusual.

Ceroxylon alpinum: the fabulous andean Wax Palm.

It needs a major reassessment of the genus tounravel it.

IMG: Caryota „Himalaya“ has generatedconsiderable interest amongst palm growers. Whatsort of environment does it grow in and is it a highaltitude form of Caryota urens or a distinct species?

Martin: We first saw it growing in Darjeelingand were reliably informed that it snows thereevery year, so it became apparent this fishtail palmhas some cold hardiness. We have subsequentlyseen it growing widely in that part of the world—north-east India, Kalimpong—and are currentlytesting it for cold hardiness in Britain. Regardingwhether it is a new species or not, I’m not sure.It is grown in California where it is referred to asCaryota urens ‚mountain form‘ but the wholeCaryota genus is in a mess and in need of a majorrevision. It is different in appearance from manyof the other Caryota but it would be inadvisableof me to say it is a new species or just a form ofanother species. It may indeed turn out to be C.maxima or C. ochlandra, which are the mostlikely contenders.

IMG: Some of the highest altitude palms in theworld grow in South America. What are the mostcold hardy palms you’ve seen in the Andes and where?

Martin: The most exciting palms I have seenin the Andes are without doubt Ceroxylons.Whether they are truly cold hardy or not is yetto be determined. I suspect their main attributeis that they grow in cool conditions rather thanthat they are cold hardy. There is little point inhaving a cold hardy palm that will tolerate verylow temperatures but only produces one or twoleaves a year here in the summer, likeRhapidophyllum hystrix or Sabal minor. Theyare very hardy but only produce one or two leavesa year in our climate. In my opinion, it is betterto have a palm that, in a bad winter, will have tobe protected but actually grows well in our coolsummers, and several species of Ceroxylon fit thisbill. Another cool tolerant palm is Parajubaeacocoides, an absolutely beautiful palm. It growsin Quito in Ecuador in some numbers and in

some of the inter-Andean villages and is anotherpalm species not known in the wild but only incultivation. It probably has similar hardiness tothe Ceroxylons, perhaps -5˚C. There is alsoanother species, Parajubaea torallyi, which growsin Bolivia at over 3000 m and is consideredsomewhat hardier. It is not yet in cultivation inBritain but we are working on trying to obtainseed. It would be suitable for the sheltered gardenin large cities.

IMG: What was Panzihua in China like? Whatconditions does Cycas panzihuaensis grow in?

Martin: Panzihua city must be the mostpolluted city on earth. It is a coal mining areawith dozens of steel smelting factories that spewwaste products into the local rivers. It was like ascene from hell! We saw bright green rivers, jetblack rivers, milky white rivers and rust red riversand all this pollution running straight into theYangtze river. A yellow fog would descend on thearea as the pollution was so bad. In the middle ofall this, in the public park, there grows Cycaspanzihuaensis which apparently is one of the mostnumerous cycads in China. We did not see it inthe wild but we saw a large number of cultivatedspecimens in the parks and gardens of Panzihuacity. Superficially, from a distance, it looks vaguelylike Cycas revoluta but the leaves are more uprightand it has a thicker trunk. It is said to be extremelycold hardy and fast growing. Some of the Chinesegrowers that we talked to said it grows two feetof trunk in five years, which is astonishingly fastfor a cycad.

IMG: Musa hookeri is a relatively unknownbanana. Where does it originate and what is itsclimate like?

Martin: Musa hoookeri, or Musa sikkimensisas it should now be called as this is its correctbotanical name, is a very hardy banana whichgrows to 2100 m. It is probably as hardy as M.basjoo but has a different appearance with adistinctive liver colour to the back of the leaves.

...continued on page 15

Fairchild Tropical GardenMike Horwitz [email protected]

Fairchild Tropical Garden (FTG): I drove byit regularly growing up in Miami, but never didappreciate it. Gardens? Boring. Palm trees?Boring; well, except for coconut palms whichwere good for climbing and for their coconuts.Palmettos were simply a nuisance, and even moreso when your schools were named after them(Palmetto Elementary, Palmetto Junior HighSchool). How one’s ideas change with maturity!Now I would put FTG on the top of my list ofplaces to visit in Miami, especially for thoseinterested in palms, cycads, and basically allspecies of exotic tropical and sub-tropicalvegetation. So when we visited Florida this pastSpring, we naturally made FTG our first trip.

