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My tiny little palm collection


basilios

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Hello everyone, I'm a new guy in this forum, hailing from Athens, Greece. After seeing many of the magnificent palm gardens of members of this forum, I still want to share with you my little palm collection - even though I don't have a garden : I live in a spacious appartment with 6 large balconies, where I maintain a number of palms and (mostly) seedlings just for the fun of it. I whish I had a garden and maybe I'll have one someday, but till then I keep all my palms in pots and still have a good time growing them. Here they are :

My areca triandra with a dypsis lutescens at its left. I overwinter them inside, the triandra for the cold, the lutescens for the strong coastal winds that can make it look awful.

arecatriandraareca.jpg

One of my three foxtails, 2 years old grown from seed. Till now, a good palm for my climate.

foxtail2.jpg

My thrinax radiata. It will be its first winter in my clime, so I'm curious to see how it'll go.

thrinaxradiata.jpg

Paleo Faliro, coastal Athens, Greece

Lat 37° 55' 33" N - Lon 23° 42' 34" E

Zone 9b/10a, cool winters, hot summers, coastal effect

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Th. radiata (left), triangle palm (center/back), queen palm "litoralis" (front), livistona saribus (right)

triangleetc.jpg

Archontophoenix cunningamiana "illawara", 3 years old from seed and doing fine. To the right, a small alagoptera arenaria.

archontophoenix.jpg

Two bismarckias, a few months old from seed and to the right, my attalea dubia, a VERY slow palm and somewhat touchy at this age.

bismarckias.jpg

One of my three canary palms, this is the best looking one. To the right, one of my cuban royals, 3 years old from seed.

canarycubanroyal.jpg

Paleo Faliro, coastal Athens, Greece

Lat 37° 55' 33" N - Lon 23° 42' 34" E

Zone 9b/10a, cool winters, hot summers, coastal effect

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Cuban royal, 3 years old from seed. A fast grower!

cubanroyal.jpg

Phoenix rupicola, 2 years old from seed.

phoenixrupicola.jpg

Ptychosperma elegans, 2 years old from seed. A rather slow grower at this stage.

ptychosperma.jpg

One of my 6 sabal causiarums, a very reliable palm for my climate, also a steady (even if not extremely fast) grower. 3 years old from seed.

sabal.jpg

Paleo Faliro, coastal Athens, Greece

Lat 37° 55' 33" N - Lon 23° 42' 34" E

Zone 9b/10a, cool winters, hot summers, coastal effect

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Another foxtail, 2 years old from seed. Leaning behind it, another Queen palm "litoralis".

foxtail.jpg

Livistonia decipiens/decora. A pretty fast grower, with more than 6-7 new leaves last summer.

livistonadecipiens.jpg

Prestoea acuminata, almost 1 year old. A very sensitive seedling, the only one surviving from about 12 germinated...for the moment.

prestoea.jpg

Chamaedorea radicalis, a great little palm.

chamaedorearadicalis.jpg

Paleo Faliro, coastal Athens, Greece

Lat 37° 55' 33" N - Lon 23° 42' 34" E

Zone 9b/10a, cool winters, hot summers, coastal effect

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One of my old washingtonias, looking good (well, to me!)

washingtonia2.jpg

Beccariophoenix alfreddi, a fast and robust palm, 2 years old from seed.

beccariophoenix.jpg

To the left, chamaedorea costaricana, almost 1 year old, and to the right, adonidia merillii, 4 months old, both from seed.

chamaedoreacostaricana.jpg

Butia capitata.

butiacapitata.jpg

Paleo Faliro, coastal Athens, Greece

Lat 37° 55' 33" N - Lon 23° 42' 34" E

Zone 9b/10a, cool winters, hot summers, coastal effect

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Sabal mauritiformis, doesn't look so good, no idea why...but it survives and keeps growing new leaves, even if its overall size has not change since last year.

sabalmauritiformis.jpg

Livistona saribus, a rather slow grower.

livistonasaribus.jpg

Astrocaryum alatum, 2 years old from seed.

astrocaryum.jpg

My adonidia with its new leaf, gonna stay indoors till next April.

adonidia.jpg

Paleo Faliro, coastal Athens, Greece

Lat 37° 55' 33" N - Lon 23° 42' 34" E

Zone 9b/10a, cool winters, hot summers, coastal effect

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My zamia furfuracea, still looking funny after our big freeze of 2008 (-3C) that completely defoliated it.

zamia1.jpg

Last summer it suddenly started to "raise" its growing point (sorry, I don't know the term for it) and now it looks like this.

zamia2.jpg

Ensete ventricosum, 3 years old from seed.

ensete.jpg

And a nice view from my window.

vista.jpg

So, that's all. Nothing fancy, most are common palms, but I still love them. Thanks for watching!

