Wollongong Botanical Gardens Palm Collection

[Daryl]

I had the good fortune and pleasure of being asked to come down to Wollongong and help Colin (FM Palmtreesforpleasure) catalogue the palm collection at the Wollongong Botanical Gardens (still here actually).

Wollongong is about a 90 minute drive south of Sydney and 30 minutes north of Kiama, where Colin lives.

The gardens cover an area of approximately 50 hectares (I think that is what I was told)..and has some existing palms that were planted around 35 years ago.

Eighteen months ago Colin got involved and along with the curator (Paul Tracey) obtaining some funding, a new palm garden was created in a little used area of the grounds. The original works took place just over a year ago, and since then garden beds, footpaths and many palms have been installed. These have been purchased and also donated by some of our palm growers who see the value in this exercise.

Colin and I have had a busy week trudging around in the rain and mud (Wollongong received 300mm [12 inches] of rain the week prior, so everything is very soggy). We had to identify and confirm 750 palms and tag them all...quite a job! There is an International Botanical conference being held at the gardens in October so there is a massive tagging and signage exercise to be completed prior to then.

We were lucky with the weather on the first day with beautiful sunny skies and mild temperatures...for the rest of the week it was intermittent rain and showers. The ground is totally saturated and the water table is basically at the surface now...it will be interesting to see how the palms cope with this in the forthcoming winter....hopefully the effects will not be too bad.

For those that don't know, Colin has been involved with the Sydney Royal Botanic Gardens for several years, and more recently with Wollongong Botanical Gardens, and has been instrumental in reviving the Sydney Garden's palm collection

which is now turning into a very impressive collection of rare and desirable palms that are adapted to the warm temperate climate of the area. The same is being applied to Wollongong, and with a few years growth both gardens will be spectacular.

I will add lots of photos to this once I get home, but here is one to get started...

OK, enough of my rambling...

Here is one of two mature Latania loddigesii that were brought in...they are re-growing their crowns nicely and will look great in another year or so. They look pretty good for 34 1/2 degrees south!

[Tassie_Troy1971]

It is an amazing place !

Does Colin have Arenga micrantha ?

[Daryl]

Not that I am aware of Troy

[Daryl]

Here's a couple more photos...more to come later...

Pritchardia hillebrandii 'Blue Dwarf'

Oraniopsis appendiculata with lots of colour...

Trachycarpus princeps

[Daryl]

Dictyosperma album was doing very well

Chambeyronia macrocarpa 'hookeri' new leaf

Beccariophoenix alfredii

[realarch]

Boy Daryl, you're getting around lately. Certainly a worthy endeavor to be involved in.......hats off to you guys.

I was impressed with Colin's progress in Sydney when he took time to show us around.

Tim

[Daryl]

Hi Tim, it was great to get involved in such a good cause...and good fun doing something in the palm world! I was all inspired by the time I got back home!

Here are a few more photos...

Large green Bismarckia transplants were getting settled in...

Young Dypsis lastelliana was looking good

Allagoptera caudescens on its way to being a lovely specimen

Colin attends to a young Parajubaea cocoides

Marojejya insignis was doing surprisingly well...

[Daryl]

Rhopalostylis sapida 'Chatham Island' were establishing nicely

A lot of Dypsis were doing surprisingly well...

Dypsis robusta on its way...

Dypsis heteromorpha

[Tassie_Troy1971]

Truly set to become one of the worlds best warm temperate palm collections

[Jeff Searle]

Daryl,

What a great experience to drive down and to help out with one of our fellow palm enthusiast in getting palms identified, maybe discussing new species to be planted out in the near future and then things like money set aside in the budget to fertilize over the rest of the year. Between you and Colin, you should be able to identify 99% of everything. Lots of confidence in you two world travelers! Lol. Good luck and look forward to more pictures.

[Palms4Steve]

Daryl . I will have to go and have a look and check out Colin's and your good work. I have not been there before.

[edric]

As usual, a fine set of photos, and what a good idea to catalog those trees, thanks Daryl, I'll be watching for more, Ed

[palmtreesforpleasure]

Hi all

Originally all palms had tags and some arrived mislabeled, the records needed to be redone and stories for the signs needed to be written.

So the garden got some funds to do this and who else better than Daryl to fly down and to do this, with me as his volunteer helper.(he said i was a good choice for the job seeing i new where the palms were:-) )

2 Years ago i was contacted by Wollongong botanic gardens to see if i could donate some palms and help create a palmetum at the gardens.

This project for me is a lot closer to home , only 30 minutes away. whereas the Royal botanic garden Sydney project is about 2 hours away.