The timing was good as the Spring Show andSale of the South Florida Chapter of theInternational Palm Society was being held atFTG, featuring the palms of Cuba. This was anopportunity to view and purchase from 600species and varieties of palms and cycads, from atotal of 27 vendors, both professional andamateur. According to the S. Florida Chapterbrochure, when they first started having thesesales in 1981, there were 150 species available;quite a contrast to today.

Unfortunately there are logistical problemsin taking plants back to the UK, but this shouldnot lessen the pleasure of „window shopping.”Do be warned though, that you will end upwalking away with a real feeling of envy for whatpeople living in much warmer climates then ourscan grow outside, as well as the growth rates theycan achieve. I did learn, however, thatTrachycarpus does not grow very well in the SouthFlorida heat, so be happy for this one advantage.If you have not worked out the logistics of takingplants back to the UK, you can still take home asouvenir from your visit. Seeds are being givenout by the South Florida Chapter, to encouragedistribution of palms. The seeds available willdepend on what is fresh at the time. I came back

with some Butia Capitata.Another attraction is the Montgomery

Garden House, where you can view the originalwater colour paintings of Lee Adams, painted inthe 1960‘s (reference: Principles, 39(1), 1995, 42-45). Reproductions (size 20"x30") of three ofthese paintings are available to purchase. I haveenjoyed looking at them in our dining room forseveral years now. There are also other printsavailable along with every book imaginable onpalms and cycads in the FTG book shop.

After finishing with the Show and Sale thereis the rest of FTG to see, which in itself is enoughof a reason to visit. I will not attempt to describein detail FTG, instead let me quote from theirbrochure: „you will find the renowned collectionof palms, cycads and other tropical plants whichprovides a living laboratory for scientists, and theopportunity of discovery for everyone.“ That isno exaggeration. FTG is 83 acres in size and wasestablished in 1938 by Robert H. Montgomeryand Dr. David Fairchild. As far as their collectionof palms goes, the Montgomery Palmetum is aworld renowned collection including some 900species, many of which are endangered.

One of my favorite spots in FTG to visit isthe conservatory called „Windows to the Tropics“where plants which may not be hardy enough towithstand the relatively cool Miami winters arekept. What I find particularly interesting is thecollection of bromeliads and numerous RedSealing Wax palms (Cyrtostachys renda) withtheir outstanding red trucks.

Of course there are palms throughout FTG,with the largest concentration in theMontgomery Palmetum. Follow the „Palm Walk“through this area to view the palms. In additionyou are encouraged to leave the path and walkon the grass for a close-up view. Also in this samearea is the „Sunken Garden,“ a natural hole inthe limestone containing a small pond andwaterfall—a nice place to cool off on a hot day. I

have a vested interest in the garden, as my Fatherbuilt the waterfall.

In 1992 Hurricane Andrew hit FTG veryhard. Looking at the gardens today, at least as avisitor, you would never know such an event tookplace. The one exception is a small location whichwas left in the state it was in after the Hurricanepassed through, to allow it to recover naturally.It is worth a look just to see the size of the massiveoak tree that was toppled during the storm.