  • Like 1

Paleo Faliro, coastal Athens, Greece

Lat 37° 55' 33" N - Lon 23° 42' 34" E

Zone 9b/10a, cool winters, hot summers, coastal effect

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I got to admit, I am impressed with your collection. Palmaholics are lurking every where! :mrlooney:

Coral Gables, FL 8 miles North of Fairchild USDA Zone 10B

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Fantastic balconies, congrats !

Sirinhaém beach, 80 Km south of Recife - Brazil

Tropical oceanic climate, latitude 8° S

Temperature extremes: 25 to 31°C

2000 mm average rainfall, dry summers

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Basilios,

Welcome to the IPS PalmTalk Forum, and good luck with your palm collection!

Aloha from Hawaii! :)

Bo-Göran

Leilani Estates, 25 mls/40 km south of Hilo, Big Island of Hawai'i. Elevation 880 ft/270 m. Average rainfall 140 inches/3550 mm

 

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Welcome Basilios! I remember you from davesgarden. You have one crazy balcony there, I'm loving those Astrocaryum's you have indoors also.

Do you know Kostas? I think he's in Athens also. (I'm wanting to see a Greek PRA or Ratpack-type event now.)

Zone 9b/10a, Sunset Zone 22

7 miles inland. Elevation 120ft (37m)

Average annual low temp: 30F (-1C)

Average annual rainfall: 8" (20cm)

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Nice container garden/balcony......sweet view..........welcome to Palmtalk.

David Simms zone 9a on Highway 30a

200 steps from the Gulf in NW Florida

30 ft. elevation and sandy soil

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Welcome Basilios !

That's a very impressive collection you have there - how do some of them cope with the fierce Athens heat in summer ? I hope you will find a place to plant them out one day. :)

Regards

Michael.

Just north of Cairns, Australia....16 Deg S.
Tropical climate: from 19C to 34C.

Spending a lot of time in Manila, Philippines... 15 Deg N.
Tropical climate: from 24C to 35C.

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My zamia furfuracea, still looking funny after our big freeze of 2008 (-3C) that completely defoliated it.

Last summer it suddenly started to "raise" its growing point (sorry, I don't know the term for it) and now it looks like this.

zamia2.jpg

So, that's all. Nothing fancy, most are common palms, but I still love them. Thanks for watching!

THIS is amazing! It looks like it started to cone and then changed its mind! I've never seen that!

Zone 10a at best after 2007 AND 2013, on SW facing hill, 1 1/2 miles from coast in Oceanside, CA. 30-98 degrees, and 45-80deg. about 95% of the time.

"The great workman of nature is time."   ,  "Genius is nothing but a great aptitude for patience."

-George-Louis Leclerc de Buffon-

I do some experiments and learning in my garden with palms so you don't have to experience the pain! Look at my old threads to find various observations and tips!

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Basilios - you are now the annoited Greek Container Ranch King. Do you have ranch hands? :lol: LOL

Coral Gables, FL 8 miles North of Fairchild USDA Zone 10B

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Thank you all for your kind words :)

The thing is, Athens is very densely populated city, that started to grow rapidly after the WWII, as people from the devastated counrtyside began to search for jobs in the capital. As a result, from about 1 million in the 50s it has now over 4.5 millions inhabitants and the outcome is heavily urbanized, full of appartment buildings and very sparse space for properties and gardens. So, houses with gardens are really, really expensive over here, at least if you want to stay relatively close to the center of the city, otherwise there's always the option of the northern and southern suburbs, where there are more properties available but they still are quite expensive, since the "money people" live mostly there. So, for the time being I'm stuck in my appartment, but I really love it and most of all, the view!

sunset.jpg

Miccles : For the palms that I grow summer heat is not a problem, they love it! Still, full summer sun can be really tough on some on them (like my illawaras, foxtails, astrocaryum and of course chamaedoreas). Even my cuban royals display minor sunburns, but I think they'll grow tougher with time. Also, strong winds are quite a problem here, especially during fall and spring, when the south-western sea winds mostly occur and they can easily topple even my larger containers, let alone the leaf damage that they cause to the more sensitive palms.

