London palms and exotics

[Banana Belt]

9 hours ago, Silas_Sancona said:

Yep, both types of birds are well established both in / around San Francisco, other parts of the Bay Area, and across Southern CA.  We have Love Birds here that have done quite well since introduction.

Recently, Nanday Parakeet have been sighted in some neighborhoods on this side of Phoenix, same w/ both Rose Ringed, and Monk, both of which appear to be expanding their range across more of California atm.

Commonest "Parrots" seen in S.Cal are some of the West Mexican sp. that are considered endangered in Mexico. Others like Nandays have sought out more specific habitat niches in local mountain ranges down there that mimic their preferred native habitat and aren't seen " in the cities" quite as frequently.

I personally enjoy their presence and think anyone who kills them, should face stiff, felony- level criminal prosecution. For the most part, they don't cause trouble, ...like House Sparrows or Starlings might..  and, they bring that extra note of the tropics to less  tropical places.

Here in the U.S. at least, the presence of introduced Psittaciformes is kind of karmic payback for us wiping out / nearly eliminating our native Parrots / Parakeets ( species like Carolina, Green, Thick-Billed Parrot - here in AZ )   

I'd love to have the experience of hearing the calls of Thick Billed Parrots echoing through tree tops while out exploring Madera or Ramsey Canyon, or Mt. Lemmon. Imagine, back when they were still present, it must have been wonderful.

Alexandrine Parakeet.  He was a real friend and a buddy for long time.  So curious about everyone and everything. 

[Keep Palm And Carry On]

Did he die? 🥺

[Foxpalms]

A few more Palms and plants. The bananas still have their leaves on them, completely undamaged by the freeze 

 

Edited December 12, 2022 by Foxpalms

[Foxpalms]

Found some photos of kentias in London on Instagram and monstera deliciosa on Google maps.

Edited December 13, 2022 by Foxpalms

[Axel Amsterdam]

The kentia’s are a nice find, the monstera looks fake. 

[GottmitAlex]

On 12/4/2022 at 8:27 PM, Banana Belt said:

Alexandrine Parakeet.  He was a real friend and a buddy for long time.  So curious about everyone and everything. 

Beautiful!

[Banana Belt]

On 12/4/2022 at 10:40 PM, Keep Palm And Carry On said:

Did he die? 🥺

Fell and broke his neck. 

[Foxpalms]

13 hours ago, Axel Amsterdam said:

The kentia’s are a nice find, the monstera looks fake. 

Monstera deliciosa can grow outside in London though so if the are im not sure why they wouldn't just use the real plant.

[Axel Amsterdam]

They look exactly the same when you compare the leaves to the previous streetview image. I have never seen a monstera outside in London. I hope you will find one and show it here. I believe its possible in the frostfree centre.

[Foxpalms]

1 hour ago, Axel Amsterdam said:

They look exactly the same when you compare the leaves to the previous streetview image. I have never seen a monstera outside in London. I hope you will find one and show it here. I believe its possible in the frostfree centre.

My other one looks better but it's too dark in that part garden since it's under the eucalyptus to take a clear photo of it. The other one looks better since that part of the garden is warmer and it has less slug and snail damage. This one the snails and slugs clearly like to attack annoyingly and it's not in the best spot but anyways here it is.

[Axel Amsterdam]

Thanks, i have been following the temps in London during the cold outbreak of the last days. Did the center reach -1/-2C around St James?

[Hortulanus]

On 12/4/2022 at 3:21 AM, UK_Palms said:

Here's the Bougainvillea in northwest London. This is by no means one of the warmer parts of the city either. No idea what type of citrus that is growing there too? Possibly a nectarine of some kind? The street view updated too early this year so the bloom isn't visible. LIkewise the street view on the big Dagenham Bougainvillea is from March when it had no leaves.

 

Any idea what this red flowering plant is? It almost looks like a red Bougainvillea although street view is from June, which seems a bit early for it to be fully leafed out with lots of flowers. It was a warm year but it seems a month or two early to be looking like that. @Axel Amsterdam @gurugu

 

Any idea what this tree is with red flowers...? So much different stuff hidden away in London.

 

Here's another new one to add that I have just found. Notice the smaller Washingtonia lurking in the back. Also another CIDP with a church spire in background.