The South Florida Chapter holds a palm salein November as well as March, both excellenttimes of year to visit Florida (see the FTG webpage for exact dates). On that note, let me tellyou how to get to FTG via the scenic route. FromMiami Beach or Miami International Airport findI95 south. Take Exit No 2 to S.W. 8th/US 41,turn left in an easterly direction (if you turn rightto the west, you will end up in Little Havana andif you want to try Cuban food this is the place togo). Turn right/south onto Brickel Ave/US 1,which is lined in part by royal poinsettia trees,which are stunning in the Spring when in bloom.Pass the entrance to Rickenbacker Causewayleading to Key Biscayne (if time allows a drivealong the causeway gives excellent views of thecity and Biscayne Bay). Turn left onto South BayShore Drive past the Planetarium and Vizcaya.Continue on until you reach the area calledCoconut Grove, one of the older parts of Miamiwhere you will have nice views of the bay andthe many sailboats on it. When I was a teenager,Coconut Grove was the hippy hangout. Thehippies have grown up and, in the process, foundthe meaning of money. As such, now you willfind rather expensive marinas, condos, shops, andrestaurants. As you would expect, there will bemany coconut palms along the route, specieswhich are resilient to lethal yellowing, whichdestroyed the original tall varieties.

When you come to the centre of the Groveyou veer right onto MacFarland Lane and thenshortly after a sharp left on to Main Highway,which takes you through the commercial centreof the Grove. Stay on Main Highway throughsome of the wealthy residential areas lush in sub-tropical vegetation, till you reach Douglas Road,then turn left, then a right onto Ingraham Drive.

At the intersection of Ingraham Drive and LeJuene Road turn left, and after a short distanceyou will reach a traffic circle (round-a-about, theonly one I know of in Miami); take the exit toOld Cutler Road. Continue along a road whichis shaded much of the way by giant Baynon Treeswith their multiple trunks/roots, until reachingOld Culter Road, which will eventually lead upto FTG. In my opinion, that is the best drivethrough Miami.

You can visit FTG via Internet atwww.ftg.org. For further information you can alsocontact me at: [email protected].

It, too, grows in the Kalimpong area. I ambeginning to sound like Kalimpong is the onlyplace we ever go to! The reason is we know afamily there who are really keen on palms andthey have done some major botanical work forus in the hills and valleys around Kalimpong.

IMG: Do you know of other high altitudebananas from the mountains of China?

Martin: There is another unknown bananathat we found in the Yangtse valley in China. Itwas growing at 2800 m, where it gets bitterly coldin the winter, and this plant produces edible fruit.We brought back a few corms to London and weare attempting to grow plants from those andhope to introduce it into cultivation in the future.There is another banana species called Ensetewilsonii which is said to grow in north Vietnam.We have not been able to get seed of it but areexpecting some in the next few weeks. It, too,should be very hardy.

To be continued in issue #38

...continued from page 12

Interview with the Editor

Entrance to Fairchild Tropical Gardens with Wodyetia bifurcata.

Winter GrowthAlan Hindle, 3 Wenlock Close, Sedgley, Dudley, West Midlands DY3 3NJ

As a relative newcomer to palm cultivation,my collection consists mainly of seedlings, whichI would obviously like to grow to a plantable sizeas quickly as possible. My first batch of seedlings,purchased in 1996, consisted of Trachycarpusfortunei, Trachycarpus wagnerianus, Phoenixcanariensis, Dypsis decaryi, Livistonia australis,Rhapis exelsa, Caryota rumphiana, and Butiacapitata. I potted them up straight away into10cm terracotta pots using a proprietary loambased compost and then placed them in our lean-to conservatory. Subsequently a green slimeappeared around the outside of the potsindicating poor drainage. Only the two Trachyssurvived, which I believe was due to their morerootbound state and robust constitution. Theyare now about 40cm high and will soon requirerepotting for a fourth time.

Somewhat disillusioned by my lack ofsuccess, the following year I obtained largespecimens of Chamaerops humilis and Yuccagloriosa (20-cm pots), which both went straightinto the ground. The Chamaerops are protectedfrom hard frosts with bubble wrap, and the Yucca,with its razor-sharp blue-green leaves, receivesnone. The latter is also starting to become quitelarge and is beginning to develop signs of a trunk.Later on I also purchased a Butia capitata of areasonable size (12-cm pot), along with seedlingsof Brahea armata and Chamaedorea radicalis.

