Palms in Canada

[Kris]

Dear Joe

thanks a lot for that snow on the palms stills...i have never seen anything like that here in our hot tropical_India.

lots of love,

Kris

[chris81]

Palm trees growing in Northern areas of the United States and Canada have been known for many years. Semi-truck loads of windmill palm trees have been unloaded and successfully grown in Canada and the Northeast beginning in the year 2000.

High demand from the landscaping nursery industry has stressed the supply and availability of the Saw Palmetto Palm tree, "Serenoa repens". This palm tree grows as a silver form and a green form. It illuminates the dark backgrounds under dense shade. This dwarf palm tree forms clumps and often is used as border hedges and screens. Saw Palmetto palm trees are not fast growing but are evergreen and cold hardy in many Northern areas of the United States, where snow and ice damage most green plants. Cold hardy palm trees are a valuable landscape tree in cold areas where a tropical look, around pools and patios are useful. Recent tree plantings of the Dwarf Saw Palmetto palm trees at golf courses have stressed the supply of these plants. As a native plant discovered by William and John Bartram in 1773, on St. Simon's Island, GA near Fort Frederica, the Dwarf Saw Palmetto palm tree was discovered growing and was identified by Bartram as "spinosis " (Dwarf Saw Palmetto). He also found "Corpha palma", or Great Cabbage Palm, "Corpha pumila", "Corpha repens" and "Corpha obliqua".

----------------------

chris

Internet marketing

[FRITO]

Thanks for sharing these pics of your Island Joe. Pretty amazing you were warmer than me down here in North florida

Chris, Welcome to Palmtalk. It would be nice if you could start a new thread introducing yourself and your palms.

I was pretty sure Serenoa repens doesnt grow much further north than georgia unprotected.(coastal southeast)

[ErikSJI]

  Banana Joe said:

Chamaerops h. on SSI

Hi Joe I noticed all your wonderful palms on another site as well. We just moved to San juan island right below you. We are planning on dropping 200 mule palms in the ground next year. I was wondering if you took any other percautions during the winter for your palms. Or if you have any pointers that would give me a better success rate. Are you selling any of these palms or are they just for everyones enjoyment?

Thanks for posting the photos.

Erik.

[Banana Joe]

Robin Williams sees to know where our island is, lol. He has a place here among many other celebrities. They can hang out without getting hassled. Cheers, Joe

[Banana Joe]

Hi Erik, Survival of the fittest for my garden. The only 3 palms I give special attention too are my Brahea edulis, armata and CIDP. I just throw a patio umbrella over them for our cool wet months. You shouldn't have a problem, your climate is the same as ours. Cheers, Joe

[Banana Joe]

Serenoa repens does grow here unprotected. I have seen a smaller specimen in a local garden. I must take some pics. when I remember. Te latitude here is 48 degrees north. They do prefer much summer heat and that's where you have us beat!

[Banana Joe]

Butia and Jubaea are just fine unpotected in most areas of our island. I was in a garden yesterday where two beautiful Butias grow, one had just finished flowering several weeks ago. They were planted over 13 years ago. The Jubaea in town is a dandy, fat trunk and 8'ft fronds. I plant palms and other exotics in our main town each year. I work full time for the Parks Dept. so I always make sure to scatter bucket fulls of palm seeds around. There are lots of palms in our parks now. I have lost rack of how many palms I actually have, I think in pots I have approx. 2,500 or so and in the ground, hundreds. I ship approx. 100 palm seedlings to the US each week. Soon I will be done with the seedlings until next Spring, because I will start shipping seed once I harvest. I ship it world wide. Cheers, Joe

Edited September 22, 2008 by Banana Joe

[Banana Joe]

Must be nice living in the tropics. I visit Hawaii every year just so I can get my Tropical Palm fix. You are so lucky to live in such a great climate. Cheers, Joe

[Jeff in St Pete]

Joe, I remember you from another forum, maybe a banana forum? Anyway, it's great to see updated pics of Salt Spring Island. Welcome to PalmTalk!

[JEFF IN MODESTO]

Hey Joe.. Nice pics...

Extreme lows seem very mild, my question is... durring those cold periods, what was the high temp for the day.... how many days in a row were your days and night sub freezing... if at all. ...

Your past 20 year lows are on par with many places in SoCal. ( and NoCal.) ....Where are the King palm,s?

But stats alone can be decieving.

For example your pic of your trachy ...planted in 1987, ( 20 years old ) looks about like a 3 to 4 year old tree in much of Cali.

Perhaps a short growing season..?

Anyway... Thanks for sharing the pics..... and keep the palms growing so far north... I would be doing the same thing if I lived there.

Jeff

[Banana Joe]

Thanks John, actually the climate here may be close to that of coastal Scotland where they grow the palms, but we do get more Summer heat units and virtually no harsh winds. Cheers, Joe

[Alicehunter2000]

Thanks for posting Joe........I've enjoyed reading this thread. Love that tree fern!