Osideterry : I remember you too, mate! Hope you're fine. I don't know Kostas personally and just the other day I saw his thread on his garden and I admired his hard work and planting. Possibly I'll meet him in the future.

Bgl : Are you the owner of all these superb palms that I've seen in photos uploaded by palmbob at Dave's garden? If yes...wow!!!!!!

Thanks again to everybody.

Paleo Faliro, coastal Athens, Greece

Lat 37° 55' 33" N - Lon 23° 42' 34" E

Zone 9b/10a, cool winters, hot summers, coastal effect

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Great potted collection Basillios, I am new to this forum too, it's amazing how many plants we keep in pots even if we have room to plant them, somtimes their just great to have around the house particulaly when they look as good as yours, well done.

Bruce

Innisfail - NQ AUS - 3600mm of rain a year average or around 144inches if you prefer - Temp Range 9c to 43c

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Welcome to the forum Basili! :)

I am very happy to see another serious palm lover from Greece! And wow,what a collection you got already!!! :drool::winkie: You have very nice palms and some quite tropical ones like Areca triandra which is a beauty by the way :) I also love your Thrinax radiata and Ensete ventricosum :)

I hope we meet someday for some palm talk from close :lol:

Prestoea acuminata var. montana has been very sensitive for me too and if you search,there is a topic of mine regarding the problems i had with this species. I now have 4 seedlings alive and doing well that are about 6months old :)

What your Zamia and looks like that was to cone...and the cone sprouted leaves from its top.The centre of growth of your Zamia remains where it was and it will sprout leafs from there again,the new centre of growth you see was formed on the top of the cone and will be shed along with the cone.

Yes Terry,i live in Athens too :) I dont know Basilios from close though,at least yet!

Btw,i love the Southern suburbs of Athens! Saronida seems to me like a great place to live :rolleyes: After Pyrgos of course! :lol:

''To try,is to risk failure.......To not try,is to guarantee it''

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Welcome to the forum Basili! :)

I am very happy to see another serious palm lover from Greece! And wow,what a collection you got already!!! :drool::winkie: You have very nice palms and some quite tropical ones like Areca triandra which is a beauty by the way :)

I hope we meet someday for some palm talk from close :lol:

Prestoea acuminata var. montana has been very sensitive for me too and if you search,there is a topic of mine regarding the problems i had with this species. I now have 4 seedlings alive and doing well that are about 6months old :)

What your Zamia and looks like that was to cone...and the cone sprouted leaves from its top.The centre of growth of your Zamia remains where it was and it will sprout leafs from there again,the new centre of growth you see was formed on the top of the cone and will be shed along with the cone.

Btw,i love the Southern suburbs of Athens! :) Saronida seems to me like a great place to live :rolleyes: After Pyrgos of course! :lol:

Thanks Kosta! Saronida is great but too far from the city, Paleo Faliro is just a 10 min. drive from the very center :)

I saw your thread on your garden at Pyrgos, man, you have worked seriously on that project. I wish you all the best with your garden, I'm sure it will eventually become the pride of Pyrgos!

Thanks for the tips on the Zamia. I have it for almost 10 years now but it was the first time I saw it doing this. Pretty odd.

I love prestoeas too...the problem is that their natural environment is very, very specific and it's difficult to achieve this kind of conditions in our climate. I've been several times to Puerto Rico and I've seen the rainforest, it's actually a very humid, rainy, shady and mountainous area, much cooler than the coast but still very tropical in nature. I guess that makes prestoea a diffucult (but not impossible) palm for us. Actually maybe Pyrgos, with its humid climate, is a much better place to try it than Athens, a drier, hotter, colder and quite windy zone. Good luck with it!