First we had to buy some soil,then prepare some garden beds, then organised a large truck load of palms and had our first plant out about, upon reflection, about 24 months ago.

This was an old junk site that had never been a garden, old building , blue metal base everywhere , old pipes, etc

What started out to be a few garden beds has grown into about 8000 sqm site. About 800 ascensions have been made so far with many more to come.

After the palms where planted , the gardens got some funding for drainage , walkways, old building removal etc.

The palmetum will be officially opened in October this year at an International Botanic Garden conference being held in Wollongong NSW at that time.

Yesterday Benjamin (palms for brisbane) has told me the mature palm rescue we have been working on has been done and those palms will arrive in Wollongong in the next 2 weeks for next spring planting

I would like to thank Ben for volunteering his personal time organising the digger, transport truck, watering and drenching of these palms that are 1000klms from me. Funding is only one part of the job, so thank you Ben all your help and support

regards

colin

[Kennybenjamin]

Here are a couple of the palms that Colin has just mentioned that (all going well) will be part of the collection in the gardens.

Obviously Ex ground

Large Coccothrinax crinita.....

And a couple of large Dypsis decipiens.....

There are other but these are most spectacular of them IMO

If all goes smoothly and you receive the palms in good condition Colin, it will be my pleasure!! I must admit that it will be relief when I see them driving off on the back of a semi trailer!

With out a new home these palms were going to be simply bulldozed for new residential development which seemed such a waste!

[richnorm]

Great work guys. I wonder if a large Dypsis decipiens has been shifted before?

[pigafetta]

Wow..lucky Gong gardens

[Daryl]

It's great that they are going to a good home...I hope they transplant OK.

Here is what they looked like last November

[Tassie_Troy1971]

Wow those Dypsis decipens look unbelieveable ! give them lots of seasol to get the roots growing !

[Palms4Steve]

Sensational going to a good home.

[palmtreesforpleasure]

My You tube attempt at showing you a high flying palm.

It is raw footage and you will hear my anguish when the crane pulley hit the spear. It had already been damaged on the way down and we were worried it might break off.

This proves there is no such think as can't (with a little help from a 50 tonne crane).

total length was 14m including root ball.

All palms seen survived, 3 semi trailers brought the palms from Queensland 1000klms overnight, managed to entice firms to provide 2 of the trucks at no cost.

Friends of the gardens paid for the other one as well as some of the other palm rescues.

The flying Latania (along with its mate and 2 Green Bizzies were donated by Stan and Jane Walkley from Plantation 2000 in Queensland. (with lots of effort by Wes, the Cycad master there)

For some reason Stan shakes his head when i come to visit :-). Good man is Stan.

This was done year ago and the building no longer exist. (made way for more palms plantings),

A bit windy that day, we had up to 30 knots of breeze. Mike (newcal) came down from Queensland to watch the show. He organised the other big palms rescued out of a cane field for WBG that was part of the palms on the trucks.

Good family, the palm family.

please enjoy

regards

Colin

[Tassie_Troy1971]

Whoa Colin !

Great video

[Walter John]

Fantastic thread. Well done. Colin in pain captured on youtube, priceless.

[Kennybenjamin]

Hopefully we see those dypsis decipiens flying high in the sky soon too Colin!!

[Dave-Vero]

Wow. Florida's last big garden move was from a private home to Kopsick Arboretum in St. Petersburg.

Looks like a big project on a scanty budget. The upgraded garden should impress. It's at a latitude that, in the eastern US, gets seriously below freezing. I was just in the thoroughly temperate 35-36 degree North Carolina.

I have the airline miles for a visit to Australia, and south-of-Sydney had come to attention as a possible target. I've been perusing Andrew Short's wonderful "Beaches of the New South Wales Coast: a guide to the nature, characteristics, surf and safety."

[Daryl]

You should make the trip Dave. It is a beautiful part of the world. The Illawarra has a cool and moist climate, but the temperature has never fallen below 5C (40F) at the Wollongong Botanical Gardens.

Here's a shot of the coastline in Colin's home town...

[Darold Petty]

Kiama is a beautiful place, and Colin the most gracious host !

(Colin, I sent you a paper mail note yesterday.)

[Dave-Vero]

Daryl,

Here, at 27.5º N, we've been as low as 23 at the airport, much lower a bit more inland. About five years ago, it hit -3, sufficient to kill many coconuts and brown most Archontophoenix and Carpentaria (which came back quickly).

In terms of visiting, I (probably) should look for seasons when my airline offers half-the-miles trips (they're getting more restricted, and seem to be spring and fall), and I also need to check whether miles might be better used for more distant/costly airports, such as Perth or Cairns. In terms of the calendar,

• mid August-October is bad for travel with lots of planning and reservations because of hurricane season.

