Tresco's Abbey Garden in the UK - Massive 2022 Update

[UK_Palms]

So I visited Tresco's Abbey Gardens on Saturday and it was even more insane than you can possibly imagine. The Rhopalostylis crownshafts especially are out of this world.

Starting with the main focal point, which is the monster Phoenix Canariensis AKA Canary Island date palms...

 

Jubaea Chilensis...

 

Butia Odorata...

 

Washingtonia Robusta...

 

Rhopalostylis Sapida is the most common palm on Tresco easily outnumbering anything else by 5 to 1. Possibly even 10 to 1. There are literally hundreds of them, including numerous volunteers that have sprouted all over the grounds. They seem to be thriving and setting seed profusely, with maybe 20-30 self-seeding specimens now. Tresco may have the best Rhopie stand/collection outside of NZ.

 

Hundreds of volunteer Rhopies coming up all over the place...

 

Archontophoenix Cunninghamiana...

 

Juania or just another Rhopalostylis? I'm honestly not sure. It looks kind of Juania like and I know Tresco has a Juania, however they also have 200+ Rhopies now...

 

Brahea Armata

 

Sabal minor possibly?

 

The Norfolk Island pines are insane. I saw many actually producing cones too since they self seed on Tresco now...

 

Lots of flowers still in bloom, although the main flower season had pretty much ran its course by now...

 

Love seeing the Golden Pheasants on Tresco...

 

Please nobody quote this post when replying, since it will then duplicate it into the thread and it is a pretty lengthy post. Thanks.

 

Edited August 29, 2022 by UK_Palms

[OC2Texaspalmlvr]

@UK_PalmsThat Jubaea and Butia seem to be fairly close in proximity. I wonder what the chances of some hybrid seedlings happening? JxB or BxJ 

T J 

[cbmnz]

Re "Juania or just another Rhopalostylis"  there are lots of Rhopie  that look just like that in habitat, in 3/4 shade or more. That garden lost all their Rhopies in 1987 right? So those are all max 35 years old ( they may have planted some as large ~120L grade though I guess)

[gurugu]

Just amazing! As always is Tresco. Very good update too. I had seen that Juania in another forum, but not the Archontophoenix. Do you know how long has it been planted for and how tall was it when planted? That proves that they can be grown at that high latitude, and if sheltered, their chances increase. At first I thought Northernmost were here in northern Spain and in Southern France, Mediterranean coast. Then I learned that some had been successfully grown in Bretagne (France), but they are no longer there. Now, Tresco's is a different story. We are talking about 50ºN. Many people just don't realize what that really means, I'm afraid. 

Congratulations! and I hope to see more in the near future in more places along the south coast or in London. 

[Foxpalms]

5 hours ago, gurugu said:

Just amazing! As always is Tresco. Very good update too. I had seen that Juania in another forum, but not the Archontophoenix. Do you know how long has it been planted for and how tall was it when planted? That proves that they can be grown at that high latitude, and if sheltered, their chances increase. At first I thought Northernmost were here in northern Spain and in Southern France, Mediterranean coast. Then I learned that some had been successfully grown in Bretagne (France), but they are no longer there. Now, Tresco's is a different story. We are talking about 50ºN. Many people just don't realize what that really means, I'm afraid. 

Congratulations! and I hope to see more in the near future in more places along the south coast or in London. 

The archontophoenix cunninghamiana at tresco is apparently 25 years old according to palms of England which is very impressive but grows slowly because it's not irrigated. As far as I know I probably have the highest latitude archontophoenix cunninghamiana in ground unprotected at 51n.

[gurugu]

3 hours ago, Foxpalms said:

The archontophoenix cunninghamiana at tresco is apparently 25 years old according to palms of England which is very impressive but grows slowly because it's not irrigated. As far as I know I probably have the highest latitude archontophoenix cunninghamiana in ground unprotected at 51n.

Being grown at a botanical garden and not being irrigated enough sounds odd. Archontophoenix are high water demanding palms. How much does it rain in the isles? 

Growing archontos at 51ºN is even more amazing. Definitely the northernmost Archontophoenix. How long has it been in the ground? A y pictures? 

Congratulations! 

[UK_Palms]

18 hours ago, OC2Texaspalmlvr said:

@UK_PalmsThat Jubaea and Butia seem to be fairly close in proximity. I wonder what the chances of some hybrid seedlings happening? JxB or BxJ 

T J 

It’s quite possible. I am unsure whether Jubaea requires a male and female for successful pollination? If so, the fact that seeds have formed would suggest something has pollenated it. There are no other mature, flowering Jubaea’s besides that one to my knowledge, so it may well have been pollenated by the Butia.

[Foxpalms]

53 minutes ago, gurugu said:

Being grown at a botanical garden and not being irrigated enough sounds odd. Archontophoenix are high water demanding palms. How much does it rain in the isles? 