Paleo Faliro, coastal Athens, Greece

Lat 37° 55' 33" N - Lon 23° 42' 34" E

Zone 9b/10a, cool winters, hot summers, coastal effect

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Hi Basilio - Welcome to the forum, and a warm greeting from Spain! As others have mentioned, a very impressive container ranch. I dare say you probably hold a record for most container palms in a high rise? :lol: Either way, you will find lots of support here for such a great collection. :)

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A warm welcome to you and you have an impressive collection of palms.. :greenthumb:

And it seems your avenue trees are also palm trees,that's very nice view from your balcony. :drool:

By the way even iam a 'fujistu general' fan.. :winkie::)

Love,

kris :)

love conquers all..

43278.gif

.

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Basilio, you have a VERY nice collection of palms. Great view from your apartment too!

Welcome to PalmTalk :)

Formerly Jeff in Costa Rica
 

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Basilios,

I don't check Dave's Garden very often but I do know that a few photos taken in our garden have been posted there. And yes, we do have a few palms in our garden! :)

Bo-Göran

Leilani Estates, 25 mls/40 km south of Hilo, Big Island of Hawai'i. Elevation 880 ft/270 m. Average rainfall 140 inches/3550 mm

 

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That's quiet a collection for such a limited area.

You may have to move out of your apartment in a couple of years to make room for the garden. :lol:

jim

Located on Vanua Levu near Savusavu (16degrees South) Elevation from sealevel to 30meters with average annual rainfall of 2800mm (110in) with temperature from 18 to 34C (65 to 92F).

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You have a nice portfolio of little palms.

I am in a 9b zone too.

And i also have one beautiful and big trunked palm (howea fosteriana) indoors.

And by the way i have the same disease: palmaholic!

Regards from North Portugal

Rafael

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Once again, thanks to all for your welcome and positive comments :)

Edited by basilios

Paleo Faliro, coastal Athens, Greece

Lat 37° 55' 33" N - Lon 23° 42' 34" E

Zone 9b/10a, cool winters, hot summers, coastal effect

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What an expansive collection of tropical and even a few quite rare palms you have. I will gladly trade you my house for your apartment. Do you put those transparant plastic cafe blinds over the balconies when its windy or cold ? I have one on my deck and its great for keeping the wind away from my smaller plants.

Peachy

I came. I saw. I purchased

 

 

27.35 south.

Warm subtropical, with occasional frosts.

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Hi Basilio!

Welcome to palmtalk and I am shure, you should change the title - this is not "My tiny little palm collection" - it is great! :drool: :drool:

I know the "lot of work" with such a collection - I have all my palmtrees and other exotic plants in pots, too :winkie:

Greetings from a litte village near Salzburg/Austria

Moni

11152.gif

USDA 5b (up to -26° C)

It is very hard for me to see, how many plants are growing around the the world, which I don't have in my collection!!!!

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Hi Basili!

Indeed Saronida is far from the town center but this is also a positive attribute of it as polution is minimal :) I know Paleo Faliro with it's huge multiple story building with big apartments and huge balconies as a relative of mine lived there,at the very top apartment of a building. Great view from up there,lots of room at the balconies and a great climate too!

Thank you for your kind words for my garden in Pyrgos :) I putted and still put a lot of efford to plant the most of it the soonest possible so that they all grow to be big soon :)

Prestoea have been very easy to rot for me,surprisingly easy for a wet rainforest inhabitant!

The remaining however now are growing well in moist soil with high humidity and shade :) I am still afraid to ground plant any in Pyrgos however...Glad to hear Pyrgos might be a better place for them!

''To try,is to risk failure.......To not try,is to guarantee it''

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What an expansive collection of tropical and even a few quite rare palms you have. I will gladly trade you my house for your apartment. Do you put those transparant plastic cafe blinds over the balconies when its windy or cold ? I have one on my deck and its great for keeping the wind away from my smaller plants.

Peachy

Hi Peachy and thanks for your comments. No, I don't put anything over the balconies, in fact it hadn't even cross my mind. You sure have a point...However my most sensitive plants are placed on the balconies facing south, so they are affected mostly by southern winds, who can be fierce, cool, humid but never really cold. Northern winds, that can be quite cold, affect my western balconies and I've put there the more hardy stuff, i.e. washingtonia, cycas revoluta, strelitzia, phoenix canariensis, pachypodium, musa sikkimensis (it gets a little tattered), a sabal causiarum about 4ft tall and a ficus elastica, all plants that can hold well against such conditions. I never put seedlings in those western balconies.

