Coconut palm surviving(ed) in Sydney

[iko.]

Hi everybody,

Long time reader, first time poster.

Often, some members have raised the question, and even tried, growing Cocos Nucifera in Sydney. Last July, I have noticed one of these palms at the Royal Botanical Gardens of Sydney. It was very hidden among some other plants (coffee, tapioca, taro...) as you can see in these pics.

When I contacted the RBGS through Twitter they told me the coconut survived 2 winters outdoors and it was on its third. I will always regret sending that tweet because I am pretty sure they were unaware on how the coconut was doing until I pointed.

Just a few days after, in the middle of the Sydney winter, they decided to do an early "spring clean" leaving the poor palm completely unprotected of any kind of canopy. I think they also increased the irrigation. The photos speak for themselves:

September 2016

And the obvious R.I.P. in October 2016:

Sad. I call this negligence and I never expected from such a respectful organisation like the RBGS.

 I'm sure Sydney is given to more spots where coconuts can grow, specially around the Eastern and coastal suburbs. Winter lows hardly fall below 7°C / 45°F (see here) but protection from the rain in the coldest months would be useful to let the plant dormant for a few weeks and so, less prone to cold.

 

[Mohsen]

Thank I ko for sharing...I missed this one...Its my  long wish to grow Coconut but it is impossible, at least for a long term...the closet should be Beccariophoenix alfredii that we can grow here...

[Tropicgardener]

Coconut Palms would never survive long term in Sydney........ Too many cold days and generally irregular heat.

 

[Mohsen]

I am not even sure we can have fruiting coconut up in Brisbane, can we?

[Tropicgardener]

4 hours ago, Mohsen said:

Thank I ko for sharing...I missed this one...Its my  long wish to grow Coconut but it is impossible, at least for a long term...the closet should be Beccariophoenix alfredii that we can grow here...

You will have to move a little further north mate  

[Tropicgardener]

1 minute ago, Mohsen said:

I am not even sure we can have fruiting coconut up in Brisbane, can we?

There are actually (or were) quite a few fruiting Coconuts around Brisbane (some fruiting quite well but generally nowhere near as heavy as they do up here).......... When I go down there I tend to see less and less though these days. Too many fools chopping them down.

[Mohsen]

11 minutes ago, Tropicgardener said:

You will have to move a little further north mate  

I would love to...how much can I buy an around  1000sqm land near you   ?

[Tropicgardener]

1 minute ago, Mohsen said:

I would love to...how much can I buy an around  1000sqm land near you   ?

A lot cheaper than Sydney I can assure you  ........... I have about 11 000sqm  ....... My neighbor 2 doors up moved from Sydney 18 months ago and I am converting him from Bromeliads to be a palms. He is enjoying the huge species list he can now grow  

[Mohsen]

2 minutes ago, Tropicgardener said:

A lot cheaper than Sydney I can assure you  ........... I have about 11 000sqm  ....... My neighbor 2 doors up moved from Sydney 18 months ago and I am converting him from Bromeliads to be a palms. He is enjoying the huge species list he can now grow  

its very tempting Andrew ...If I just quit my job and retired now that would be great...but I think when I will be able to quit working and then its too late to grow palms anyway...unless I can find a job there...BTW  really 11000 sqm...I really envy you about the potential you have there...and lucky your neighbor .... but also how can you look after that huge land?, sometimes I cant even look after my 750sqm property ...

[Tropicgardener]

3 minutes ago, Mohsen said:

its very tempting Andrew ...If I just quit my job and retired now that would be great...but I think when I will be able to quit working and then its too late to grow palms anyway...unless I can find a job there...BTW  really 11000 sqm...I really envy you about the potential you have there...and lucky your neighbor .... but also how can you look after that huge land?, sometimes I cant even look after my 750sqm property ...

Takes a lot of my time......I do work but I am setting it up as a small business growing tropical cut flowers and foliage............ I think if you moved here you would be astounded at the growth rate of most palms compared to Sydney. I have had this property for just over 3 years and except for 2 mature Coconut Palms basically started from scratch....... Some of my first plantings would be approaching 8 metres !!

[Mohsen]

1 hour ago, Tropicgardener said:

Takes a lot of my time......I do work but I am setting it up as a small business growing tropical cut flowers and foliage............ I think if you moved here you would be astounded at the growth rate of most palms compared to Sydney. I have had this property for just over 3 years and except for 2 mature Coconut Palms basically started from scratch....... Some of my first plantings would be approaching 8 metres !!

Thanks Andrew

The feeling should be great not to be worry abut cold nights and the harm to your palms ...BTW how any palms do you have and how do you manage watering them? Using city water or only rain?

Also please  share some pictures or let me have the links if they are already in PT...

