Palms in Italy

[paulgila]

(fiji jim @ Oct. 28 2007,16:15)

QUOTE

This med fan was at Allerona in north Umbria. A very dry area

looks like a trachy species ???

you really get around,jim.i really enjoyed these pix!

[fiji jim]

Indeed I do believe you are right there Paul.

We do really enjoy travel when we can as it is a very small world here living on a island.

Helps keep one sane. :laugh:

[Carlo Morici]

I know many of those palms! I lived in Florence in 1992-1995 and I used to visit the Botanical Garden every few weeks. Florence is quite cold, it gests frosts every winter and reached a peak of 20 C below zero in 1985. Southern Italy is much warmer.

Carlo

[Nigel]

The rural shots of the countryside show what a beautiful country Italy is, and I still have not visited.....

[Nigel]

(Carlo Morici @ Oct. 29 2007,04:08)

QUOTE

I know many of those palms! I lived in Florence in 1992-1995 and I used to visit the Botanical Garden every few weeks. Florence is quite cold, it gests frosts every winter and reached a peak of 20 C below zero in 1985. Southern Italy is much warmer.

Carlo

Carlo, I knew that quite a lot of palms in Florence were destroyed by the cold in 1985, but I am curious to know whether those big Brahea armatas pictured by Jim would have been there at that time, because if so,thats an amazing amount of cold for a Brahea to survive.

[bubba]

Fiji Jim, Thank you for the great post!I did a double take as I was viewing the palms and trying to figure out 16 degrees south in Italy. Brain-dead!Was that a Monkey-Puzzle or Norfolk Pine in that one picture?

[Carlo Morici]

The Araucaria pictured by Jim in the Orto Botanico di Firenze is Araucaria araucana, planted around 1992. The giant aroid, Amorphophallus titanum, is grown at the garden because it was described by Odoardo Beccari, the famous palm botanist from Florence.

The Brahea armata and the Washingtonia filifera portraited in the first image survived to the hard frost of 1985. I have been told they both did completely defoliate and I think they still show some damage on the trunk at the height of 1985. Various old Phoenix, a Jubaea and some Trachycarpus died in the Botanical Garden, where about -21 C (-6 F) was recorded . A tall Jubaea, a Nannorhops, Trachycarpus, Butia and Chamaerops survived in Villa Beccari, in the outskirts of Florence. About - 23 C (-9.5 F) hit the palm garden planted by Odoardo Beccari around his castle (yes, a castle!). Few Phoenix canariensis and Butia capitata survived in open patios or sheltered by buildings in downtown Florence.

On that same year my hometown in Sicily recorded temperatures close to 0 C with no frost. Italy is a small country with extreme climate differences ranging from USDA Zone 5 to 10, from the frozen peaks of the Alps, to the sunny and dry shores of southern Sicily, where a few old Delonix regia bloom regularly each year.

Firenze, Florence is located close to Pisa, in zone 9, at latitude 43°47' N. A map, from www.tropenland.de :

Carlo

[Kim]

Thanks for that map and information, Carlo.  I was wondering about the climate of La Spezia, a harbor city north of Pisa.  We stopped there briefly on the way to Cinque Terre, and came upon a very large public park heavily planted with palms, most apparently planted in the 1920's and 1930's.  Lots of Brahea, Phoenix, and Butia species.  Unfortunately,  both my camera batteries were dead at that moment...   But I did get this one shot "Dave-style" from the car:

This next shot shows the entire city; the park is located along the waterfront near the center of the photo.

Previously, we had visited Lucca's botanical garden and the small palm collection:

Livistona chinensis

Howea forsteriana

[Kim]

Dypsis lutescens inside:

And the garden has a new glasshouse awaiting its inhabitants:

Out on the coast, we hiked the Cinque Terre trail and managed to spot the occasional Phoenix canariensis.  See one near the tower?

Here we've hiked down into Vernazza, the same village as the photo above, a snug and colorful little seaside town.  Note cycad in photo:

[Kim]

More of Vernazza's tiny harbor.  Note the steeply terraced hillsides where grapes and olives are grown:

We've walked back into town, up, around and behind the buildings in the above photo.  It's a colorful place:

Ok, getting back to palms, you can pick out a few more in this photo from farther up the trail:

[Kim]

You wouldn't believe how steep these trails are.  A last glance back at Vernazza:

The final village on our hike is Monterosso.  The blue water looks so inviting:

After guzzling a giant bottle of water, we wander through town.  I like the way the stone arches mimic the curve of the palm fronds beyond:

These terraced villages look even more incredible when viewed from the sea.  This is Corniglia.  Note palm near church steeple on left.  A few more would improve the view, don't you agree?

That's the end of my Italian palm photos.  There are many more Italy photos, but they are palmless!

Ciao!

[paulgila]

amazing pix,kim.you should come to hawaii with matt & i to be official photographer.

ask yer hubby.

plane leaves at 8:00 tomorrow morning.

a.m.

[putu enjula]

Aw!!

Why didn't you invite me along ?!?!?!?

Guess I'll have to throw a big house party while you're gone.

Woo Hooo!!!  Everyone's invited except for Paul and Matty of course!!

[Carlo Morici]

Kim,

La Spezia is on the coast so it is much milder than Florence but it still has short light frosts every winter. It is reached by the cold air coming from the Padan plain because the mountains are not so high. Lucca is slightly warmer than Florence because of its proximity to the sea.

This is the Italy where I am from, in Sicily: Trachycarpus but also Ravenea, Archontophoenix, Hibiscus, Heliconia and fruiting bananas.

[Jeff Searle]

Jim,

    Thanks for sharing all your photos and the tour. I have never been to Italy, but would like to visit someday, not for the palms/plants so much, but for the history of the country. I love to see all the colors of the buildings and things.

