When I was a young boy in the last century, I was used to visit the greenhouses of Parc de la Tête d'Or in Lyon, France.
I went back there and checked the palms:

Cocos nucifera

Hyophorbe lagenicaulis

Some very nice specimens there! It must be wonderful to step out of cold Lyon into that warm and humid environment to enjoy the palms.

Philippe, amazing greenhouse.

How old is this greenhouse?

Regards,

Andrew

Philippe,

That's a wonderful conservatory. Never heard of it, but there are probably lots of conservatories all over Europe that I never heard of! And your "as a young boy in the last century" comment made me reflect a bit - the "last century" part sounds so far off in time! Then again, I guess it was...for some of us!

Bo-Göran

Andrew,

They must date from 1870 but some parts got a very bad renovation around 1970-1980. At least they are still there!

Bo,

....last century....before internet and mobile phone and....my first journey to Sri Lanka, these conservatories were the only tropical world I could enjoy!

Kindest regards

Philippe

Mon Dieu, Phillipe!! Gorgeous conversatory, palms and pictures. Mike I must stop there on our way to Sri Lanka. You are expecting us vous n'êtes pas?

Lee

It's really amazing to see on palmtalk a post about the botanical garden of my city in France! Thank you Philippe

For Kim, Lyon is not such a cold city for an inland place (200 miles away from the see) and regardind the 45,47N° latitude

The french chapter of the IPS "fous de palmiers", has also a local chapter and I used to drive it for some years. We launched a project in 2011 together with the botanical garden of Lyon to create an outside mini palmetum.

My son with a Jubaea

More pictures and details here:

http://fousdepalmiers.fr/html/forum/viewtopic.php?f=205&t=9497&start=15

Edited December 4, 201312 yr by manuvericel

Mon Dieu, Phillipe!! Gorgeous conversatory, palms and pictures. Mike I must stop there on our way to Sri Lanka. You are expecting us vous n'êtes pas?

Lee

YES, I do, and we can start with a nice dinner in Lyon before rice and curry in Sri Lanka!

Lyon has some good restaurants....

Philippe

Bonjour Manu...

Nice to read a post from a "lyonnais": I am practicing palms in the tropical jungle of Sri Lanka but I still love the Parc de la Tête d'Or where I started to be a plant-addict when I was 14.

I discovered the new palmetum last saturday in front of the conservatories and was happy to see that!

Do you know if there are any heating system or is the climate ok for the palms ( Brahea... Sabal... Jubea...)?

I hope this collection will thrive nicely.

PS: I am "lyonnais" too, my parents are living in Collonges au Mt D'or.

Kindest regards

Philippe

Bonjour Manuvericel, I suppose everything is relative. To me, from San Diego, California, Lyon looks very cold on the weather report: highs for the next 10 days expected in the low to high 40s F, and lows in the high 20s to low 30s F. True, no snow, but too cold for lots of palms. Right now I am in Hawaii and the lows are in the high 60s F. I am a winter wimp!

KIm,

Why don't I be in Hawaii right now? Switzerland is gloomy and cold. Lyon is not so cold but belong to the cold-hardy palms sub-forum for the outdoor collection!

But did you notice the Hyophorbe fruiting in the conservatory?

Luckily I fly to Doranakanda in 2 weeks and I am looking forward to seeing my hawaiian babies again, it seems they reach now 40 cm and have 4 to 5 leaves but they arrived last august as very young seedlings.

And all my seeds from Singapore or Kandy are sprouting. Again a big re-poting work in the first days of my stay!

Hello,

No palm is heated in the outside collection (can we call it a collection compared to warmer zone?) which means that the Butia catarinensis, Butia eriospatha, Jubaea, Brahea armata, Sabal minor & bermudana, Chamaerops and Trachycarpus survided the feb 2012 cold spell just protected by overhead plastic covers.

Butia catarinensis has mature fruits this year, isn't it a chalenge for our climate?

I know compared to California or even French riviera we don't have a good palm climate, that's for sure, but the possibility of growing 10 palm species make me happy afterall

Here is a W.filifera at my parent's place (planted small in 1999)

That’s impressive, especially with no heating, surviving the February 2012 cold spell using only overhead protection says a lot about your setup and microclimate. Seeing Butia catarinensis fruiting is definitely a challenge for your climate, but it also shows that with the right species selection and protection, more is possible than people usually expect. Growing and maintaining 10 palm species outside is already a great achievement, even compared to traditionally better palm climates.

Nice bit of nostalgia 😊 The greenhouses at Parc de la Tête d'Or are a classic — going back and seeing the same palms years later must’ve felt like stepping into a memory. Did they look much different after all that time?