[tropicbreeze]

The problem with moving north is you soon acclimatise and then begin to feel the cold there. You put in plants that are marginal for the climate and still end up worrying about them because of your increased expectations. Seems that's what gardening is about, balancing on the edge while still trying to push boundaries. And, I now have about 95,000 m² which in some respects still seems a bit small. Moving into a warmer climate and getting a larger property gives you a lot of new ideas. Having ideas can be a dangerous thing

[Mohsen]

21 minutes ago, tropicbreeze said:

The problem with moving north is you soon acclimatise and then begin to feel the cold there. You put in plants that are marginal for the climate and still end up worrying about them because of your increased expectations. Seems that's what gardening is about, balancing on the edge while still trying to push boundaries. And, I now have about 95,000 m² which in some respects still seems a bit small. Moving into a warmer climate and getting a larger property gives you a lot of new ideas. Having ideas can be a dangerous thing

Thanks Zig

95,000...damn, that's huge...I have planted more than 30 in ground in my small 750 sqm, the same rate you should have planted more than 37,000 palms in your 95sqm land    ...another major problem with Sydney more than weather is the property and land prices...it's almost impossible to afford a decent size of land here ...

[The Palm Nut]

I have no doubt that along the northern beaches somewhere there is a micro climate that you could grow the coconut, but you would need to put up with less the perfect looks for the most part. Great for bragging rights. Foster is the only place south of my place that one is growing not big but looks ok.

[Mohsen]

18 minutes ago, The Palm Nut said:

I have no doubt that along the northern beaches somewhere there is a micro climate that you could grow the coconut, but you would need to put up with less the perfect looks for the most part. Great for bragging rights. Foster is the only place south of my place that one is growing not big but looks ok.

Mike,

do you have any Covonut palm in Port Macquarie ? I couldn't see any not even in Coffs Harbor ????

[The Palm Nut]

The only ones are at my place, people have tried over the years at various places around town, all of which were at less than prefect spots. There are spots that you could grow them though.

Cheers   

[Mohsen]

3 hours ago, The Palm Nut said:

The only ones are at my place, people have tried over the years at various places around town, all of which were at less than prefect spots. There are spots that you could grow them though.

Cheers   

Mike, please share some photos when you can , how mature are they ?

[Palms4Steve]

Hi Iko. Good to see someone from Sydney on here.

What suburb of Sydney? 

[Mohsen]

Hi Steve

any update on our coconut baby , not in Noosa yet I guess ?

[The Palm Nut]

Go to the coconut topic I put up and you will see photo's there.

Cheers Mike

[tropicbreeze]

22 hours ago, Mohsen said:

Thanks Zig

95,000...damn, that's huge...I have planted more than 30 in ground in my small 750 sqm, the same rate you should have planted more than 37,000 palms in your 95sqm land    ...another major problem with Sydney more than weather is the property and land prices...it's almost impossible to afford a decent size of land here ...

It's all relative. I'm a minnow in an ocean of whales. Half a K from my place is a property of 2700 hectares (27,000,000 m²). About 2 kms to the north of me is a smaller property about a third of that size. I'm in a small school of minnows amongst all these but luckily whales eat krill and not minnows.

Your advantage in Sydney is that after you sell up you can afford to buy something much better anywhere else in the country.

[iko.]

16 hours ago, Palms4Steve said:

Hi Iko. Good to see someone from Sydney on here.

What suburb of Sydney? 

Hi Stephen,

I'm in Elizabeth Bay. Ideal climate but not too much room to grow palm trees in the properties around here.

[Palms4Steve]

On 20 March 2017 at 4:35:02 PM, iko. said:

Hi Stephen,

I'm in Elizabeth Bay. Ideal climate but not too much room to grow palm trees in the properties around here.

I'm in Gymea Bay. It's surprising what you can squeeze in though.

[Josh76]

Wondering if @palmtreesforpleasure has seen this thread? Is there more to the Cocos nucifera story?

[Tyrone]

28S is about the furthest south that a coconut will grow and look good without too much effort. Further south than that you need to know how to work a microclimate to your benefit. The further south the better it needs to be. There comes a point though where the cost and effort in climate bending don't make sense anymore. I'm sure NASA could grow a coconut in Antarctica.

 

[Palms4Steve]

On 20 March 2017 at 1:01:31 AM, Mohsen said:

Hi Steve

any update on our coconut baby , not in Noosa yet I guess ?

Mohsen. Your baby is doing fine. It's nearly as tall as me now. Will have to take some photos. It's going to it's forever home next week.

[Mohsen]

8 hours ago, Palms4Steve said:

Mohsen. Your baby is doing fine. It's nearly as tall as me now. Will have to take some photos. It's going to it's forever home next week.