 

Yet another London Washingtonia...

 

It's a bit sad that Chamaerops do not get the same attention or recognition over here. I am definitely guilty of that too. I actually overlook so many Mediterranean fan palms and bypass them as they are smaller and less imposing palms, compared to say CIDP or Washies. London has a ton of impressive Chamaerops too. Here is one I spotted today.

 

The parakeets are colonising areas near my location now. The flocks are moving out of the city into the outskirts more as the population continues to explode.

 

This is the only Canary Island native that outnumbers the Phoenix Canariensis here. Streatoda Nobilis or the 'false widow' spider. There's probably more in England than the entire Canaries nowadays due to the spread. I have maybe come across 5,000 of them over the past few years. It is the most common spider over anything else 10 to 1 here. I removed 2 of them from my bedroom yesterday, which I had ignored for a few days. I took this photo tonight in my bathroom where this one has been for about a week now.

What the heck! We've got parakeets in Düsseldorf as well! They've been here since the 1980s and they are somewhat a pride of this city. We lovely call them "KÖ parrots" KÖ is the local abbreviation of Königsallee, a famous luxury-shopping boulevard. I believe that's their main realm. You recognise them immediately by their sound. They sound nothing like anything domestic!

[Foxpalms]

13 minutes ago, Axel Amsterdam said:

Thanks, i have been following the temps in London during the cold outbreak of the last days. Did the center reach -1/-2C around St James?

St James might of since that's a largish park and it always gets colder than it does at street level. A perfect example of this is go to Hyde park winter wonderland and inside the park its very cold and windy then walk into Knightsbridge or Mayfair and you will feel an instant rise in the temperature. Near by there in the city it got to just below -1c it's hasn't gotten to -2c. If you go slightly east of there though to the city of London around Bank it hasn't gone below 33f/0.5 and there are a couple other very warm microclimates right next to the river Thames that also haven't gone below freezing. -1.3c is what I got down to in the coldest part of the garden one night.

Edited December 13, 2022 by Foxpalms

[Foxpalms]

6 minutes ago, Hortulanus said:

What the heck! We've got parakeets in Düsseldorf as well! They've been here since the 1980s and they are somewhat a pride of this city. We lovely call them "KÖ parrots" KÖ is the local abbreviation of Königsallee, a famous luxury-shopping boulevard. I believe that's their main realm. You recognise them immediately by their sound. They sound nothing like anything domestic!

I always get parakeets in the garden here. On a cold day like today especially with the palms they help make it feel like somewhere much warmer!

[Hortulanus]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u39RpUbnPJQ

Does anyone know what this is? To me it looks like a P. loureiroi or a hybrid of it.

Edited December 13, 2022 by Hortulanus

[Hortulanus]

3 minutes ago, Foxpalms said:

I always get parakeets in the garden here. On a cold day like today especially with the palms they help make it feel like somewhere much warmer!

That's sweet. 😊 Here you usually see them in parks or in bigger trees. They seem quite active all year round. They seem more vital than domestic birds LOL Like with anything exotic! 😂

[Foxpalms]

Just now, Hortulanus said:

That's sweet. 😊 Here you usually see them in parks or in bigger trees. They seem quite active all year round. They seem more vital than domestic birds LOL Like with anything exotic! 😂

I've tried but I can't seem to get any to fly down to me but in the parks they are more used to human interaction, so they often eat nuts/seeds out of people's hands. Very rarely I've seen even  macaws (escaped pets) flying around.

[Hortulanus]

8 minutes ago, Foxpalms said:

I've tried but I can't seem to get any to fly down to me but in the parks they are more used to human interaction, so they often eat nuts/seeds out of people's hands. Very rarely I've seen even  macaws (escaped pets) flying around.

One thing I remember from being in London parks are the squirrels! They are way too clingy. But I think they are also an invasive kind from North America. 😅

[Foxpalms]

20 minutes ago, Hortulanus said:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u39RpUbnPJQ

Does anyone know what this is? To me it looks like a P. loureiroi or a hybrid of it.

 

[Hortulanus]

1 minute ago, Foxpalms said:

 

Oh thank you! I already guessed there was a topic on this one. 😂 Btw. Do you know how to embed videos into posts?