Growing archontos at 51ºN is even more amazing. Definitely the northernmost Archontophoenix. How long has it been in the ground? A y pictures? 

Congratulations! 

A year it's fine in zone 9b since it's under canopy. Unable to take photos now since I'm in Cornwall need to take some when I get back. The Scilly isles get 34.6 inches of rain per year but archontophoenix cunninghamiana probably wants more water than that I water mine everyday during the summer and every 3 days during spring and fall.

[UK_Palms]

12 hours ago, cbmnz said:

Re "Juania or just another Rhopalostylis"  there are lots of Rhopie  that look just like that in habitat, in 3/4 shade or more. That garden lost all their Rhopies in 1987 right? So those are all max 35 years old ( they may have planted some as large ~120L grade though I guess)

Yes, the Nikau’s were killed in the infamous 87’ freeze. The biggest Nikau’s present on Tresco are offspring from those palms that had dropped seed. They re-sprouted from the following summer I believe in 87, so the largest ones are about 35 years old now. No large Nikau’s have been imported and planted, only self seeding ones that regrew from the seeds of the original pre-87 specimens. Tresco’s head gardener, Andrew, did inform me that Kew Gardens had provided a few smaller specimens over the years. Those are probably giants now too. I only uploaded about 1/3 of my Rhopalostylis photos. There are lots of big ones present and hundreds of baby ones sprouting everywhere. It must be the best Rhopie stand outside of NZ surely? What do you think?

[UK_Palms]

12 hours ago, gurugu said:

Just amazing! As always is Tresco. Very good update too. I had seen that Juania in another forum, but not the Archontophoenix. Do you know how long has it been planted for and how tall was it when planted? That proves that they can be grown at that high latitude, and if sheltered, their chances increase. At first I thought Northernmost were here in northern Spain and in Southern France, Mediterranean coast. Then I learned that some had been successfully grown in Bretagne (France), but they are no longer there. Now, Tresco's is a different story. We are talking about 50ºN. Many people just don't realize what that really means, I'm afraid. 

Congratulations! and I hope to see more in the near future in more places along the south coast or in London. 

Hey man, I need to do a UK crownshaft thread on here as I have been uncovering all the UK crowshafts over the past week or so. Lots of Juania, as well as Archontophoenix and Kentia's too. Obviously Tresco is absolutely loaded with Rhopalostylis too, which is the most common palm on the island by far. Crownshafts are certainly not restricted to Tresco and they are also on the UK mainland. Below are the attached shots of another Archontophoenix in St Mawes, Cornwall. This is almost entirely shade grown as well, similar to the Tresco one. It has suffered no damage whatsoever on the mainland and is still quite small, yet to reach its potential. This particular spot hasn't had a 'freeze' since 1989 I believe, due to its microclimate.

 

Also here is the Juania Australis that I visited in Salcombe, Devon last week. This was planted tiny in 2012 I believe, but has exploded in growth since!

 

Salcombe beaches are like the Med lol...

 

I have to do further posts on all the places I have visited in southern England over the past week. There are some crazy Washingtonia and Phoenix about! 45 footer CIDP's on the mainland and 20 footer Phoenix Reclinata's too! Plus that Salcombe Juania and many more on the mainland. No doubt there are many more surprising finds lurking out there too, including other crownshafts! There is probably lots of stuff hiding out there in people's back gardens. London is probably even more exotic than we can imagine, if we could see people's back yards! I reckon there are Dactylifera's out there too.

[OC2Texaspalmlvr]

3 hours ago, UK_Palms said:

I am unsure whether Jubaea requires a male and female for successful pollination?

Jubaea are monoecious so self fertile, unless of course something else nearby were to fertilize it. Would be cool to have some hybrids naturalizing there 😎

T J 

[cbmnz]

3 hours ago, UK_Palms said:

Yes, the Nikau’s were killed in the infamous 87’ freeze. The biggest Nikau’s present on Tresco are offspring from those palms that had dropped seed. They re-sprouted from the following summer I believe in 87, so the largest ones are about 35 years old now. No large Nikau’s have been imported and planted, only self seeding ones that regrew from the seeds of the original pre-87 specimens. Tresco’s head gardener, Andrew, did inform me that Kew Gardens had provided a few smaller specimens over the years. Those are probably giants now too. I only uploaded about 1/3 of my Rhopalostylis photos. There are lots of big ones present and hundreds of baby ones sprouting everywhere. It must be the best Rhopie stand outside of NZ surely? What do you think?

I have not viewed many  palms overseas so would not know but those photos of the seedings coming up everywhere do look very familiar.  Take a bush walk anywhere in North  Island and parts of South below 500m elevation and that is what you see ubiquitously

[Tyrone]

Great to see so many Rhopies thriving in Tresco. Its good to see what 35 yrs growth looks like too. They're actually not that slow in the right climate. 

