How did your Palm interest start

[User00]

for me -

i love coconut water so much in childhood ( and now), and start to like trees look like coconut tree

[Pedro 65]

While working in Myanmar in 1990/91 which took me to places in my time off  to Penang, Phuket, Ko Samui, Singapore, Bali  etc I wanted my house to be surrounded by Palms to give it a Tropical look/feel and great  memories of  places just mentioned. In 1992  I 1st visited Mariaspalmetum in FNQ and "Really" got hooked and then  found  very keen enthusiasts that all had palms to sell in FNQ. ( Arden Dearden, Bruce Sinclair,  Curt Butterfield, Mark Daish,  Rich Trapnell ( Dec'd) etc .. the end    Pete

[Kris]

For me,when ever I saw Hollywood movies during my childhood days.i was fascinated by huge phoenix palms in L.A,Beverly hills and french riviera. ..to know its actual name I joined our palmtalk forum.It was the canary date palm.

And later saw a corypha still show to me by a merchant navy friend who travelled to seashells & Mauritius.i told by palm experts it should be Talipot palms...

Then 3 palm of intreast was washy filifera.

Love,

Kris.

[Pal Meir]

Inherited within the family:

[IHB1979]

Great question! In 2008, while living in Cedar Rapids, Iowa (Zone 5), my wife and I built a deck on the back of our house and landscaped our yard. I wanted fast growing plants that could be dug up and brought inside for the winter. Plants like bananas, cannas, elephant ears, etc. Two years later my wife and I moved to Indian Harbour Beach, Fl (Zone 10a). Continued with the bananas at our rental house and then we moved to our own property in 2012.  The new property was gem, about a .3 acre, very little landscaping so I was able to start my garden from scratch. 

My garden was growing and so was my family. I had many, many species of bananas and they became too much work to maintain, especially with two baby boys born in the last 4 years. I started to think low maintenance, and began removing the bananas, ginger and heliconia. I replaced a majority of those with palms, then became interested in crotons, ti plants and bromeliads. I would say that bananas were my "stepping stone" to palms.

 

[doranakandawatta]

Good question Ahamed,

For me, it's just BECAUSE of your beautiful country, the first tropical landscape I discovered more than 20 years ago. 

Then came some palm-addict srilankan friends like Thabit Suby… 

[sashaeffer]

Born with it and could never understand it. Thought I was by myself too until I found this site and Palmsnorth.com and discovered there are a lot of palm nuts like myself all around the world...and some great people too!

[Brad Mondel]

I've been growing plants since I was a young boy and palms were just something I  always associated with the beach, Florida, vacation, Hollywood, and anything fun. I also remember giant Washingtonias and Adonidias growing in a mall near my house when I was about 7. I couldn't figure out how they got them inside the small mall door! I really got into palms when I was about 14 years old when I saw a scrubby Sabal palmetto in S.C. I thought palms were tropical and I couldn't believe this palm was growing one state south of me.

 

[Monòver]

3 hours ago, Pal Meir said:

Inherited within the family:

Is your sister younger than you? 

[Pal Meir]

8 minutes ago, Monòver said:

Is your sister younger than you? 

We are almost the same age because we are twins  …

[Pal Meir]

Here you can see us both together, Eleonore is now over 100 years older than in the photo above …

[pin38]

Family spring break vacation to San Antonio in 7th grade (2003). I became infatuated with the palms there and when we got back to Kansas my mother bought me a couple Raveneas.  I had them in the ground out by my hammock in the backyard until mid-October, and they are still in pots at my parents' place (that was 13 years ago). After that I started doing more research and getting more into cold-hardy palms. I stumbled upon this forum in 2006 and have done some colder-climate experimenting since then, but nothing too crazy since I haven't lived in warmer than zone 6...

[Kai]

5 hours ago, Pal Meir said:

Inherited within the family:

Long ago, but let's say in a littlebit more recent times, when I was a little boy around 10 years old to be exact, I got a little "miniature coconut palm" as a present in a gardencentre. There was no incubation time to speak of as I was infected with this palmvirus right away.