[Foxpalms]

13 minutes ago, Hortulanus said:

One thing I remember from being in London parks are the squirrels! They are way too clingy. But I think they are also an invasive kind from North America. 😅

Lots of invasive species from the USA here including things such as black widows, however they are fairly rare at the moment compared to say the falsewidows but at some point its inevitable they will spread like the false widows have. The same for brown recluses as well. The Australian redbacks at the moment seem to be more invasive than black widows they are actually on the invasive species list here, again though they are still fairly rare. 

10 minutes ago, Hortulanus said:

Oh thank you! I already guessed there was a topic on this one. 😂 Btw. Do you know how to embed videos into posts?

I'm not sure how you embed videos into posts on palmtalk.

Edited December 13, 2022 by Foxpalms

[Merlyn]

14 minutes ago, Hortulanus said:

Oh thank you! I already guessed there was a topic on this one. 😂 Btw. Do you know how to embed videos into posts?

If it's an online video (like from YouTube) then you can just copy the link address and paste it in the editor.  It'll automatically embed the video.

[Hortulanus]

1 minute ago, Foxpalms said:

Lots of invasive species from the USA here including things such as black widows, however they are fairly rare at the moment compared to say the falsewidows but at some point its inevitable they will spread like the false widows have. The same for brown recluses as well. 

I'm not sure how you embed videos into posts on palmtalk.

Ok thank you anyways. Yes but I think this is an issue everywhere as the climates are changeing and international travel and transport is bringing in things. But plants as well. Many very toxic plants that are unknown to most people are taking over entire creek borders and fields. This year there was also a big fuss about a new invasive spider from the Mediterranean that's toxic and bites. The worst plague is still the tiger mosquito! OMG! I don't know if you have it in the UK, but I first came in contact with it in Italy and 10 years later they started to appear here. They'll bite in broad day ... NO! SUNLIGHT! 😩

[Hortulanus]

1 minute ago, Merlyn said:

If it's an online video (like from YouTube) then you can just copy the link address and paste it in the editor.  It'll automatically embed the video.

Thanks for helping, but didn't work for me. Maybe I did something wrong...

[Foxpalms]

8 minutes ago, Hortulanus said:

Ok thank you anyways. Yes but I think this is an issue everywhere as the climates are changeing and international travel and transport is bringing in things. But plants as well. Many very toxic plants that are unknown to most people are taking over entire creek borders and fields. This year there was also a big fuss about a new invasive spider from the Mediterranean that's toxic and bites. The worst plague is still the tiger mosquito! OMG! I don't know if you have it in the UK, but I first came in contact with it in Italy and 10 years later they started to appear here. They'll bite in broad day ... NO! SUNLIGHT! 😩

Do you know what type of spider? We have tiger mosquitos in the UK, lots of mosquitos here in the summer my citrus plants and eucalyptus seem to do a good job at reducing the amount of them despite the pond.

[Hortulanus]

4 minutes ago, Foxpalms said:

Do you know what type of spider? We have tiger mosquitos in the UK, lots of mosquitos here in the summer my citrus plants and eucalyptus seem to do a good job at reducing the amount of them despite the pond.

I just looked it up - Zoropsis spinimana. And I just read that they are in London as well. And I also read that they've been here at least since the 1990s as well, but I think this year they were spotted very often and the media made a big deal about it. I think that's because of the hotter and drier summers...

[Foxpalms]

7 minutes ago, Hortulanus said:

I just looked it up - Zoropsis spinimana. And I just read that they are in London as well. And I also read that they've been here at least since the 1990s as well, but I think this year they were spotted very often and the media made a big deal about it. I think that's because of the hotter and drier summers...

I have seen those here before but only a few times. The media here only make a big deal of false widows. Only these are listed as invasive at the moment but Black widows and brown recluses have been documented lots of times and I have personally seen a brown recluse here.

[Hortulanus]

5 minutes ago, Foxpalms said:

I have seen those here before but only a few times. The media here only make a big deal of false widows. Only these are listed as invasive at the moment but Black widows and brown recluses have been documented lots of times and I have personally seen a brown recluse here.

I don't think that those are invasive here. I just looked up the official list of North-Rhine Westfalia and our invasive spiders are different ones. Black widows have been sighted by people but there are no scientific proofs yet. But I noticed something there your invasive species seem to be more from English speaking countries, while ours usually come from the Mediterranean creeping up with the North-South routes through France. Is yours the American black widow or the Mediterranean? Because ours is the Mediterranean as well.

