Jubaea and Butia in London

[UK_Palms 1,326]

All of these ones are in London only. I will do a second upload for the other UK ones because there are already too many for London alone.

Starting with the Jubaea's first, these ones are located in Richmond, southeast London...

 

Street view Jubaea's...

 

Here is the Jubaea at Chelsea Physic Garden in central London, which I visited over the summer...

 

 

Battersea Park Jubaea's in central London...

 

North London Jubaea with big Washingtonia Filifera...

 

Some smaller London Jubaea's on street view...

 

Now onto the London Butia's, of which there are many to document. Here's the one at Chelsea Physic Garden next to that Jubaea I posted before...

 

 

This Butia is located in Chumleigh Gardens which is in Burgess Park, south London...

 

This CIDP is located right next to the Butia above, in Burgess Park, south London. You can see the Butia in the background. It is yet another London CIDP that I haven't even posted before yet. These are not recent images either. This CIDP photo from Chumleigh Gardens is 5 years old now, so it will be much, much bigger, as will the Butia...

 

11 Monmouth Road, London...

 

These are in Richmond, southeast London...

 

Butia Yatay, Richmond

 

Butia hybrid? Central London...

 

I can't remember what part of London this Butia is located in? I know I have seen someone post it on here before though, a few years back. 

 

This one is in Wisley Gardens on the outskirts of southeast London...

 

Strange planting in central London...

 

Again these ones are just London so far. I've probably missed a bunch. I will upload the Jubaea's and Butia's from the rest of the UK soon, as well as any other London ones that I forgot. 

Edited December 13, 2021 by UK_Palms

[jimmyt 691]

Who would have thought London’s climate would support these palms?  Really nice! 

[edbrown_III 311]

wow

[Palmarum 2,766]

Wow indeed, some chonkers palms... Never knew so many Jubaea were there.

Ryan

[Tyrone 2,663]

Amazing. Do you think a lot of the big ones were transplants from warmer places. If Jubaea can grow like that in London, why the heck did they cut that one down n the temperate house in Kew gardens?. They could have let it pop out the top into the open. 

[MSX 178]

What a tropical paradise at 51°!

[oasis371 417]

I am some 700 miles south, nothing like that around here.  You better be praying that Gulf Stream keeps pumping!

[UK_Palms 1,326]

54 minutes ago, Tyrone said:

Amazing. Do you think a lot of the big ones were transplants from warmer places. If Jubaea can grow like that in London, why the heck did they cut that one down n the temperate house in Kew gardens?. They could have let it pop out the top into the open. 

Yeah those big Jubaea’s are transplants. The big one in Packington Square was planted there a few years back and it is still settling in I think. That one probably needs another year or two to properly get its roots down and push out a proper, full crown. Whereas the big Jubaea in Richmond has been in the ground at least a decade now, which is why it has such a full crown. The smaller one on the roundabout in East Dulwich is growing pretty quick there too and looks good, despite it being a lot smaller. Only another 75 years before it reaches the size of the others haha. 

Regarding Kew, we have discussed that glasshouse Jubaea that they cut down in depth before on the European forum. They should have tried to transplant it outside, rather than just cut it down, condemning it to death. Given that there are 30 foot Washingtonia Robusta’s growing literally just down the road from Kew Gardens, they can clearly plant a Jubaea outside and not have to worry about it. Shockingly they have actually planted another smaller Jubaea in the glasshouse again at Kew to replace the bigger one they cut down. Hopefully that one will get moved outside eventually, but I don’t trust the people calling the shots at Kew!

I know a few EPS members who have cancelled their Kew memberships and donations due to their stupid decision to cut down the Jubaea. Someone offered to pay to remove it with an excavator, but Kew refused. Reputable UK growers have also tried to donate rare palms to Kew before, or advise them on issues, but then not had any email responses off them. They seem to live in their own sort of bubble and echo chamber there, stuck in old fashioned ways. Like they know what is best and the rest of us have no idea. Last summer a senior garden employee at Kew told me that Washingtonia don’t grow outdoors in London, but then they go ahead and plant some Washingtonia outside at Kew in January of all months! So it doesn’t really make sense. Some very poor choices have been made at Kew in recent years. I’m hoping they will make some changes at the top of the hierarchy in the coming years.

[UK_Palms 1,326]

49 minutes ago, oasis371 said:

I am some 700 miles south, nothing like that around here.  You better be praying that Gulf Stream keeps pumping!