[Jim in Los Altos]

I planted my first palm in 1969 when I was 11 years old. I loved growing things and started gardening when I was 6. At a local drugstore I found some two leaf seedling Washingtonia in metal cans for 49 cents and my mom let me buy one. It's almost 100 feet tall now. I later planted a Trachycarpus and then a Chamaerops humilus. When I bought the family home in 1996 after my Dad passed away I started palm planting like crazy. Mostly easily obtained stuff like Howea, Archontophoenix, Phoenix, Brahea, Queens, etc. Those palms are monsters today and I keep adding. At last count I was at 150 species and more than 400 palms in the ground. Of course with any good palm garden lots of other tropical type plants needed to be added such as hundreds of bromeliads, ginger, heliconia, monstera, anthurium, orchids, etc. Not a day goes by now that I don't think or dream palms.

[awkonradi]

I kept walking past a palm in my neighborhood that had large fruit.  I didn't know $#!t about palms, but I could tell this palm was different, and I was curious.  I searched Google Images for: California palm large fruit, and I found matching images for Brahea edulis.  I looked up Brahea edulis on Wikipedia, and I learned about Guadalupe Island.  Already being a island buff, I thought "Cool!".  And now here I am.

[Pip]

I would say my interest in palms would have been started when I was a very small boy after noticing really tall Washingtonia robusa while on long car journeys. Once I had a part time job after school I began planting palm into my parents backyard and drive my friends crazy by talking about the palms. 

[Tropicgardener]

I was born in 1967 and in my early childhood our family lived on Mount Tamborine in South East Queensland.......... Back in those days much of the mountain was covered with thick luxuriant subtropical rainforest...... The Piccabeen Palm forests used to fascinate me and I think that is where my interest began.

[Mr.SamuraiSword]

mine started on our 2nd trip to Florida.  on the way home I was seeing sabal palms in south Carolina. and at the time i thought palms could only grow in FL CA and Hawaii.  I also saw some on the sc nc border, and some needle palms in inland north Carolina.  it seemed fascinating and Next year i took over 100 palm pics on our 3rd trip to Florida.   here are some

[doranakandawatta]

Palms and blue sky! wonderful picture!

[Mohsen]

For long time I thought palms are equal to date palms as they are famous in country I born ...when I was 7 ,I tried germinating date palms but they never passed 2 leaves...since then I was into plants but not palms ...

The real interest starts when we bought our house in Sydney and of course get knowing  PT forums exactly last year ...I learnt that palms are not only date and coconut palms ... I think I have done OK for 1 year ...I wish if I got into palms before we bought our house , I would by another one perhaps in another location then...

[PalmTreeDude]

All the palms at Myrtle Beach, S.C. fascinated me! I since then loved palms, thank you Sabal palmetto (the palms I first saw planted everywhere that sparked it all)!

[SouthSeaNate]

My interest started while I was still quite young, I had always loved tropical things, tropical birds, tropical fish... Then one day I was looking through a gardening book & saw Trachycarpus fortunei. It said this palm could be grown in the UK, but only in the "balmiest" parts of the south & west (of course it can actually be grown almost anywhere in lowland UK) & I tried to find one to buy & managed to track a nursery down that sent plants by post. Then I found a few other exotic plant nurseries & started ordering different seedlings & then started to search for books on palms. My passion grew so much that my parents bought me membership to the European Palm Society for Christmas when I was 16  Then I started buying & planting more palms in my parents garden, some died but some didn't & tried lots of different types that had any amount of hardiness to them. I used to rush outside at night with a torch & hessian sacks & blankets to wrap them if a harsh frost or snow was forecast. In 1995 I wrote to the parks department of Portsmouth City Council & suggested they plant some palms in the seaside gardens at Southsea, I thought Phoenix canariensis & Butia capitata would thrive there due to the very mild climate. I got a very positive letter back & in the spring of 1996 several of each type of palm were planted in prime locations. Now 20 years later they are all still thriving & the Phoenix canariensis have been fruiting & producing viable seed since 2006 (the first instance of this species doing so in the UK). I myself moved to Southsea in 2001 & started trying very tender palms in my garden, with some surprising success, always trying to push what I could grow, then in 2013 I moved to Malta & am able to grow palms I could only ever dream of back in the UK...