[Foxpalms]

6 minutes ago, Hortulanus said:

I don't think that those are invasive here. I just looked up the official list of North-Rhine Westfalia and our invasive spiders are different ones. Black widows have been sighted by people but there are no scientific proofs yet. But I noticed something there your invasive species seem to be more from English speaking countries, while ours usually come from the Mediterranean creeping up with the North-South routes through France. Is yours the American black widow or the Mediterranean? Because ours is the Mediterranean as well.

Ours is the American but I'm sure the Mediterranean one if it was introduced would thrive in the south east. I'm sure the New Zealand katipō spider would do really well here as well in all of southern England, especially in the mild humid south west. 

[Hortulanus]

9 minutes ago, Foxpalms said:

Ours is the American but I'm sure the Mediterranean one if it was introduced would thrive in the south east. I'm sure the New Zealand katipō spider would do really well here as well in all of southern England, especially in the mild humid south west. 

The thing is that insects and animals can better adapt than plants. I think that's why becoming invasive with them is more dangerous. I usually don't know most of the species until I encounter one specimen that doesn't look domestic and I google it. Most of the times it's something introduced at least at some point in time. Sometimes invasive species have already been there for decades. i also saw on the official page that the before mentioned parrots are invasive as well. There are two invasive species Psittacula eupatria and P. krameri.

[Foxpalms]

32 minutes ago, Hortulanus said:

The thing is that insects and animals can better adapt than plants. I think that's why becoming invasive with them is more dangerous. I usually don't know most of the species until I encounter one specimen that doesn't look domestic and I google it. Most of the times it's something introduced at least at some point in time. Sometimes invasive species have already been there for decades. i also saw on the official page that the before mentioned parrots are invasive as well. There are two invasive species Psittacula eupatria and P. krameri.

We also have white cheeked turacos in the UK, Alexandrine parakeets, the rose ringed parakeets, the Egyptian goose , blue crowned parakeets, monk parakeets, budgerigar the largest population of those on the scilly isles, the yellow fronted canary, the domestic canary, the zebra finch and the red billed leiothrix. There are lots of other invasive birds too. I think the next invasive plant here will be washingtonia its only a matter of time, that palm was designed for world domination, it seems to grow in most climates and very fast.

Edited December 14, 2022 by Foxpalms

[Hortulanus]

19 minutes ago, Foxpalms said:

We also have white cheeked turacos in the UK, Alexandrine parakeets, the rose ringed parakeets, the Egyptian goose , blue crowned parakeets, monk parakeets, budgerigar the largest population of those on the scilly isles, the yellow fronted canary, the domestic canary, the zebra finch and the red billed leiothrix. There are lots of other invasive birds too. I think the next invasive plant here will be washingtonia its only a matter of time, that palm was designed for world domination, it seems to grow in most climates and very fast.

Yes Washingtonias are a real pain wherever they are common. I only know some of the species you mentioned. The Egyptian goose is also typical in our parks along with the Canada goose. I think two of the parakeets you mentioned are the ones that are invasive down here in the Rhineland area. From my own experience experimenting with plants I am sometimes surprised what kind of species could actually become invasive very fast. Sometimes you try to grow a plant and it just explodes in growth and produces tons of seeds that immediately sprout and make it through winter and summer, even though this plant is not suited for you climate like some desert or Australian plants. I see Eucalyptus as a potential invasive plant as well. Like it is already in Portugal for example. So many people are getting these now, they grow so rapidly and with the drier getting summers every year they have huge advantages compared to domestic species. Well domestic... One thing I also noticed is that a lot of what I thought to be domestic is just stuff from Asia because it was hyped in the 1960s and 1970s and now seems totally natural. LOL

[Foxpalms]

23 minutes ago, Hortulanus said:

