This Week's Podcast: A Rebroadcast of Reading Palms
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You could
count what I know about palms on one hand. As Scott Zona and the co-authors of
the second edition of The Encyclopedia of Cultivated Palms
points out — even people who do not know much about
plants, recognize palms. Scott is the Conservatory & Greenhouse Curator at
Florida International University. He has explored plants in Florida,
California, Mexico, Central America, Chile, Indonesia, and Madagascar and he
just returned from the Biennial Meeting of the International Palm Society in Thailand.
There are some 2500 species, and nearly 1,000 are featured in the book.
There are palms that are a foot tall, and others that grow to a towering 150
feet. Palms are recognized by their split leaves – like the fingers of a hand –
and by the leaf sheathes or scars when the old leaves have fallen off, or have
been trimmed by overzealous landscapers.
Palms are monocots: when seed from these flowering plants germinate,
they produce a single seed leaf. That’s easy to picture if you imagine a blade
of grass emerging from its seed.
Palms are distantly related to grasses, but
they are among the few monocots with woody tissues, that is, they can become
trees. Palms grow vertically, and if there is an attempt to lower their height
by pruning the new growth away, the palm will die.
Scott tells us more about palms including a few we can grow indoors in
cold climates, and more surprisingly, outdoors. One such hardy palm is the Sabal
minor or palmetto, which is the symbol of South Carolina. But
there are more palms that might be suitable for gardens in USDA Zone 6,
including Nannorrhops ritchienana,
above, which is hardy to at least 0 degrees F.
Ken: Interesting. We have a place in Florida as well as in NH. Palms are growing in Florida for sure, not so much in NH. Some day will be gardening more in Florida and palms seem to be a key player there.
Thanks for sharing,
John
Oikos Tree Farm in Kalamazzo Michigan has several species of hardy palm that they overwinter in containers in their unheated greenhouses…I think they carry Sabal minor and Trachycarpus fortunei ( windmill palm )I know that they would be hardy here especially along the Lake Michigan shorline which is called ‘ the bannana belt ‘….zone 6 & 7
Hi, very interesting podcasts.
I wonder if Mr Zona or other readers can help in a plight faced by the Phoenix Palm. In the Mediterranean, the red beetle is killing the Phoenix Palm. As far as i can understand, there is no pesticide that is managing to kill this beetle. Does anyone know how this red beetle can be killed to save the remaining Phoenix Palm?
Thank you very much?
Catherine: The Red Palm Weevil, which was introduced to Spain on mature date palms imported from Egypt (which acquired the pest on palms imported from the UAE), is a devastating pest. Lots of people are working on finding a solution to the problem, but at the moment there are no control measures available. Early detection of infestations and destruction of infested palms is, at present, the only hope for control. The outlook for palms in the Mediterranean is very sad indeed.
Hi Mr Zona,
thank you for the background information about the Red Palm Weevil. Fingers crossed for some sort of control over the weevil infestation soon.
I live next to a boulevard partly lined by these palms, some of which are dying because of infestation. Should these be removed ASAP so as to try and prevent infestation of the surviving ones.
PS: Have you been to Malta? In my micro garden I have a chamaerops humili palm, and a sago palm.
Thank you once again for kindly answering. Best wishes from the Mediterranean