   BTW, how much in US$, was the Enceph. horridus selling for, do you remember?

Jeff

[Kris]

Dear Kim  

Lovely stills and the colour saturation and sharpness is very life like..may i know which model camera was used to shoot those lovely stills_Please !

Since very rarely i see good digtal cameras,as most of these have some colour correction errors,but the above stills lacked those noise and artifacts..& glare !

thanks & love,

Kris  

[fiji jim]

True, nice pics Kim and good info Carlo.

Jeff none of those palms were for sale but on display in the Florence botanical garden.

We did not see any nurseries selling palms but many whole sale nursery growers were seen from the train between Florence and Lucca and that was mostly olive trees and other fruit and conifers with some med fans.

I think that so many more spp. of palms could be grown in Italy. Someone should do it, could be lucrative as the euro is a nice currency to earn and the lifestyle is very pleasant. Pity about having a winter though.

Jim

[Gbarce]

Kim - your pictures are great!!

What camera are you using?  I presume its a Digital SLR.

I was contemplating the Olympus E-510 but I really have no basis for comparison.

[bgl]

Jim,

Thanks for all the photos. Really enjoyed them, but in all honesty probably more so because they were taken in Italy than because of the palms...

And Kim,

Absolutely love those shots from Cinque Terre! When I was younger (in my teens) my family and I spent a lot of time in Italy during the summer, specifically in Rapallo, and I was just fascinated by Cinque Terre. I would have loved to do that hike, but my parents weren't into that and it wasn't practical for me to do it on my own, even though I certainly ventured out on my own numerous times, but those were just day trips.

Bo-Göran

[Carlo Morici]

Let's give some more life to this thread... 740 views until now.

Here are some pictures taken in my country during my trips of the past three years, always in August. I spend most of my time in Sicily but I often find a few days to travel around.

Piazza di Spagna, Roma. The famous square most visited by tourists.

Orto Botanico di Portici (close to Napoli)

[Carlo Morici]

This head of Regina Margherita is waiting in a service area since the 60's, to be relocated in the garden. The Howea forsteriana is waiting too.

I am still amazed. Any botanic gardens in this world dreams of having such a local piece of art to be relocated "somewhere"!

[Carlo Morici]

Orto Botanico di Messina, Sicilia

Messina is where I was borne, on the North Eastern tip of Sicily. It is frost free, at latitude 38 N.

A view

Gaetano Parlato , in a recently started area for Cycads.

Gaetano is the horticolturist of the garden, a master of succulents.

.

Cycas revoluta, just planted

[Carlo Morici]

Lots of recently purchased Encephalartos acclimatizing in a greenhouse.

Tropical plant house recently built, still empty

[Carlo Morici]

Succulent house, another recent idea.

Nice palms in nice pots

Chamaedorea tepejilote, Rhapis excelsa

Coccothrinax barbadensis, just planted

[Carlo Morici]

Parajubaea torallyi microcarpa, just planted

That's all from Messina, these were from August 2007. More Italian pictures will come.

Carlo

[Carlo Morici]

Ercolano is the Roman city buried in 79 ac by a river of burning mud produced by the Vesuvio. It is close to Napoli.

The city was restored during this century and planted with "plants of the Roman Empire". Instead of the well-know "Roman" palm, Phoenix dactylifera somebody planted Phoenix canariensis, a palm that did not reach mainland europe until the 19th century.

[Walter John]

Wow, I think I was born here

[Kris]

Dear Carlo's  

thanks very much for the coverage and specially for those CIDP & date palm stills,i was just worshiping those beauties...

Lots of love to U,

Kris  ::

[deezpalms]

Great photo's Kim!! The colors are surreal!!

[Carlo Morici]

Chris, you need to move to a colder country to grow all your beloved large-sized temperate palms    !

Orto Botanico di Napoli

The Southern limit, over Via Foría.

Rhapidophyllum hystrix

The Succulent Garden

[Carlo Morici]

The treefern area in the Orto Botanico di Napoli

A public square in Sorrento, by the Train Station

Aloe barberae

[Walter John]

Love that tree fern area.

Thanks for all these pics, a real treat.

[Carlo Morici]

One for Wal then:

Alejandra in the tree fern area of the Botanical Gardens of Naples

[Carlo Morici]

More pictures of Orto Botanico di Messina, taken in August 2006

Palm cocktail.

I sowed the Chamaedorea tepejilote around 1990 when I was a 16-17 years old helper, from seeds received from Fairchild Tropical Gardens.

A better view of the cycad area

Centenary dragon trees and Trachycarpus fortunei

A ring of leaves of a Livistona australis fell during a storm

[Carlo Morici]

Phoenix hybrid and Washingtonia filifera

[Carlo Morici]

Let's go wild.

Some pictures from the hot and drier coast of Western Sicily, taken in August 2003.

Leaving to the tiny island of Mozia. Saline dello Stagnone.

Wild Chamaerops humilis on the island of Mozia

Cultivated

[Carlo Morici]

Selinunte, Western Sicily.

Greek temples by the beach

Wild palms on the ruins

Now you know what happens if you abandon your temples.

[Carlo Morici]

It is hard to smile in a solid 44 C (111 F) in the shade. No shade, the lens is baking.

[Kris]

Dear Carlo's  

fentastic stills each one should be uploaded into webshots...since they all are like hi-res desktop wallpapers...

my dear friend you made my day...virtually i was on my knees simply worshipping those lovely plants...and each still appears to be professionallly taken_great work & great machine too...

in india we have lots of divergent climates & even micro climate but one thing is baffelling that there were lots of anscestors in india who did study abroad but none had any facination of importing seeds or plants from abroad...i cannot know the reason why...?

thanks & love,

Kris  

[Carlo Morici]

Empty post, just to complete Page #2