Thanks Steve

It's getting tall  the picture will be great ...next week and it will be happy forever  

[palmtreesforpleasure]

On 3/22/2017, 9:04:15, Josh76 said:

Wondering if @palmtreesforpleasure has seen this thread? Is there more to the Cocos nucifera story?

Hello,

The gardens put all their tropical palms out in the garden when the pulled down the tropical house. Most died as you would expect.

Fortunately the palms that have been planted in the gardens over the last 6 years are all subtropical to temperate species and are growing very well, lots of heat and rain this year.

The tropical plants of all types are now gone. I very senior management decision for the future direction of the garden

regards

Colin

[Tyrone]

They pulled the tropical house down! What a complete waste! Botanic gardens are meant to have structures like that. I can't imagine Kew doing that.

[The Palm Nut]

That is a shame to see the tropical house gone. Talented people kept it looking great for many years, can only wonder if they have moved on to other challenges as this must of been a big disappointment for them. It would of been a financial decision as it always is unfortunately I believe.

[Mohsen]

I was not lucky enough to visit the tropical house ,is there any threads or pics of that when it was opened ?

[Tyrone]

On 29 March 2017 10:05:13 AM, The Palm Nut said:

That is a shame to see the tropical house gone. Talented people kept it looking great for many years, can only wonder if they have moved on to other challenges as this must of been a big disappointment for them. It would of been a financial decision as it always is unfortunately I believe.

Yes. Sydney, one of the most affluent cities in one of the most affluent countries of the world hasn't got the money for an already existing structure to continue operation. Not important obviously. Sad.

[palmtreesforpleasure]

Hi, 

It was disappointing as i had donated a lot of tropical palms for the then proposed new tropical house. 

Luckily there is  about 500 other species see out in the gardens. When you visit look carefully, you will see species together that are no where else in the one place. takes many hours to find and look at each one. New plantings all the time.

Still plenty to enjoy fortunately. Got to look on the bright side or it would drive you crazy.

regards

colin

[James West]

On 18 March 2017 5:56:23 pm, iko. said:

Hi everybody,

Long time reader, first time poster.

Often, some members have raised the question, and even tried, growing Cocos Nucifera in Sydney. Last July, I have noticed one of these palms at the Royal Botanical Gardens of Sydney. It was very hidden among some other plants (coffee, tapioca, taro...) as you can see in these pics.

When I contacted the RBGS through Twitter they told me the coconut survived 2 winters outdoors and it was on its third. I will always regret sending that tweet because I am pretty sure they were unaware on how the coconut was doing until I pointed.

Just a few days after, in the middle of the Sydney winter, they decided to do an early "spring clean" leaving the poor palm completely unprotected of any kind of canopy. I think they also increased the irrigation. The photos speak for themselves:

September 2016

And the obvious R.I.P. in October 2016:

Sad. I call this negligence and I never expected from such a respectful organisation like the RBGS.

 I'm sure Sydney is given to more spots where coconuts can grow, specially around the Eastern and coastal suburbs. Winter lows hardly fall below 7°C / 45°F (see here) but protection from the rain in the coldest months would be useful to let the plant dormant for a few weeks and so, less prone to cold.

 

 

[James West]

On 18 March 2017 5:56:23 pm, iko. said:

Hi everybody,

Long time reader, first time poster.

Often, some members have raised the question, and even tried, growing Cocos Nucifera in Sydney. Last July, I have noticed one of these palms at the Royal Botanical Gardens of Sydney. It was very hidden among some other plants (coffee, tapioca, taro...) as you can see in these pics.

When I contacted the RBGS through Twitter they told me the coconut survived 2 winters outdoors and it was on its third. I will always regret sending that tweet because I am pretty sure they were unaware on how the coconut was doing until I pointed.

Just a few days after, in the middle of the Sydney winter, they decided to do an early "spring clean" leaving the poor palm completely unprotected of any kind of canopy. I think they also increased the irrigation. The photos speak for themselves:

September 2016

And the obvious R.I.P. in October 2016:

Sad. I call this negligence and I never expected from such a respectful organisation like the RBGS.

 I'm sure Sydney is given to more spots where coconuts can grow, specially around the Eastern and coastal suburbs. Winter lows hardly fall below 7°C / 45°F (see here) but protection from the rain in the coldest months would be useful to let the plant dormant for a few weeks and so, less prone to cold.

 

Hi Iko. Yes, it was silly of them to clear the canopy away. They might haven even transplanted the four Malays from the Calyx out of penance. They did this in May [2017]. The winter knocked them to leg, but three survived. I'll repost a shot I took of them on the 1st of December this year [2017]. They are situated just to the left of the paper-bark tree in your photo. I fear they are not keeping the water up to them. We're in the middle of a heat wave [19th Dec] and we have had virtually no rain here at all for about a month. We'll see what happens. It's supposed to rain the coming Thursday:

[Nick1985]

Updated photos of James’s post