[Banana Joe]

Dick, I know the palms very well in the west end of Vancouver be cause we donated each and every one of them. I am a member of the PNW Palm & Exotic Plant Society. The Waggies you see along the beach were grown by a friend of mine Gerard Pury. He has an amzing exotic garden in south Vancouver. The first planting in the west end of the city took place in April 1990 on the traffic island at the corner of Beach & Pacific Ave. Each year after we donated more palms to that area. There are Butia, Jubaeas, Chamaerops and a couple of species of Trachycarpus there. Lots of Bananas and other exotics as well. There are thousands of palms around the city of Vancouver and Burnaby in private and public gardens. The oldest and tallest were planted in the 1960's. Many have been featured in HPI over the past 20 odd years. I think that area of Vancouver is referred to as the Riviera of Canada. Cheers, Joe

[Banana Joe]

Thanks! I planted my tree fern 14 and a half years ago and it seems to be quite happy. I can only imagine all the cool types of palms and exotics you can grow at your location. Cheers, Joe

[Banana Joe]

Thanks Jeff, That palm I planted in 1987 is a T.fortunei and it should be way taller by now, but since it is growing in quite poor rocky soil it has grown slow to moderate. T.fortunei are very fast growers here if planted in good rich soil and given ample summer irrigation. They grow over a 1'ft of trunk per year, unlike a Washingtonia robusta that blows just about every thing away in growth. When ever we recieve a nasty freeze here and the temps. drop in to the lower 20's F., the daytime temps. usually hover just around the freezing mark (32 F. or a tad higher) Thank god cold snaps are short lived when they do happen, so if it does get that cold maybe only one or two nights and then things warm back up to seasonal. Seasonal for us would be upper 30's F. and mid 40's F. in the coldest months. King Palms and Queen Palms won't work here, but for our latitude we seem to get away with a lot. Cheers, Joe

[Banana Joe]

Here are some T.fortunei planted as small 5 gallon size in 1994.

[Banana Joe]

I did indeed use to be a regular poster on a Banana Forum many moons ago, lol. I realy like this forum, lots of great pics. to see and lots of informative posts. Cheers, Joe

[Paul The Palm Doctor!]

  Banana Joe said:

She is also a landscaper as well, she creates amazing exotic gardens. Her company name is Lawns, Ponds & Fronds. Cheers, Joe

Joe, is not known as "Banana Joe" for nothing! His numerous banana plants add to the tropical "feel" that his many palms on SSI creates. Joe really has a subtropical paradise in his extremely favoured corner of B.C. Great to see your post Joe. We've sort of lost touch these past three years. Extended illneses can do that! I look forward to seeing more photos in future posts. BTW, Joe; is the island still doing its wonderful newsletter?

Best regards, mate! Again, great to read about/see your garden. Joe, you're a man with an impassioned commitment to gardening and that special "tropical look!" Thanks for sharing with those not yet familiar with your work!

Paul, The Wise Gardener

[bubba]

This is a truly fascinating Post.I greatly appreciate the amazing shots of Palms growing way beyond familiar expectations. This is not unlike the European shots from unexpected places.Here at 26 Degrees North,this is intriguing.

To add to Chris's comments on Bartram,in his Florida journey he discovered the Royal Palm growing in the late 1700's near Lake George Florida.This is in Marion County and substantially further North than it is currently found in the State of Florida. His Book is amazing to read.

In my own life,I am running a rather weird Canadian parallel.My Grandmother is 100 years old and is doing some traveling(mind).She just got back from British Columbia and your area with my Grandfather.She dropped in to say Hello and then she is off to Singapore.If I had known,I would have told her about you and I am sure you would have enjoyed her.She left for Singapore before I could ask her to look into those fabulous Gardens over there.I have no idea where she is headed next but it sounds great!

[redant]

This has been a very informative threat about a fascinating place. I'd love to see this place in person sometime,really very beautiful.

[SubTropicRay]

Great stuff Joe. It's truly an inspiration for others that think it can't be done at your latitude.

[manuvericel]

  Banana Joe said:

Hi Erik, Survival of the fittest for my garden. The only 3 palms I give special attention too are my Brahea edulis, armata and CIDP. I just throw a patio umbrella over them for our cool wet months. You shouldn't have a problem, your climate is the same as ours. Cheers, Joe

Hi Joe,

I am not an expert of the native american palms but to me this one looks like a Chamaerops humilis?

MANU

Edited September 24, 2008 by manuvericel

[Exotic Life]

Hi,

Welcome here! I know you from other forums where we have talked about palms and other exotics... i don't know with forum anymore but it's nice too see you again with you're always amazing pictures

Robbin

[Palmateer]

Interesting pics, thanks.

Nova Scotia just had a hurricane, but I don't expect to see any Nova Scotia palm trees!

[jayc]

  On 9/30/2008 at 12:17 PM, Palmateer said:

Interesting pics, thanks.

Nova Scotia just had a hurricane, but I don't expect to see any Nova Scotia palm trees!

An old thread I know, but I thought I'd just respond to show that although there may not be a lot throughout Nova Scotia, I do personally have palms, banana, bamboo, etc in my yard in Sydney Here is one of my waggys in my back yard. It's the only pic I could find at the moment, but this is from around last October. No not huge, but I'd say this one is about 7-10 gallon size.

[sarasota alex]

Welcome to the forum Jay!

Great looking waggy!