Kosta : My thought exactly - prestoeas seem to be always ready to rot, a really strange thing considering that they grow in an environment that receives showers even twice a day. On the other hand, the soil of El Yunque rainforest is a bit rocky and pretty much washed out by the constant rainfall, so I guess it's draining really well. But still, I've seen prestoeas growing literally with their feet in streams, so maybe we simply can't get the right soil mix that they need...

Paleo Faliro, coastal Athens, Greece

Lat 37° 55' 33" N - Lon 23° 42' 34" E

Zone 9b/10a, cool winters, hot summers, coastal effect

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Hi Basili,

great palm collection!! I know what effort it is, to have all plants in pots because I don't have any other opportunity here in germany, except for the trachycarpus fortunei, that can be grown in the ground.

Which of these palms do you take inside in winter? Especially I'm courious about the Wodyetias, Royals and Archontophoenix. Do you think they would survive an Athens-Winter or do you know someone who already planted those palms in athens? In general coastal parts of Athens have a USDA 10a climate, excpept of rare cold spells like that of february 2008 - then it's 9b... If you go to the southern suburbs (Glyfada, Bouliagmeni...) or down to Cape Sounio they often have much milder minimum temps.

Greetings

Janni

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Hi Basili,

great palm collection!! I know what effort it is, to have all plants in pots because I don't have any other opportunity here in germany, except for the trachycarpus fortunei, that can be grown in the ground.

Which of these palms do you take inside in winter? Especially I'm courious about the Wodyetias, Royals and Archontophoenix. Do you think they would survive an Athens-Winter or do you know someone who already planted those palms in athens? In general coastal parts of Athens have a USDA 10a climate, excpept of rare cold spells like that of february 2008 - then it's 9b... If you go to the southern suburbs (Glyfada, Bouliagmeni...) or down to Cape Sounio they often have much milder minimum temps.

Greetings

Janni

Janni, there is a world of difference between living exactly by the sea and living just a mile inland. The sea effect is really powerful and here in the coast during the winter we constantly stay about 1 - 2C warmer than the center of Athens (about 7 km inland) and maybe as many as 4 or even 5C warmer than the northern suburbs. During the summer, we also stay significantly cooler than the center, which can be really, really hot.

So you are right, we are basically at 10a (for example last winter's lowest temp in my place was 3C and in 2007 did not drop below 6C) but I still consider the possibility of a crazy sold spell like that of 2008, because every 10 or 20 years it can happen. As for my palms, I keep inside for the winter adonidia, areca triandra, dypsis lutescens (for the winds, not the cold), astrocaryum, ptychosperma, chamaedorea costaricana (they're too young to leave them outside right now) and beccariophoenix alfredii for the sole reason that it keeps growing and giving new leaves indoors, so I take advantage of it.

Archontophoenix and foxtails didn't have any problem last winter, but this will be the first winter that I'll leave outside the cuban royals and I will keep a close eye on them...Now, in case of a really tough cold spell of course I will bring them inside and wait till it gets back to normal. I'll also keep an eye on my triangle and thrinax radiata. We'll see...

Paleo Faliro, coastal Athens, Greece

Lat 37° 55' 33" N - Lon 23° 42' 34" E

Zone 9b/10a, cool winters, hot summers, coastal effect

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Very impressive collection, congratulation. :)

Love your photos, they give hope for others.

Best regards, Verena

Member of the ultimate Lytocaryum fan society :)

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nice palm collection Basilio :drool:

not too hard to water them in summer? do you soak them, overspray them, or do you have a drip irigation system ?

there are more and more Europeen people around :winkie:

jean-bernard

Jean-bernard

crazy sower

city : Nantes, France,

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nice palm collection Basilio :drool:

not too hard to water them in summer? do you soak them, overspray them, or do you have a drip irigation system ?

there are more and more Europeen people around :winkie:

jean-bernard

Merci Jean Bernard. Well, I just water them with the hose...not too much trouble, within 10 minutes I can water all my plants. I'm an old school guy :)

Paleo Faliro, coastal Athens, Greece

Lat 37° 55' 33" N - Lon 23° 42' 34" E

Zone 9b/10a, cool winters, hot summers, coastal effect

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