Yes Washingtonias are a real pain wherever they are common. I only know some of the species you mentioned. The Egyptian goose is also typical in our parks along with the Canada goose. I think two of the parakeets you mentioned are the ones that are invasive down here in the Rhineland area. From my own experience experimenting with plants I am sometimes surprised what kind of species could actually become invasive very fast. Sometimes you try to grow a plant and it just explodes in growth and produces tons of seeds that immediately sprout and make it through winter and summer, even though this plant is not suited for you climate like some desert or Australian plants. I see Eucalyptus as a potential invasive plant as well. Like it is already in Portugal for example. So many people are getting these now, they grow so rapidly and with the drier getting summers every year they have huge advantages compared to domestic species. Well domestic... One thing I also noticed is that a lot of what I thought to be domestic is just stuff from Asia because it was hyped in the 1960s and 1970s and now seems totally natural. LOL

Eucalyptus grows really well here even the tropical species. The only one I'm not sure about is the rainbow Eucalyptus since that's supposedly very frost tender but I'm not sure down to what temperature. Brachychiton acerifolius and Delonix regia also grow well here. Norfolk island pines are another tree that seems to do well in costal Cornwall and London the ones in the scilly isles I think have made pines. Araucaria columnaris the New Caledonian Pine is something I want to try but I can never find it for sale.

Edited December 14, 2022 by Foxpalms

[Hortulanus]

2 minutes ago, Foxpalms said:

Eucalyptus grows really well here even the tropical species. The only one I'm not sure about is the rainbow Eucalyptus since that's supposedly very frost tender but I'm not sure down to what temperature. Brachychiton acerifolius and Delonix regia also grow well here. Norfolk island pines are another tree that seems to do well in costal Cornwall and London the ones in the scilly I think have made pines. Araucaria columnaris the New Caledonian Pine is something I want to try but I can never find it for sale.

Really? I didn't know that the rainbow Eucalyptus is so frost tender. I also thought of getting one but I don't have enough space for another Eucalyptus. I had 4 and I'm down to 2 because they are taking too much space and grow too fast. And one of the 2 remaining is just an E. gunnii that I planted to stabilise a hill I made in the garden and to provide shade and some frost protection. I only chose a Eucalyptus because it grows so fast. The only Eucalyptus I'm actually interested in that is in my garden is E. cordata. Really love them. One of the 4 Eucalyptus was regnans and as cool as they are you can't grow them in an urban area. They outgrow every other Eucalyptus. I grew it from seeds, planted it out just after a couple of weeks and at the end of the next year it was almost as tall as the house! The Australian flame tree is one I'm also interested in as an experiment, because I don't know if it would survive long term. Norfolk island pines are just a dream but I don't think they would grow here. From what I've read they are very frost tender and even in Southern Europe you only see them next to the coast in the mildest areas.

[Foxpalms]

33 minutes ago, Hortulanus said:

Really? I didn't know that the rainbow Eucalyptus is so frost tender. I also thought of getting one but I don't have enough space for another Eucalyptus. I had 4 and I'm down to 2 because they are taking too much space and grow too fast. And one of the 2 remaining is just an E. gunnii that I planted to stabilise a hill I made in the garden and to provide shade and some frost protection. I only chose a Eucalyptus because it grows so fast. The only Eucalyptus I'm actually interested in that is in my garden is E. cordata. Really love them. One of the 4 Eucalyptus was regnans and as cool as they are you can't grow them in an urban area. They outgrow every other Eucalyptus. I grew it from seeds, planted it out just after a couple of weeks and at the end of the next year it was almost as tall as the house! The Australian flame tree is one I'm also interested in as an experiment, because I don't know if it would survive long term. Norfolk island pines are just a dream but I don't think they would grow here. From what I've read they are very frost tender and even in Southern Europe you only see them next to the coast in the mildest areas.

Even a couple days ago in the French Mediterranean 2-3 miles from the sea the temperature got down to -3c whilst It was staying around 4c next to the sea. The Australian flame tree is rated as zone 10 but its probably more like 9b. E. torquata, E.citriodora, E.ficifolia are nice eucalyptus species the rainbow gum apparently dies at -2c and is damaged below 0c. @Silas_SanconaCan eucalyptus deglupta handle cool conditions and only gets damaged below 32f or does it need consistently warm temperatures like a coconut or it declines and dies?

