Growing palms outside in a cool climate

Growing palms outside in a cool climate

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(Left: winter 2004-2005 -- right: spring 2007

Western Europe, Belgium. Cool rainy summers, cool winters with lots of frost days, storm, rain, snow and wind. You'd say I'm crazy when I'm talking about growing palms in our garden. Still, the pictures above are genuine, and these palms have been growing here for several years, without any protection during winter. This is the Trachycarpus fortunei or "Chusan palm tree" or windmill palm, as in common language.

I first started with the wrong varieties, like Canary date palms ( Phoenix canariensis) or California fan palms (Washingtonia filifera). They do grow during summer, but they don't survive our winters, like most palms. Some tropical species of palmtree don't even grow during our summers. Too cold. I like Washingtonia though, because they are beautiful and they grow fast. Since they tolerate dry air, they are suitable as container plant indoors. And Washingtonia is very easy - one of the best to begin with if you start growing palms from seeds. Their only requirement is lots of light, which may be a problem indoors. A place next to a window, preferrably facing South, is the best solution.

Hardy Palms

In the northern European climate, some varieties are frost hardy though:

  Genus:                 Minimum temp:

  ========================================

- Trachycarpus fortunei: 1°F or minus 17°C

- Trachycarpus takil:    1°F or minus 17°C

- Chamaerops humilis:    9°F or minus 13°C

- Jubaea chilensis:      7°F or minus 14°C

There are, of course, also other frost hardy palms - but let's stick to those varieties that don't need extra protection or exceptionally hot summers, and varieties that have no problems with wet, moist winters. Extra frost protection would probably allow us to grow more varieties, but I prefer palms that don't need any protection at all (in our climate, that is). Of course Trachycarpus is the first choice in that case.

Expensive?

A possible problem: if you go shopping in a garden center, Trachycarpus palms are very expensive. So I tried growing them from seeds. They are slow - much slower than Washingtonia (nothing beats Washingtonia in speed of growth or germination), but after about 10 weeks, they germinate. Even much faster, if you have fresh seeds or if you use specialized germination techniques. Apparently the renowned forst hardiness of the Trachycarpus comes with a (small) price: a little more patience is needed.

Offer

I send 50 seeds of the 'Washingtonia filifera' (California fan palm) and 50 seeds of the 'Trachycarpus fortunei' (Chusan palm) to you, 100 seeds in total, for 5 euro (all cost of shipping / handling / mail included), worldwide. If you're interested in receiving such a seed packet , mail me for the details.
Mail me for this offer