[PalmTreeDude]

1 hour ago, SouthSeaNate said:

My interest started while I was still quite young, I had always loved tropical things, tropical birds, tropical fish... Then one day I was looking through a gardening book & saw Trachycarpus fortunei. It said this palm could be grown in the UK, but only in the "balmiest" parts of the south & west (of course it can actually be grown almost anywhere in lowland UK) & I tried to find one to buy & managed to track a nursery down that sent plants by post. Then I found a few other exotic plant nurseries & started ordering different seedlings & then started to search for books on palms. My passion grew so much that my parents bought me membership to the European Palm Society for Christmas when I was 16  Then I started buying & planting more palms in my parents garden, some died but some didn't & tried lots of different types that had any amount of hardiness to them. I used to rush outside at night with a torch & hessian sacks & blankets to wrap them if a harsh frost or snow was forecast. In 1995 I wrote to the parks department of Portsmouth City Council & suggested they plant some palms in the seaside gardens at Southsea, I thought Phoenix canariensis & Butia capitata would thrive there due to the very mild climate. I got a very positive letter back & in the spring of 1996 several of each type of palm were planted in prime locations. Now 20 years later they are all still thriving & the Phoenix canariensis have been fruiting & producing viable seed since 2006 (the first instance of this species doing so in the UK). I myself moved to Southsea in 2001 & started trying very tender palms in my garden, with some surprising success, always trying to push what I could grow, then in 2013 I moved to Malta & am able to grow palms I could only ever dream of back in the UK...

Awesome! Do you have any pictures of the palms you got the park to plant? 

[Ben1]

Great idea with this thread! 

 

I was "infected" after vacation in Florida in August 2011. 

 

Had some plants before, but after I saw the stuff there I couldn't have enough and I was looking for rather tropical ones compared to what I already had. 

[RedRabbit]

I think I took a Florida vacation when I was something like 4yrs old and liked the coconut palms on the beach. 

[jfrye01@live.com]

A trip to Disney World at the age of 7 in 2001...a couple of palmettos and washies right outside of the hotel stole my heart...it was so bad, I made my dad carry some washy leaves around the park, pack them, and bring them home...we still have them ;) 

[southpacific73]

My trips to California when I was young got the palm love activated. The fact that my origins are Fijian didn't help and has led to me planting trachycarpus, chamaedorea, chamaerops, filibusta, Sabals. Livistona chinensis and Phoenix robellini all in pnw zone 8b.

[Matthew92]

I became interested in plants/trees living in SW Illinois. Didn't think much about palms then, but when we moved back to the FL Panhandle is when I took an interest in them. I knew it got cold (relatively speaking) here, so it intrigued me in figuring out which species tolerated the zone 8 winters.

[SouthSeaNate]

22 hours ago, PalmTreeDude said:

Awesome! Do you have any pictures of the palms you got the park to plant?

Here are a couple of photos, taken last winter so it looks quite gloomy...

[PalmTreeDude]

20 minutes ago, SouthSeaNate said:

Here are a couple of photos, taken last winter so it looks quite gloomy...

Those are awesome! 

[smithgn]

In my childhood home, my Mom planted two butias at the front of our driveway in the mid 1980's. Growing up, I would go outside with my friends and try to kill the bees that were eating the Butia fruit (I never got stung, surprisingly!). There was a large landscape rock that was underneath one of the Pindo's that I would sit under and study the tree when I was bored. I realized it was a weird tree, a lot different from the others. I moved to Greenville later in my teens and there were little to no palms there. After a while, I was homesick and missed home (Columbia). When I saw palm trees in Columbia, I knew I was home. So, palms= home

[RedRabbit]

On September 6, 2016 at 7:45:28 PM, SouthSeaNate said:

My interest started while I was still quite young, I had always loved tropical things, tropical birds, tropical fish... Then one day I was looking through a gardening book & saw Trachycarpus fortunei. It said this palm could be grown in the UK, but only in the "balmiest" parts of the south & west (of course it can actually be grown almost anywhere in lowland UK) & I tried to find one to buy & managed to track a nursery down that sent plants by post. Then I found a few other exotic plant nurseries & started ordering different seedlings & then started to search for books on palms. My passion grew so much that my parents bought me membership to the European Palm Society for Christmas when I was 16  Then I started buying & planting more palms in my parents garden, some died but some didn't & tried lots of different types that had any amount of hardiness to them. I used to rush outside at night with a torch & hessian sacks & blankets to wrap them if a harsh frost or snow was forecast. In 1995 I wrote to the parks department of Portsmouth City Council & suggested they plant some palms in the seaside gardens at Southsea, I thought Phoenix canariensis & Butia capitata would thrive there due to the very mild climate. I got a very positive letter back & in the spring of 1996 several of each type of palm were planted in prime locations. Now 20 years later they are all still thriving & the Phoenix canariensis have been fruiting & producing viable seed since 2006 (the first instance of this species doing so in the UK). I myself moved to Southsea in 2001 & started trying very tender palms in my garden, with some surprising success, always trying to push what I could grow, then in 2013 I moved to Malta & am able to grow palms I could only ever dream of back in the UK...

