Pacific Way, Selsey (UK)

[UK_Palms 678]

So this is just one single street, Pacific Way, in the town of Selsey on the south coast of England. These palms are fresh out of winter here and have never been protected. Pictures taken yesterday.

Anyway, Washingtonia Filibusta at the bottom of the street...

Notice the big CIDP in the centre left background...

 

About 30 yards down the street...

This washie is much more Robusta looking...

Another 20 yards down the street...

There's another CIDP and washie in a back yard on Pacific Way as well...

Lots of smaller communal street plantings to appreciate too, which will get bigger...

The two bigger Cycas Revoluta are okay, but the smaller one has taken some damage to the newer growth. It should recover fine this summer though...

These lot are fresh out of winter, after our coldest January in over a decade, but still look relatively healthy. They'll all look much bigger and better come the end of summer, after growing out of any winter damage. I will provide an update on them in September, by which point they would have put out an entire new crown of frond by then. 

[UK_Palms 678]

I'm just going to update on the Southsea palms as well, since I visited both Selsey and Southsea on the same day. They're only 30 minutes from each other by car. The 8 CIDP's on the Clarence Parade are getting really big now and they are fruiting profusely...

These CIDP's are absolutely loaded with fruit...

Outside the Turret Hotel on the same road...

 

There are 6 Butia's just along from the CIDP's...

Some of these Butia's have flowered and dropped seed already...

The Butia's as well are dropping fruit like crazy...

Butia seeds on the left, CIDP on the right...

 

More CIDP's around Southsea...

 

Chamaerops Humilis...

 

There are some Brahea Armata nearby as well...

And the other Brahea...

 

On the way out of Southsea, you pass Gunwharf Quays where there are some CIDP's and Chamaerops...

Another CIDP with the previous one visible in the left centre background...

 

I was expecting all these palms to look a lot worse, given that we have just had our coldest January in 11 years, but they seem to be doing great. Barely any damage on them. Lots of the bigger CIDP's in Southsea are due a trim as well, so the trunks will appear bigger...

[UK_Palms 678]

A few more from Southsea and Selsey... 

[Ryland 29]

Pacific Way looks like my kind of street 

Thanks for sharing.  More and more places getting added to my list of places to visit.

I'm pleased to see the Brahea, though perhaps they don't like that coastal blast very much!

[UK_Palms 678]

4 hours ago, Ryland said:

Pacific Way looks like my kind of street 

Thanks for sharing.  More and more places getting added to my list of places to visit.

I'm pleased to see the Brahea, though perhaps they don't like that coastal blast very much!

 

Brahea Armata's are just extremely slow growing in general. The ones in London look better and probably grow a shade quicker due to the summer heat and less wind.  The Armata's in Southsea are right on the coast, about 200 yards from the water. The winds definitely batter them. The big, fruiting CIDP's just down the road don't seem that bothered by the wind though.

Pretty impressive growth rates for Washingtonia on the south coast.  The smaller ones are putting on at least a foot of trunk each year. Here is the Washie at the end of the street on Pacific Way back in 2015...

 

And this is it 5 years later...

 

You can see the growth rate on the Southsea CIDP's as well, going from this in 1997...

To this now, 24 years later...

 

I would say the growth rate of Washingtonia is far more impressive, given how far north of the equator this is. I mean Washies are pretty rapid on the south coast and in London. Quite a few of the Filifera's have gone from 5-10 foot in height, right up to 30 foot in about 10 years. So some of the washies are putting on about 2 foot of height a year here. Even the smaller ones are growing at least a foot a year. The Washie in the picture above is leaving the Cordyline behind it for dead. 

[Ryland 29]

Very impressive growth rate of both of those palms.  I hope mine keep up!  My small Washingtonia grew 8 inches over the course of August, September, October last year so even here up north I think 1.5-2 feet per year is a reasonable expectation (plus it's already grown two new fronds since February this year).

I like it when Canary Island Date Palms develop this umbrella-like look.  Despite being fairly "common" they are really nice palms.

[Tassie_Troy1971 1,076]

Wow fantastic pictures

the southern UK is looking more and more like the south of France !