Palms in Medellin

[Jeff in St Pete]

I enjoyed my time in Bogota, but I fell in love with Medellin. This is one of the cleanest and most beautiful cities I have ever seen with the best public transportation system, friendly people, and lots of palms.

The most common palm found around this part of the city (El Poblado) is Syagrus sancona which are planted everywhere.

[Jeff in St Pete]

Wodyetia bifurcata

Cyrtostachys renda

Bismarckia nobilis with S. sancona in the background

Archontophoenix sp.

Palm growing through the roof

Some palms in Medellin

Small Syagrus sancona

Sabal mauritiiformis

[Jeff in St Pete]

Coconuts growing outside of the entrance to the Botanical Garden

Palms inside the Botanical Garden. The garden is free and open to the public.

Pinanga coronata

Astrocaryum standleyanum

Mystery palm, Orania?

[Jeff in St Pete]

More palms at the Botanical Garden

Another unknown palm with no label

Ceroxylon quindiuense

Verschaffeltia spendida

Cyrtostachys renda

Socratea exorrhiza

[Jeff in St Pete]

More from the Botanical Garden

Wallichia disticha

Huge clump of Ravenala madagascariensis. If you look close, you can see me in the middle of the clump

Syagrus sancona with Astrocaryum standleyanum to the right

Looking over the Botanical Garden

[Nate DeWees]

Awesome!

[Jeff in St Pete]

A few more palms around the city

Ravenea rivularis

Carpentaria acuminata

Small Coconut and Dypsis lutescens

I think these are Aiphanes horrida

Royals

Some huge Queen Palms

Caryota sp.

Archontophoenix sp.

[Jeff in St Pete]

Dypsis lutescens

Archontophoenix lining a street

Aiphanes horrida

Latania sp.

Areca sp?

Dypsis sp?

Washingtonia

Archontophoenix sp.

[Halekuma]

jeff those are great photos from my wifes city!!! nice to hear good things about medellin instead of the usual negative comments... Being married to a columbian girl from medellin I agree on almost everything you said... however I must disagree on sancona being the more used... I would say archontophoenix is as usual in medellin ( even in all antioquia department) as queen palms and washingtonia is in south california...

[dalmatiansoap]

Nice place!

I can imagine me getting arrested there for hauling black garbage bags full of seeds around town

[cobra2326]

Jeff,

Thanks for taking the time to document and post this! Lots of wonderful palms and it looks like a beautiful city. I'm definitely fascinated by a lot of the endemic palms in central and tropical south america and this just piques my interest even more!

[Xenon]

Wonder how Ceroxylon quindiuense does long term there...Medellin seems like a great place for palms! Thanks for the pics!

[Alberto]

A place where Cyrtostachys renda grows together with Ceroxylon quindiuensis !!! Incredible!

[sarasota alex]

Jeff thanks for the tour!

The mystery palm - a Geonoma sp.?

[Xerarch]

Amazing climate, highs all year average in the low 80's, lows all year in the low 60's, records in the low 90's and 50's, sounds like its not hot or cold enough to kill anything. I guess that's what you get at 6* N latitude and 4,900 ft elevation. Perfect for everything!

[Jeff in St Pete]

  On 3/29/2013 at 9:02 PM, Halekuma said:

jeff those are great photos from my wifes city!!! nice to hear good things about medellin instead of the usual negative comments... Being married to a columbian girl from medellin I agree on almost everything you said... however I must disagree on sancona being the more used... I would say archontophoenix is as usual in medellin ( even in all antioquia department) as queen palms and washingtonia is in south california...

Some people thought I was a little crazy for going to Medellin, but I fell in love with the area and felt it was definitely somewhere I could live. I agree that Archontophoenix is widely used in landscaping, but in the area where I was staying in El Poblado, there were more S. sancona planted out.

[Jeff in St Pete]

  On 3/29/2013 at 10:23 PM, cobra2326 said:

Jeff,

Thanks for taking the time to document and post this! Lots of wonderful palms and it looks like a beautiful city. I'm definitely fascinated by a lot of the endemic palms in central and tropical south america and this just piques my interest even more!

John, my interests lie with the endemic palms of Central and tropical South America as well. They have always been my favorites.

[Jeff in St Pete]

  On 3/29/2013 at 10:48 PM, Xenon said:

Wonder how Ceroxylon quindiuense does long term there...Medellin seems like a great place for palms! Thanks for the pics!

Jonathan, I did not see any mature Ceroxylons in Medellin, just a couple small ones in the botanical garden. In the mountains overlooking Medellin I did see several really tall ones though. I think it may be a little too warm for them down in the valley.

[Jeff in St Pete]

  On 3/30/2013 at 12:55 AM, sarasota alex said:

Jeff thanks for the tour!

The mystery palm - a Geonoma sp.?

Alex, I also thought of Geonoma, but I wasn't sure. There were quite a few palms there with no id markers.

[sgvcns]

Spent a little bit of time in Medellin last year and had a great time. For me the Quinido Botanical Gardens outside Armenia

were simply fantastic although the palm section was relatively new there was a good collection. The heliconia section was great and was established by Gustavo Morales who with Jose Abalo has described more heliconias than anyone else. I have posted a few pics from the garden under the travel log section. I will try to post more from the gardens.

Steve

[NApalm]

  On 3/29/2013 at 9:52 PM, dalmatiansoap said:

Nice place!

I can imagine me getting arrested there for hauling black garbage bags full of seeds around town

haha

[grant b.]

I cant say enough good things about Medellin. Jeff you are right on with the description of the public transit. Extremely easy to get around the city on the trams. Did you take the sky tram up to the top of the hill with the giant public library and the neighborhood where Pablo was killed? Breathtaking views of the valley from there. Although Colombia does not have a thriving tourist industy, it is a gem in South America.