How cold would it have to get to knock out Jubaea’a of that size? I reckon the big London CIDP’s will need -15C / 5F to knock them out now and probably similar for the Jubaea, if not colder. There’s a big Jubaea planted near Birmingham at 53N and that has taken -12C / 10F and is doing fine, so I suspect Jubaea will need at least -15C / 5F in London to kill them. 

Now the record low for those parts of London is only about -10C / 14F and that was set decades ago before the UHI was as strong as it is now, and before global warming/climate change had amplified to this extent. You would basically need the coldest winter on record to hit London and even then I can still see a lot of the big CIDP and Jubaea surviving. No indications that the Gulf Stream will shut down either, which people have speculated about for years. 

[Tyrone 2,663]

8 hours ago, UK_Palms said:

Yeah those big Jubaea’s are transplants. The big one in Packington Square was planted there a few years back and it is still settling in I think. That one probably needs another year or two to properly get its roots down and push out a proper, full crown. Whereas the big Jubaea in Richmond has been in the ground at least a decade now, which is why it has such a full crown. The smaller one on the roundabout in East Dulwich is growing pretty quick there too and looks good, despite it being a lot smaller. Only another 75 years before it reaches the size of the others haha. 

Regarding Kew, we have discussed that glasshouse Jubaea that they cut down in depth before on the European forum. They should have tried to transplant it outside, rather than just cut it down, condemning it to death. Given that there are 30 foot Washingtonia Robusta’s growing literally just down the road from Kew Gardens, they can clearly plant a Jubaea outside and not have to worry about it. Shockingly they have actually planted another smaller Jubaea in the glasshouse again at Kew to replace the bigger one they cut down. Hopefully that one will get moved outside eventually, but I don’t trust the people calling the shots at Kew!

I know a few EPS members who have cancelled their Kew memberships and donations due to their stupid decision to cut down the Jubaea. Someone offered to pay to remove it with an excavator, but Kew refused. Reputable UK growers have also tried to donate rare palms to Kew before, or advise them on issues, but then not had any email responses off them. They seem to live in their own sort of bubble and echo chamber there, stuck in old fashioned ways. Like they know what is best and the rest of us have no idea. Last summer a senior garden employee at Kew told me that Washingtonia don’t grow outdoors in London, but then they go ahead and plant some Washingtonia outside at Kew in January of all months! So it doesn’t really make sense. Some very poor choices have been made at Kew in recent years. I’m hoping they will make some changes at the top of the hierarchy in the coming years.

Time to start supporting the Eden Project then. The Victorians who created Kew would likely be more in agreeance with the mindset at the Eden Project now. 

[UK_Palms 1,326]

Here is the big Jubaea in Shirley, near Birmingham. I think it has been planted there for about 15 years now. That area is considerably colder than London and I'm pretty sure this Jubaea has seen as low as -12C / 10F in 2010 and 2018. Most winters it probably only sees about -7C / 18F as it is at 52N and quite far inland in central England, way outside of Birmingham's UHI. Nonetheless it is doing pretty good and flowers each year there. It was really struggling during it's first few years but has gone on to become one of the better Jubaea's in the UK. 

 

Here are the two big Jubaea's in Torquay, Devon. I believe these were planted fairly small in the 1920's...? These pictures are probably 5-6 years old now at least, since those Jubaea's are located in a big gated mansion, on private property, which is very hard to see due to the property being surrounded by trees. It is very hard to get a decent photo of them, however they are arguably the most impressive Jubaea's in the UK.

 

Burgess Hill Jubaea

 

Here is the Vicarage Gardens Jubaea in Norfolk...

 

Jubaea's at Ventnor Botanic Garden...

 

Butia at Ventnor...

 

Of course there's the Tresco Jubaea as well in the Isles of Scilly...

 

An old Butia at Tresco...

 

Butia in Torquay...

 

Here are the Butia's at Southsea near Portsmouth on the south coast of England, which I photographed back in April. There are about 6 decent sized ones planted there...

 

I collected seed from some of these...

 

There's a bunch of big CIDP's right next to the Butia that I collected seed from. They were planted at 1 foot high in 1997. There's a 25 foot Robusta just up the road as well, plus Brahea Armata's. So basically the Southsea/Portsmouth area is one of the main palm hotspots in the UK.

Edited December 14, 2021 by UK_Palms

[Trustandi 285]

Wow .. awesome photos.. @UK_Palms the yatay is gorgeous. I wish we had more mature butias across the pond in the pnw.

[kinzyjr 5,489]

Love the Jubaeas especially.