Edited December 14, 2022 by Foxpalms

[Hortulanus]

5 minutes ago, Foxpalms said:

Even a couple days ago in the French Mediterranean 2-3 miles from the sea the temperature got down to -3c whilst It was staying around 4c next to the sea. The Australian flame tree is rated as zone 10 but its probably more like 9b. E. torquata, E.citriodora, E.ficifolia are nice eucalyptus species the rainbow gum apparently dies at -2c and is damaged below 0c. @Silas_SanconaCan eucalyptus deglupta handle cool conditions and only gets damaged below 32f or does it need consistently warm temperatures like a coconut or it declines and dies?

Yup Montpellier even got down to -4°C. Some parts of Italy got even lower. But rather inland. Ok the flame tree might be worth a try. I've already tried a few Australian plants that turned out to be hardier than they are supposed to be. Rainbow gum apprently not. With some of the plants the question is how they would grow back from a freeze. I mean if they could recover from a cold blast like right now it could be a long term plant.

[Foxpalms]

4 minutes ago, Hortulanus said:

Yup Montpellier even got down to -4°C. Some parts of Italy got even lower. But rather inland. Ok the flame tree might be worth a try. I've already tried a few Australian plants that turned out to be hardier than they are supposed to be. Rainbow gum apprently not. With some of the plants the question is how they would grow back from a freeze. I mean if they could recover from a cold blast like right now it could be a long term plant.

Here is in the just about survive range for a rainbow gum during bad freezes like this, but I don't know if they tolerate can cool weather.

[Silas_Sancona]

4 minutes ago, Foxpalms said:

Even a couple days ago in the French Mediterranean 2-3 miles from the sea the temperature got down to -3c whilst It was staying around 4c next to the sea. The Australian flame tree is rated as zone 10 but its probably more like 9b. E. torquata, E.citriodora, E.ficifolia are nice eucalyptus species the rainbow gum apparently dies at -2c and is damaged below 0c. @Silas_SanconaCan eucalyptus deglupta handle cool conditions and only gets damaged below 32f or does it need consistently warm temperatures like a coconut or it declines and dies?

Pretty sure there are specimens in San Diego, ( Notably, at the San Diego Zoo, and Balboa Park. I'm sure if you dig, you can find threads started regarding S. Cal grown Rainbow Eucs.  )  possibly in other parts of S.Cal as well..  so yea, mature specimens can take a little cold.  Serious and prolonged freezes will cause damage though. 

Can't remember how they fared after the 09-10 freeze in FL. One growing along the fence line of a property next door to where i worked at that time dropped lots of leaves, but was otherwise fine after that freeze.  Hurricane winds? ..That's another story covered well here.

[Foxpalms]

9 minutes ago, Silas_Sancona said:

Pretty sure there are specimens in San Diego, ( Notably, at the San Diego Zoo, and Balboa Park. I'm sure if you dig, you can find threads started regarding S. Cal grown Rainbow Eucs.  )  possibly in other parts of S.Cal as well..  so yea, mature specimens can take a little cold.  Serious and prolonged freezes will cause damage though. 

Can't remember how they fared after the 09-10 freeze in FL. One growing along the fence line of a property next door to where i worked at that time dropped lots of leaves, but was otherwise fine after that freeze.  Hurricane winds? ..That's another story covered well here.

Could they take 50f highs with a low of 42f through the winter though as long as the temperature stays above 32f and go dormant in the winter.  Luckily wind is not an issue here.

Edited December 14, 2022 by Foxpalms

[Silas_Sancona]

5 minutes ago, Foxpalms said:

Could they take 50f highs with a low of 42f through the winter though as long as the temperature stays above 32f and go dormant in the winter.  Luckily wind is not an issue here.

That i can't say.. May not be warm enough, but that may be just my limited knowledge of what they can tolerate.  That said, on iNat,  someone tagged one or two "alleged" specimens up in San Francisco, which ..while they rarely see a frost or freeze,  San Fran is one of the "coolest" non- frost prone areas of the U.S.  While one of the observations is tagged as "Research Grade", im a bit skeptical the ID is accurate  To my eyes, not enough detailed "details" to be sure the ID is 100% correct. 

Corymbia ficilifolia  will definitely take cool climate conditions.. Fairly common sight over the San Francisco and Monterrey Bay Area, even closer to the coast where persistent fog keeps things cool during the summers. Know for sure they'll also take occasional temps in the 20s w/ out much apparent effect. Mature specimens i grew up seeing daily /weekly never seemed to flinch after those rare events anyway.