Also mentioned were the Quinido Botanical Gardens. This is a beautiful area of Colombia as well. If anyone passes through this region, you have to check out Salento and the Valle del Cocora. This picture says it all...

[Central Floridave]

"Mystery palm, Orania?"

Man, that mystery palm made my head spin. Not use to seeing something like that. What is it?

[Trópico]

The mystery palm looks like Ceroxylon to me. Not sure what species.

[Jeff in St Pete]

  On 4/2/2013 at 2:19 PM, 1000shadesOFgreen said:

I cant say enough good things about Medellin. Jeff you are right on with the description of the public transit. Extremely easy to get around the city on the trams. Did you take the sky tram up to the top of the hill with the giant public library and the neighborhood where Pablo was killed? Breathtaking views of the valley from there. Although Colombia does not have a thriving tourist industy, it is a gem in South America.

Grant, Yes, I took the gondola ride over that neighborhood and up over the mountain to Parque Arvi. I posted some photos here in another thread. http://www.palmtalk.org/forum/index.php?/topic/36360-ceroxylon-in-bogot-and-a-few-other-palms/page-2#entry570434

[brodklop]

Thanks Jeff for the photos. Looks like a real palmy place with lots of variety

[Tampa Scott]

Outstanding! Thanks for the pictures Jeff.

[Jeff in St Pete]

  On 4/2/2013 at 3:18 PM, Central Floridave said:

"Mystery palm, Orania?"

Man, that mystery palm made my head spin. Not use to seeing something like that. What is it?

Dave, it made my head spin to see it in that garden. I wish I knew what it is, I would definitely try and get seeds.

[Brian Bruning]

Medellin and Cali have very wonderful climates. "Un clima muy sobrosa" is what they say. Almost anything will grow. What is also told to me is that people like to live where coffee grows. It is never too hot nor too cold. I loved Costa Rica back in the 80s but it is over run now with North Americans and Nicarguans so prices are higher and theft is up. Perhaps Colombia is the next boho hot spot. Cali is known as the city of beauty queens. There are a lot of reasons to take a hard look at these places are expat retirement localtions. I love seeing coconuts, sealing wax palms and ceroxolyns all together. That is a happy climate.

[Phoenix Bob]

All these wonderful accolades regarding Medellin are certainly a welcome and refreshing reversal of the horrible reputation this place has gathered over the last 20 years. Medellin has been continually hammered in the U.S. press due to its deep involvement with the world's illicit coca trade. Maybe things have blessedly turned around for this Colombian treasure. I certainly hope so!

[Brian Bruning]

To you which city is more interesting, livable and trouistic? Medellin or Cali?

[Brian Bruning]

Coca is still there but no drug war as such. Mexico has that distinction now. The Cali Cartel was known as the "Cabelleros de Cali" the gentlemen of Cali, mostly made up of upper middle and upper class young men. They stayed under the radar as much as they could. Other cartels were less so and open warfare errupted in the streets. Now things are as "normal" as they'll likely ever be. Tourists and expats are returning. This hostel is owned by a guy from Arizona. http://casamiraflorescali.com/ I'm not into 5 star hotels as they are part of what I call a "bubble tour" where a person has little contact with locals and the culture. I meet really interesting people when I travel alone and in decent but not expensive conditions. That I'm fluent in Spanish helps for sure. It both opens up communication and they take it as a great compliment that an English speaker would be bothered to learn Spanish. So they warm up to me easily and I get included in things.

.

[grant b.]

^{While I'm not "fluent" in Spanish, I can speak enough to get around and feel comfortable. I partly agree with what you say about speaking Spanish opening doors or warming hearts for you, but Colombians are extremely friendly and helpful, regardless of language barriers.}

^{I like you, am not interested in posh hotels, resorts, or all-inclusives. I spent a month in Colombia last year and stayed in a dozen or so hostels. One of the cleanest and nicest ones was located in Medellin named "The Wandering Paisa" (http://www.wanderingpaisahostel.com/). It was owned by a couple of brothers from California. Anyone visiting the city should definitely check it out.}

[ghar41]

Wow! Columbia is palm Mecca and Medellin is capitol! What a perfect climate- and for humans and palms.

[bubba]

I spent some great times in Medellin and Cali during a semester venued in Bogota in 1976. To me, Medellin was incredible. Cali was great also but not the level of Medellin. That city has the most incredible climate on earth. Virtually on the equator but at an elevation that perpetuates endless Spring weather. Thank you for the post.

[Peter Pacific]

Jeff, how could you not fall in love with Medellin? Colombia is a beautiful country, the people are wonderful, their Spanish is one of the best of Spanish speaking countries and to top it all off they have loads of palms! Thanks for posting.<br /><br />Peter

[Kennybenjamin]

I must have missed this post first time around.. Great photos, thanks!

I love the Aiphanes, the mystery palm, the Ceroxylon etc etc etc!! Good posting Jeff!

[paulgila]

I missed this somehow,too. What an amazing place!

[buffy]

I'm twitching on the ground like Apollo Creed in Rocky IV.

[GMann]

  On 3/29/2013 at 7:43 PM, Jeff in St Pete said:

Cyrtostachys renda

 

Expand  

I was curious as to how long those Lipstick palms would survive in a city with an average daily low temperature of 62 degrees year round. With a little sleuthing of the background buildings I was able to locate the palms on Google Street View. 

They survived until at least July of 2017:

Then on the next Streetview update in November 2018 they had vanished

 

Still they lasted at least 4 years. Not bad. 

The fact that the Latania is also gone at the same time may indicate that they were just removed all together and did not succumb to cold damage. But then Latanias are also quite cold sensitive. Perhaps there were some cold nights at some point in late 2017 / early 2018 that took both palms out....