Archontophoenix cunninghamiana can take a bit of frost before they keel over. I reckon the gardens are over protecting them a bit under heavy canopy, but I do understand why. A bit of winter sun and a bit less canopy will see them bulk up in time. In the right climate Archontophoenix are rocket ships. Seeds should be easy to come by too, so if they just blanketed the gardens in them, the ones that survive will be the good ones. Also you can plant 3 to a hole and they love that too. It helps protect them in cold weather. They love company. 

Good pics. I hope to have around 1000 Rhopalostylis in my garden in time. Just trying to create enough shade as even down here the summer sun can be brutal. 

[Foxpalms]

@TyroneI agree they definitely don't need to plant archontophoenix cunninghamiana under thick canopy in a zone 10b. Would be nice to get UK archontophoenix cunninghamiana seed in the future.

[PalmatierMeg]

Great photos of a beautiful garden. Thanks. Those Rhopalostylis are amazing - I can't grow them. Can't grow Juania either but neither can most anyone else.

[PalmCode]

Thanks for sharing these photos. Thats a great garden, with a lot of work put into it over the years.   Its  really cool  to see the Rhopalostylis thriving there.

[Foxpalms]

On 8/29/2022 at 3:14 AM, UK_Palms said:

 

It's not a cunninghamiana it's even more special, they do have cunninghamiana though.

[gurugu]

I would say that trunk isn't Alexandra's but Cunninghamiana'and the same for the crownshaft, but I could be wrong.  At least mine don't look like that. 3rd picture when expanded, looks more to Alexandra, but, since it is the same palm, it must be because of the picture. 

Good finding anyway

Do you any pic of the Kentia? 

Keep on sending pictures, it is interesting to see the potential of that zone for palms. 

[UK_Palms]

34 minutes ago, gurugu said:

I would say that trunk isn't Alexandra's but Cunninghamiana'and the same for the crownshaft, but I could be wrong.  At least mine don't look like that. 3rd picture when expanded, looks more to Alexandra, but, since it is the same palm, it must be because of the picture. 

Good finding anyway

Do you any pic of the Kentia? 

Keep on sending pictures, it is interesting to see the potential of that zone for palms. 

This is the only Kentia I saw, entirely shade grown. I had to wade through thick undergrowth to reach it. I’m not sure why it is looking a bit beat up as I have seen healthy ones on the mainland even in Cornwall. I can’t help but think it would do better with some sunlight, but maybe they are thinking the overhead cover will protect it in the event of a severe freeze like in 1987. The last frost on Tresco was in Feb 2018 I think when it went down to about -1C. So extreme cold is very, very rare there. Even on the mainland at Penzance it only went down to -3C in Feb 2018. Hardly palm killing temps really. The lack of sunlight may be a problem for the Kentia in that spot? The head gardener, Andrew, told me there were a few Kentia’s planted out, not just the one.

[JasonD]

Perhaps the farthest north Juania is in Ireland? 

I've heard or read that Rhopalostylis has been self-sowing in the Azores. 

[Foxpalms]

1 hour ago, JasonD said:

Perhaps the farthest north Juania is in Ireland? 

I've heard or read that Rhopalostylis has been self-sowing in the Azores. 

The Rhopalostylis are self seeding there are thousands of small ones.

Edited August 31, 2022 by Foxpalms

[Foxpalms]

Rhopalostylis baueri var. cheesemanii 

[Foxpalms]

howea forsteriana

[Foxpalms]

Juania australis

[Foxpalms]

Archontophoenix cunninghamiana 

[Foxpalms]

sabal bermudana

[Foxpalms]

Sabal minor

[UK_Palms]

Great work @Foxpalms While I heavily documented the Rhopies in general, you managed to dig out the rarer palms that I could not find. I never saw the other Kentia's or Archontophoenix that you found and I totally bypassed the Juania too I think. I must have walked straight past it. Tresco is a bit of a maze though. I never saw the really small Rhopie seedlings coming up either, only the smaller specimens (2-3 years old) that had already gone pinnate. So good eye there. Tresco must have thousands of Rhopies then now including the tiny seedlings sprouting everywhere!

Did you get any more pictures of that Baueri with the white trunk bases? Also how was your crossing? Did you go by ferry or helicopter?

[Foxpalms]

@UK_Palms Helicopter, the ferry would really limit you're time there. They have chamedorea radicals and microspadix as well but didn't get any photos. Probably missed something as you mentioned it's like a maze. They have zone 10 trees growing there doing well lots from new Caledonia. The reason I wouldn't be surprised if that palm is in fact archontophoenix Alexandrae is the fact it's only that size after 25 years whilst the cunninghamiana's are growing faster even though they are smaller. I think the cunninghamiana's were only planted in the last few years. The large archontophoenix that flowered before the 87 freeze I was told was a Alexanderae. Wonder how an archontophoenix purperea would do there under a light canopy.  Did you get lots of nikau seed? 

[Foxpalms]

A few more photos from tresco.

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