In order to try and improve the drainagequality of my potting mixes I started off by addingsand and coarse gravel to my loam based JohnInnes 3 compost, but found this difficult to wetand slow draining. I now add perlite granules,grit, and some organic matter to a loam based orpeat based compost (depending upon the plant’sacidity requirements). I also decided to stand thepots on saucers full of gravel in order to minimisethe chances of plants being left standing in water.

Also that year I pot-planted a cheap but fairlylarge Phoenix canariensis into a barrel planteralong with half a dozen Pelargoniums. Thisattractive arrangement, placed outside our frontdoor, is brought into the porch on frosty nightsand moved under the carport during groundfrosts.

In the spring of 1998, I ordered seedlings ofCaryota ‚Himalaya,’ Rhopalostylis sapida, Sabalbermudana, Sabal palmetto, Trithrinaxacanthocoma, Brahea edulis, and Jubaea chilensis.The Sabal palmetto, Trithrinax acanthocoma, andBrahea edulis were re-potted due to their moredeveloped root systems. The Jubaea chilensis diedinexplicably, something I have heard hashappened to other EPS members. I would liketo know what accounts for failure with Jubaeaseedlings and the secrets for their successfulcultivation. Are better results achieved by plantingthem straight into the ground?

That spring I also emptied my Pelargoniumbarrel to find that the Phoenix had sent rootsdown to cover the base of the barrel. While stillin its plastic pot, I decided to transfer the Phoenixinto the ground. I then bought a new one (alongwith some more Pelargoniums) to refill the barrel.The Phoenix in the ground is protected withbubble wrap when the temperature drops below3° Celsius (as reported in my letter inChamaerops 33). In the autumn I purchasedseedlings of Sabal minor, Syagrus romanzoffiana,Trachycarpus latisectus, Trachycarpus martianusand a Trachycarpus fortunei of about 1.2m inheight, which remains in its tub.

Later that year, in my eagerness to inducewinter growth in my seedlings without the highcosts of heating the whole conservatory, Iproceeded to make a foolish mistake. I purchaseda two-shelf cold frame with a removable

Caryota sp. ”Himalaya” growing in Katmandu, Nepal.

transparent plastic cover, which also unzipped atthe front. In this I placed many of my smallseedlings together with a fan heater at the bottom,which was set to a minimum temperature of 16Celsius. Unfortunately, the dry air created by thefan heater, in such a confined space, had seriousconsequences for those seedlings which wereeither in the firing line or were more sensitive tolow humidity. Of the casualties, my Sabals,Brahea armata, and Trithrinax were damaged butall recovered, whereas my Caryota ‚Himalaya‘palms are still suffering. Caryota ‚Himalaya‘ isliving on the edge, not helped by its mineralrequirements; Trachycarpus martianus is now justabout recovering but the dry air exacerbated itsproblems with red spider mites; and Trachycarpuslatisectus is just a brown stump. At the conclusionof my experiment I must report that most of theseseedlings are still in their original pots, and areno more advanced than when I bought them.

Late in the autumn of 1999, I receivedseedlings of Ceroxylon parvifrons, Dypsisdecipiens, Jubaea chilensis, Livistoniajenkinsiana, Parajubaea cocoides, Phoenixreclinata, Phoenix rupicola, Sabal uresana, andTrithrinax campestris. Still adamant onmaintaining winter growth and having read PaulSaunders’ article on the subject of over-winteringseedlings indoors (Chamaerops 34), I tookadvantage of the fact that we were renovating ourfront room and had removed the radiators. Theroom also has a large south-facing window, thusproviding conditions of good light, no dry air,and cooler nights. The room’s temperature in thewinter rises to around 18 Celsius in the daytimeand drops to around 10 Celsius at night. Ibrought in those small seedlings, which weremore likely to respond to the darker conditionsand cooler temperatures (no Braheas or Sabals),together with my three Caryota ‚Himalaya‘seedlings, which had suffered from the previouswinter’s treatment. I hoped that this would atleast keep them alive over the winter until theconservatory started to warm up again. Most ofthe seedlings have, so far, grown slowlythroughout the winter, requiring more frequentwatering compared with those plants that remain

in the cold conditions of the conservatory.Unfortunately, the leaves of the Dypsis decipiensshrivelled one by one, leaving just an emergentspear, which was either due to the compost dryingout or an attack of scale insect. I am hoping thatit will recover in the conservatory this summer.

