The Juania australis today in Ireland

[palmtreesforpleasure]

this evening in the rain 17c, high temperature of the day, in a private Dublin Garden the amazing site of a Juania australis was seen. Only heard about it yesterday and was lucky to find it 10 klm from where we were. This is a palm worth seeing, very attractive and hopefully will have an increasing population around the world to ensure its survival.

They are also dioecious so multi planting would be a must create seed in the future.

It is about 4-5m tall with green leaves in offset all the way to the earth and is without a trunk. The microclimate has been created by using a dry stone wall about 1.8m tall. This wall appears to be preventing the soil from being wet. When scraping away about 3-5mm of topsoil the ground was dry. It very rarely gets above 20c, occasional 25c but is protected from that temperature by surrounding tree cover.

The growing of this palm was a methodically planned event by Professor David Robinson BSc(Hort), MS, PhD, VMM, FI(Hort) who was involved in plant research.

this helps understand how this palm grows in Ireland and gives us all a lesson on proper planning in creating mini climates.

the website for this garden is http://www.earlsclif...id_robinson.htm

The family continue to look after the garden when they get home from work and time permits.

enjoy the pictures, what a palm!!

regards

Colin

[palmtreesforpleasure]

Also heard there is some growing in San Francisco, if so, does any one have any pictures?

here are the last ones from Dublin

regards

Colin

[iwan]

Colin,

Look for pictures of the Don Worth garden on the forum. They would have been posted around May last year. The Northern California Palm Society had a meeting there and there were several Juania in the garden. The tree you posted is much larger than the ones at the Worth residence (and they were probably 20 years old).

Also heard there is some growing in San Francisco, if so, does any one have any pictures?

here are the last ones from Dublin

regards

Colin

Edited July 21, 2010 by iwan

[Ken Johnson]

Wow. Thanks for that post. Got my blood running a little. Time for some research.

[DoomsDave]

SCREAM

[gyuseppe]

colin and really fantastic

[LJG]

Amazing.

[kelen]

a dream!

[Palm crazy]

MAN! that is one cool looking palm. Rare here in the US, and just a little to tender for my garden.

Those are the best pictures I've seen. Very Cool.

Edited July 22, 2010 by Palm crazy

[ghar41]

Yours look great, much better than our examples here in Northern California. This one is growing in the San Francisco Botanical Gardens:

[ghar41]

I have some pictures of the three plants at the Lakeside Palmetum in Oakland but theyve been moved and I cant find them. They are much smaller and not as robust as the plants in the post.

[Tyrone]

That's amazing. I was just thinking back to the "most suitable climate/area to grow palms in" thread, and a few said rightly it depends what type of palm you want to grow. For Juania, Ireland is the best place by the looks of it. Amazing.

I haven't got a hope in hell to grow that here.

Best regards

Tyrone

[palmtreesforpleasure]

Hi Glen

thanks for the pictures

Robert

will have to look up the thread

This palm is about 150m from a 150m cliff facing the ocean, Trees and shrubs protect it,the gulf stream hits the coast at this location.

The rainfall is 650mm per year. Much of it is a fine mist so humidity is fairly constant. Then it also has the sea moisture as well. It is in a unique location.It appears it would not like a lot of heat, especially dry heat.

It is now one of my favourite palms. The more you look at it in detail, the more it casts a spell.

needs to be in more botanical gardens as they are slow, many of us will not be around long enough in the same garden to see them fruit.The thought of the next owner of your property chainsawing down a 30 year old group planting is an ugly thought.

Hopefully some of you can replicate the conditions if you ever find some.

regards

colin

[chakoro]

Hi Colin, WOW...Thank you for sharing the excitement of seeing such a beautiful well grown palm outside its comfort zone.Its inspiring to know that there are growers out there willing to test the limits and to think outside the square to create a microclimate.I dont know if its a spell being cast by those photos or a virus over the internet but iam starting to drool already. regards Craig.

[Wanderanwills]

Very interesting palm Colin. A real rarity. Thanks for the post.

Regards

Stephen

[Walter John]

Double Wowza Col, what a bewdy..thanks for posting and thanks to the grower, to be sure, to be sure..

[PalmatierMeg]

Magical. Never seen one so large & healthy. Worthy of a whole grove of Juanias alone.

[Alberto]

Thanks for sharing un updated photo of this palm!!

The same palm (march 24 2009) with somebody for scale.

My seedlings have now the second leave.............

[Eric in Orlando]

Obviously the climate there is very suitable. Many more should be planted in a grove as a repository for the species and in other locations in Ireland.

Anyway to get Bono or U2 to sponsor the project ???

[Dave-Vero]

I'm kind of freaked out that it's growing with Dodonaea viscosa, a shrub that's native to Florida, the US southwest, Hawaii, Australia....

[AJQ]

There is a nice one growing in Bangor "Norin Iron" too ;-)

Rgds Andy.