I was just in Malta and it looked like a very warm climate, but not many palms were there. Perhaps it is a little dry? The only thing I saw that was out of the ordinary from the rest of the Mediterranean was a lonely archontophoenix. I mostly saw Valletta though so I'm sure there are other palms here and there that I missed...

I did think it was a little strange with the Mediterranian in general that it seems plenty warm, but not much tropical is really grown there. A 10b climate in Florida has palms all over the place, that just doesn't seem to be the case in Europe.

[SouthSeaNate]

On 08 September 2016, RedRabbit said:

I was just in Malta and it looked like a very warm climate, but not many palms were there. Perhaps it is a little dry? The only thing I saw that was out of the ordinary from the rest of the Mediterranean was a lonely archontophoenix. I mostly saw Valletta though so I'm sure there are other palms here and there that I missed...

I did think it was a little strange with the Mediterranian in general that it seems plenty warm, but not much tropical is really grown there. A 10b climate in Florida has palms all over the place, that just doesn't seem to be the case in Europe.

Yes it is especially dry in Malta this year as we had the driest winter on record (when most of our rain falls) followed by a dry spring, otherwise it is similar rainfall wise to other Mediterranean areas, but technically Sept 2015-Aug 2016 (rain is measured from Sept) qualified us as a desert climate as so little rain has fallen. It is warm enough for many types of palm to be grown & it is completely frost free here (record low is 1.4C), being a tiny Island it is also very humid, but the problem is that only a few common types of palm are available from just a handful of garden centres. Most of the palms I am growing had to be sourced as seedlings from overseas or grown from seed. You do see the odd different palm in stock from time to time, such as Bismarckia's & Dypsis decaryi, but even then most people still stick to Washingtonia's, especially developers, I guess because they are so cheap. A fairly new development in St Julian's did mass plant with Archontophoenix alexandrae, so that should look amazing in a few years. Valletta doesn't have many green spaces so not much of anything grows there, apart from in the lower & upper Barrakka gardens & also the small garden of the Grand Masters Palace (which has some mature Howea's), but there are some places where you can see lots of palms, unfortunately usually the common species & less than before the RPW killed thousands of mature Phoenix canariensis here...

[Palmsbro]

On 8/29/2016, 3:44:49, sashaeffer said:

Born with it and could never understand it. Thought I was by myself too until I found this site and Palmsnorth.com and discovered there are a lot of palm nuts like myself all around the world...and some great people too!

I have never seen palmsnorth.com before. It looks like some of the same people on here are there too.

Many years ago, I was brung on a vacation in Florida. I most vividly remember a Washingtonia off of a highway near Orlando, I believe. A postcard was sent from me saying in my young child handwriting "I saw palm tre. Some form of the palm bug has been with me ever since.

This was reinvigorated just before I moved to FL, because searching Florida pops up, of course, palm trees. This led me to research palm trees directly. I now think of these most beautiful plants every day and notice them wherever they are to be found. I now feel like I am missing something if there are no palms. In which case I look for pictures of them online.

[kinzyjr]

I always liked summer, hated winter, and enjoyed growing different plants.  I helped someone move to Florida, and couldn't wait to see the first palm tree.  We saw a few sabal palmetto in NC, and progressively more of them as we went south.  When we went through Orlando, I caught myself trying to keep track of all the different types.  After doing some research and figuring out what most of the palms were, I figured I could try a few at home and started growing phoenix dactylifera from supermarket dates.  Right after Christmas that same year, my car was packed and on the road.  Now, I enjoy integrating them into my landscape.

[Rickybobby]

Having a palm greenhouse right here in southern Ontario and being able to get many kinds up here. Then realized seeds are easy to get and germinate 

[Darold Petty]

I grew up in the Sacramento Valley of California, the only palms were Phoenix canariensis and Washingtonia robusta.  I attended university in Santa Barbara, CA. and this was the first time I saw high-end landscaping.  Imagine.., Howea forsteriana as a garden plant!