Overall, I am not sure that trying toencourage winter growth, rather than leaving theplants to enjoy a winter rest, is productive in thelong term. Paul Saunders concluded that,although he had achieved quite good growth overthe winter, in many cases he was a littledisappointed with the lack of accelerated growththe following summer. I will be able to judge thisin the autumn but am hoping that the fact that Ihave not administered any feed during the winterwill at least have afforded the plants some rest.Maybe over-wintering indoors is best left forrainforest species rather than for the temperatepalms which the majority of us EPS membersprefer. This method may also be useful for nursingsick plants through the winter until morefavourable conditions for recovery arrive.

I hope that my experiences may be of use toother new members who may be tempted to makethe same mistakes. I am beginning to realise thatpalm growing is all about reproducing as closelyas possible the growing conditions in a palm’snatural habitat, and having a good deal ofpatience along with it. Meanwhile, my latestbatch of seedlings is an assortment ofTrachycarpus species and a Chamaerops humilisvar. cerifera, which spent the winter enjoying theircold rest in the conservatory.

Fussing KillsC.S Jackson, Westcliffe on Sea, Essex, England

Having just read Issue 34 of Chamaerops, Ibelieve Paul Saunders in his ”Saunders Report”has raised an issue that many exotic plant growersmay or may not be aware of. This issue is onethat can mean quite literally the life or death of acherished plant. It is the question of the annualrest period that is absolutely essential to the healthof many plants, except those originating from themost tropical of latitudes.

All subtropical and temperate plants aregrowth-adapted in the wild to have a short orlong rest and recuperative period during thewinter. This rest period allows the plants’ systemsto take a break and repair or relax theirmechanisms so that when the warmth andsunshine of spring arrives, they are fit and readyto work hard at growing during the comingseason. Sadly, many of us, myself included, havepanicked at the first cold autumn winds andrushed all the delicate plants inside the house toan artificially lit and heated environment toprotect them against the worst of the cold winterweather.

By spring, these plants have either languished,or the fronds (or leaves) have turned brown-edgedand pallid looking. Put outside again in the warmspring weather, these plants will sometimes fret;growth comes to a standstill, and ultimately theplants may succumb to mould and eventually die.This happened to quite a large juvenile Nikaupalm of mine. I had left it out in cold greenhouseconditions every winter for a number of years,and it had survived fine, albeit with slight frostdamage one year. However, for some inexplicablereason, one winter I thought I would overwinterit indoors...with disastrous results.

It survived most of winter indoors, growingslowly, and as spring approached it started todeteriorate. It was placed back outdoors in the

shade in April where it slowly died because I hadfussed over it and it didn’t need fussing. Fussingkills! Sadly, I had not learnt my lesson from manyyears of losing houseplants due to what I thoughtwas the heating and dryness indoors. I havesubsequently discovered, rather expensively, thatit was not giving all plants a winter rest that hadactually killed them. So I decided that from nowon all outdoor plants are left outdoors and eitherput into the garden shed or pulled under theshelter of the veranda with some fleece thrownover them. This applies for all the temperate andsubtropical palms, tree ferns, Strelitzias, groundferns, citrus, Norfolk Island pine, Bougainvillaea,etc.

This treatment works. As long as you can finda place for your tub plants that is sheltered fromwind, frost, and rain, then they will almostcertainly pull through the winter; take themindoors, however, and chances are you will killthem. As for the plants that I myself grow indoorsin my conservatory, which are mainly cycads, theydo not receive artificial heat, so a cool period forthem is assured, with warm conditions on sunnydays and cool nights. Inside my flat all my otherindoor plants are in my north-facing lounge withlittle heat and a Gro ñ Lux lamp to supplementthe winter light. All the plants in this room aretropical or subtropical and not hardy to very lowtemperatures. Even these plants deteriorate to anextent during the winter indoors, but with themthere is no outside alternative.