[Alberto]

What is the little fan palm in front of the Juania?

Compared to the photo from march 2009 it suffered damage from frost probably.....?.....

[Jon T]

I don't know what temps this beauty has seen recently, but I think Dr. Robinson said it took around -7.5 C/18.5 F in 1997(?) when it had only been in the ground for a year or two -- with little or no damage!

I've killed five of these -- two from Phil in SD and three from Chile -- and I think it's 'cause I desperately kept them wet to "protect" them during hot spells, which seemed to cause their decline and death from rot.

On their native island they live in mostly shady moist high canyons and get a ton of summer mist and fog from the cold Pacific a mile or less away. You can see how the Irish coast or any other mild marine climate could support a carefully grown juania.

[Kev Spence]

Thanks for the updated view of this fabulous palm Colin and it looks well considering the UK and Ireland had a most severe winter this year.

My own Juania was hit quite hard burning all but 2 leaves this year, our coldest winter for 31 years, bit it has come back quite well considering and with a strong spear........my Butia 15 feet tall has lost its spear though which you would have thought to be more cold hardy.

We have a few more smaller Juania growing on our south coast, here in England, hopefully they will come through the years to possibly seed and fruit.

Again all the photos I have are on our Growing on the Edge forum HERE

[palmtreesforpleasure]

Hi Kevin,

thanks for the link,

nice to know they are growing somewhere else.

Some more information about this palm in Dublin

1/ It is the fastest growing palm in the gardens

2/ several species of phoenix are in trouble from the coldest winter in years, the spears have pulled out.

3/ the Washingtonia filfera looks as dead as some of the Phoenix species

4/Survivors are Jubea chilensis , Trachycarpus fortunei, a couple of Phoenix, not sure of the species

5/Saw about 5 species of trees dead and about 5 others look dead, but new shoots are forming at the bottom of those last 5, these trees have been there for years

6/ Some unprotected Australian snow gums died from the cold last winter

The Juania australis has no damage at all!

still hard to believe, comes under the comment.........' if i had not seen it, i wouldn't believe it'

If anyone can find a few , get them into a botanical garden, so in 3 generations from now, people can see them seeding and ensure their future.

regards

colin

There is no damage at all

[Caryota_gigas]

Here are some shots and an article of one flowering in New Zealand.

La Chonta Palm... Flowering for the first time

[sarasota alex]

Photos of the Juania from the San Francisco Botanical Garden. I took these in February of this year. It shows a couple of feet of clear trunk. If I remember correctly, Darold told me that this is one of the very few trunking ones outside of the habitat.

[Caryota_gigas]

There is one at Landsendt up the road from me that has 2 metres of clear trunk. It is the same one in the article I posted above.

I cant seem to find a photo of the whole plant at the moment... typical.

[Tyrone]

Here are some shots and an article of one flowering in New Zealand.

La Chonta Palm... Flowering for the first time

That is impressive Michael. I hope he has a female in there amongst those six which will trunk and fruit soon. What an achievement.

Best regards

Tyrone

[nomolos]

Wow Colin what a visual treat, are you jetsetting again?

[Alberto]

The Juania at Landsendt looks a lot healthier than the one growing in San Francisco....

[Roaringwater]

Glad you managed to find it Colin, that was quick work! Looking forward to meeting you on Sunday.

[Darold Petty]

Hi Alberto;

You are correct, the Juania in San Francisco is severely deficient in potassium. Our city has a budget crisis, and many gardeners have been fired. I believe that the entire Botanic Garden of approximately 11 hectares has only 4 or 5 workers. I should go there and apply some potassium myself !

[Alberto]

Hi Alberto;

You are correct, the Juania in San Francisco is severely deficient in potassium. Our city has a budget crisis, and many gardeners have been fired. I believe that the entire Botanic Garden of approximately 11 hectares has only 4 or 5 workers. I should go there and apply some potassium myself !

What a shame!!!

This rare palm suffering a K deficiency!! If I could I´d give it some food!

[Caryota_gigas]

This one had 6 foot of trunk...

[Caryota_gigas]

Luckily I got the above photo just before it was felled to make way for a new building project...

[Wanderanwills]

You are kidding, that is crazy.....

Regards

Stephen

[Kev Spence]

OMG Do they not realise how rare and expensive that palm was, over here in the Uk that would probably have sold for £1000, I am sure you guys would have put a good bid in for it to.

I am kind of hoping you are winding us up but if so its sure not funny.

[soro]

OMG Do they not realise how rare and expensive that palm was, over here in the Uk that would probably have sold for £1000, I am sure you guys would have put a good bid in for it to.

I am kind of hoping you are winding us up but if so its sure not funny.

Yeah, of course he is winding you up. Dick Endt would never cut his only trunking Juania. Nice shot of a bamboo Michael. Was this one growing in your garden?

[Wanderanwills]

Glad it is bamboo!!

Regards

Stephen