  I became infatuated with a girl from La Mesa, CA.  One of our first dates was a walk at night around the Santa Barbara courthouse, illuminated with many mature palms.  After moving to San Francisco I joined the IPS, obtaining the mailing address from the Botanical Garden (no internet).  I read McCurrach's "Palms of the World" about 10 times as my bedtime reading!

  Now I like to joke that...   "The girl didn't last, but the palms have" !         

[cm05]

My interested was first sparked by a vacation to Orlando in 2007, the crisscrossing boots on the hotel’s Sabal palmettos caught my eye, it didn’t appear natural, and all of them didn’t have it. After researching how/why that was, I started falling down the rabbit hole.

I didn’t actually get into the hobby until a few years ago when I saw loads of Trachycarpus fortunei growing in southern Virginia, in zone 7b, my hardiness zone. And then I discovered one in growing in NYC, in a neighborhood adjacent to mine (at the time), it lived unprotected along a north facing wall for years, it eventually died after having snow/ice dumped on it (it was next to a parking lot). But that ultimately sealed the deal for me.

Edited April 22, 2018 by cm05

[BS Man about Palms]

I try to deny it, but I think I have a bit of the OCD, as when I decide I have a real  interest in something, I go all in and collect it to excess! (6 TVR sports cars, Art Deco, Palms..etc.) Anyway, born in Florida and barely noticed palms, it was just "Home".. moved to Colorado at 6 until 20.. everytime I went back to visit Florida, it just was great.. I moved to So Cal at 20 and still just peripherally stayed in contact with palms. But when I bought my house, a huge phoenix was well established in the back yard. I was told I could sell it, but I kinda liked it, However, it was in the way of any future expansion for a garage for cars which I WAS into at the time! move forward 10 years, expansion is becoming a more realistic proposition and a guy knocks on my door to buy my Phoenix...over the next couple hours the offer hits $2,000 to remove the palm by the next morning! I agreed and they promised "replacement(s)" too. In this case, I opted for a pair of "something" out front. Several months later they planted some 15 gal Kentias out front. Sadly, just like my phoenix in the back I rarely watered them. (The Phoenix got laundry runoff).. One Kentia died from Mealybugs... (I couldn't figure out what all that white fuzz was..) My interest picked up a bit when I went on vacation and a neighbor stepped up watering of the Kentia and it looked noticeably better! NOW, I decided I could maybe grow a palm!  Still not much happened until I removed an HUGE Eucalyptus tree next to my driveway.. I wanted something else... I thought another Phoenix... but... Well, one day I drove by a nursery with some big Caryota gigas out front... made a u-turn and went in to see...A Jubea, Gigas, Chambeyronia, etc.... it was over front that point on..  That point was about 14 years ago.

[palmfriend]

Well, at the age of ten my parents and I made a trip to Russia, it must have been in Feb. 1981 or so, to Sotchi at the Black Sea.

My dad`s camera got broken, so there are absolutely no photos left, but I can still remember that trip pretty well. It was almost

warm at the coast while the mountains were snowcapped. There were palms all around but it didn`t trigger anything at all. 

But one day we went to the Botanical Garden and there it was - for the first time of my life a palm tree burnt itself into my mind -

(and I don`t know how that "thing" found its way to that place): a mature Jubea Chilensis! A trunk like an oak tree and a really really

beautiful crown - I can say that I was really impressed! However, life went on, high school, university and at that time several trips

half around the world - mostly warmer places - and never missing a chance to visit a botanical garden or a nice park. It took a while

to realize that the sheer appearance of palms somehow fascinated me - until that time I considered myself more a tech freak - I even

took photos of palms when I was in Singapore while their names still didn`t mean anything to me, I just did it.

In Malaysia I made a tour to a remote island where I got aware of the unbeatable beautifulness of the coconut palm, finally "infected" 

during another trip to Samoa with its Niu Leka species and Clinostigmas, just to name a few.

Since that time the south Pacific was like a magnet, trips to Hawaii and the Cook Islands followed, Tahiti was chosen for a long honeymoon.

Nine years ago we moved down here to Miyako island in southern Okinawa and after buying our house with a garden, palms became 

an essential part of my interests. First order went out to seedrack - couple of weeks later I had a package with Jubea seeds in my hands,

I had almost tears in my eyes. Young Cocos nuciferas from the local home depot followed soon, after discovering rps and palmtalk,

orders for many many other species went out... That`s it about me - a bit long, my apologize - but now I enjoy "palming" every single day!

best regards from Okinawa -

Lars