The moral of the tale is to always give yourpalms and other exotic plants a winter rest. Forsubtropical plants, give two months of cooltemperatures, let the potting mix dry out to onlyjust damp, and place plants out of frost, wind,and particularly rain. For temperate plants, all


Happy (or Crazy)Germination!?

by Jörg Schumann, Rathausplatz 2, 09247 Röhrsdorf, Germany

A few years ago I started growing palms. Ihad several species, but only one of each specieswhich I bought in some nurseries. In 1990 I firstcollected some seeds of Archontophoenixcunninghamiana and Syagrus romanzoffianumin La Palma/Canary Islands. I didn’t have anyexperience in germinating palm seeds at this time.The success was a germination rate of 100 %. Itworked! I wasn’t prepared for that, and found thatI had more palms than I expected; and so, thiswhen I started to think about selling palms. Now,ten years later, I can make a review of so manydifferent experiences in growing palms and ingerminating palm seeds. As such, I decided toshare those experiences with others, and here Iinvite you to take a look at what I’ve discovered.

What is the most important thing you haveto think about when you want to germinate palmseeds? They must be fresh! Or not? Most of youmay say - what else?

Well, you may be right for nearly all palmseeds, because most of the seeds will lose theirviability after a few months, some even after afew weeks. In my opinion most of the tropicalpalm seeds will lose their viability faster than theseeds from cold hardy palms. The reason for thiscould be that the sprouts are damaged by coldtemperatures when they grow more quickly. Butis fresh best all the time? My experience says notnecessarily.

In 1997 I got some seeds of Acrocomia totai,a species I was very interested in. No seedlings oryoung plants were available at this time, so Ibought some seeds from Toby Spanner. I had alook at the seeds every week for a year aftersowing. Nothing! Then I lost my interest and put

the seeds in a far corner, and after some time Iforgot about them. The seeds did not have anyhumidity and were completely dried up byDecember 1999. By chance I rediscovered theseeds after Christmas 1999, and since I felt sorryfor the dry globes, I poured some water overthem, but I never really thought that there wasstill life in them.

I don’t know why, but after three weeks I hada look in and - to my surprise - some seeds weregerminated! I couldn’t believe that, after such hardtimes, the seeds were still good. But one afteranother started to germinate. Apparently theyliked it!

I remembered this event after sowing someseeds of Licuala spinosa in winter 1998. Most ofthem germinated well after some weeks, but someof the seeds didn’t do anything. There was agermination rate of 80%, and this was ok for me.After potting the seedlings, I mixed thegerminating substrate together with anothersubstrate without giving it much thought. Afterrepotting a large Pseudophoenix sargentii sometime later, I saw that some sprouts had come upfrom „Down under.“ What was this? A coupleof weeks later it was clear: This was Licualaspinosa! After 20 month! Really!

Now I won’t be surprised when some sproutscome up next to my Carpentaria or next to myJohannestejismannia. I’ll wait a while and thenit is clear. Here a seedling of Coccothrinaxmiraguama, there a seedling of Arengaporphyrocarpa, and here a seedling ofBeccariophoenix...it’s full of suspense. From these


Acrocomia, a beautiful but spiny palm.

LettersSpecial edition of „Chamaerops“

I would like to suggest that every member ofthe EPS send pictures of the palms which theyhave planted outside to Martin Gibbons, so thatthey can be published in a special edition.

Only palms which have some chance tosurvive in Central Europe (Trachycarpus,Washingtonia, Phoenix etc.) should be published,and no extravagant plants which need hugeexpenditures of protection in winter.

With every picture, the technical data shouldbe briefly mentioned. For instance: exact position(town, metres above sea level); date and heightat which it has been first planted out; presentheight; male or female plant; first blossoming ata particular height; lowest survived temperature,with or without damage; estimated age of theplant and special tips. However, there should notbe too much information, or it would becometoo voluminous.

My aim is merely to have a collection of asmany beautiful plants as possible, with shortinformation, in one publication. It’s always niceto show something like that to friends, especiallywhen one of the plants is your own. Maybe thereare some particularily nice pictures (illuminatedat night, or decorated as a christmas tree) whichespecially deserve to be published. I have somepalms in parks in my neighbourhood whichalmost nobody knows of.

As an alternative, a special homepage couldbe created, analogous to this special edition,which could be continuously updated with newpictures. If somebody wants some moreinformation about a palm, he or she could askdirectly the owner via e-mail.

Bernd Schnell, Germany

Here is my method to get palms safelythrough the winter: I take a large umbrella, cutbubble plastic to the right size and fix it with astaplegun onto the umbrella (that means, on topof it). Then I put the umbrella up and attach itwith wire to the trunk of the palm. Like this, nohumiditiy from above (snow, rain, ice, etc.) canfind its way into the heart of the palm and itsfronds stay always bright green.

Hans-Peter Kölblin, Efringen-Kirchen, Germany

It is my opinion, that since 1995, when Ijoined the EPS, even the last bit of hardiness hasbeen squeezed out of the poor Trachycarpus, andcountless Rapidophyllum and Sabal rotted awayin european gardens (two or three in my gardentoo).

Unless anybody comes along with reports ongenetically manipulated palms, the subject hasbeen treated quite comprehensively, and evensuch mutations would be rather questionablenews.

On the contrary I always take very muchpleasure in articles treating a specific variety ofpalm or introducing a botanical garden. I wouldlike to mention especially the following reports:Saving an Endangered palm (Ch. No 30), Costadel Chamaerops (Ch. No 27), Land of the LongWhite Cloud (Ch. No 26), Thrinax morrisii (Ch.No 25), A Himlayan Phoenix (Ch. No 23), etc.

If in course of time I can gain the necessaryspecialized knowledge, maybe I myself can writesuch articles. Till then I for myself am much moreinterested in a Clinostigma in the tropicalmountain forest than in a Trachycarpus in theHarz which has just about escaped death.

Heinrich Böhm, Bremen, Germany

Trachycarpus wagnerianus with stripes

Some weeks ago I sowed a lot of Trachycarpuswagnerianus seeds and got a great germinationrate of nearly 100 %. All seedlings are growingvery well and fast, but there was one mystiriousseedling among them. This one leaf seedlingshows a broad white-yellowish stripe on one side,from the top to the base. I never saw this before.It looks like the stripes on the leaves of a Rhapisexcelsa „Variegata“. Has anyone seen somethinglike that before? Please contact me [email protected].

Jörg Schumann, Röhrsdorf, Germany

This discoloration is indeed a variegation likein the Rhapis excelsa you mentioned, normallyinduced by a virus or genetic aberration. It canoccurr in virtually any palm species though I havenot yet seen it in Trachycarpus wagnerianus. Thiscould grow into a very attractive plant! T.S.

the above applies but give them three months ofcool temperatures. You will be amazed at howmuch better they grow in spring and the followingsummer simply because they have had time torecharge their ”batteries” for another busy year.

So remember:Subtropical = 2 monthsTemperate = 3 months

Don’t take them indoors as the centralheating will kill them, and lastly don’t fuss overthem because they don’t appreciate it - you areprobably killing them with kindness.

experiences I can tell you never to throw awayyour used germinating substrates! The experienceI had with Acrocomia should be the same forPhytelephas or Parajubaea: It seems that theymust dry out for a longer time (Phytelephas forinstance up to 3 years!).

Let me tell you two of the important thingsI learned through all this: Don’t believe all that iswritten in books about germination times, anddon’t throw away the seeds until they are reallygone. Note these rules, and you will experiencepleasant surprises from time to time, and maybeeven increase your germination rates like I have.Maybe some of you have had the sameexperiences, or completey different ones. Take apencil or your computer and write it down forCHAMAEROPS. We’d like to hear about it.Happy (crazy) germination to all of you!



Fussing Kills

Happy (or Crazy)Germination!?

contents 2 contents winter edition 2000, issue 37 chamaerops is the journal of the european palm...

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