• January through early April, my resort town is crammed with cultural activities.

• Northern summer is generally bad for air fares (June-August).

In terms of coastal NSW climate, it looks like the biggest chance of heat wave is Dec.-Feb., and I can't see too much pattern to rainfall. Best surf might be around May, by a modest margin. Greatest wave power would be in July, water temperature can get cooler than central Florida (12 at Sydney) but that's no cooler than northeast Florida. (I'm looking at Andrew Short's amazing "Beaches of the New South Wales Coast."

So my likeliest times are likely October through mid December, then mid April through early June.

[Pedro 65]

Great work Colin, pity the Decipiens new home was'nt the Sydney BG

Keep up the great work, and, "a man lives to a very old age if he wakes up with enthusiasim" ( sounds like you)

Pete

[Daryl]

Here's a few more photos of some of Colin's recent plantings...these will look great in the years to come....

One of the many clumps of Chamaedorea that Colin has planted...a lot are already getting to fruiting age after such a short time. C.pochutlensis

All of the Coccothrinax were performing very well

As were the Pritchardias...P.lowreyana

Nice Phoenix rupicola

This Brahea armata was planted with only a handful of roots, but has endured and looks to be on the road to recovery

Allagoptera arenaria in amongst the Rhopalostylis

[Daryl]

Clinostigma savoryana was powering along... Syagrus caerensis was doing well after transplanting from the Gold Coast...Can't go past the new leaf on a Chambeyronia macrocarpa 'hookeri'

From red to blue...look at this mess of blue plastic on the ground...

All part of a Bower Bird's attempt to lure the love of his life...

This is his bower...

Dictyosperma album var conjugatum was looking healthy

[Daryl]

This Latania was a recent transplant from Queensland...that should save them about 50 years of growth!

Very tall Cyathea cooperi...trying to keep pace with a nearby Washingtonia robusta...

Some of the older plantings...Livistona australis is the local palm

[Daryl]

This Ravenea rivularis was powering along...

A large clump of Cordyline 'Schubertii' was impressive...note the large Roystonea in the left corner of the photo..

Rhopalostylis all look good there...

[Cindy Adair]

So impressive! One day I'll make it to Australia and will add this garden to my list!

Great work Daryl and Colin!

[nomolos]

an amazing project

[Dave-Vero]

Nice to see the Chamaedorea clump. Mine have grown happily, with little attention. There's a small industry of cutting and importing Chamaedorea leaves from Central America to the US for Palm Sunday services in churches.

My Latania is starting a trunk, but will most likely freeze or get wrecked by a hurricane before it gets tall. Allagoptera arenaria grows well here, so I don't understand why it isn't more popular.

Today, I moved a fresh-fallen Archotophoenix tuckeri leaf to the trash and spotted a new leaf on a Lepidozamia peroffskyana cycad from NSW. I suspect they'll thrive. Our winter was mild and wet enough that the palms scarcely slowed down. They're in their best condition since about 2010.

[edric]

This Latania was a recent transplant from Queensland...that should save them about 50 years of growth!

DSC_7625.jpg

Very tall Cyathea cooperi...trying to keep pace with a nearby Washingtonia robusta...

DSC_7682.jpg

Some of the older plantings...Livistona australis is the local palm

DSC_7659.jpg

Hi Daryl, is that a red or blue Latania, looking good, Ed

[Daryl]

Blue, Ed

[Dave-Vero]

It's pretty remarkable that palms could make such a change in latitude. In US terms, it's identical to going from Vero Beach to Wilmington, North Carolina, which happens to be the northern limit of our hardy Sabal palmetto, the super-abundant Florida palm tree. Of course the Atlantic ocean brings Arctic water down along the coast in winter.

[Daryl]

Dave, it's the oceanic influence that makes this possible. This moderates the temperatures along south eastern Australia so they never get the deep freezes. Occasional winter frosts in the colder spots, sure, but no horrendous freezes. The more southerly locations tend to be windier and this keeps things milder for plants, although not as nice for humans! It has been colder at my place than in Wollongong which is 6.5 degrees further away from the equator...so go figure! The main difference is the growing season is much shorted down there and humidity not as high. A lot of amazing palms can be grown in the right microclimate...but not everywhere!

Daryl

[Dave-Vero]

I'm familiar with Australia's kind of oceanic influence from living in Portland, Oregon, an hour or so from the beach, but still protected from the kind of cold that can wreak havoc in eastern North America. Our part of Florida seems quite a lot like Brisbane, but with a less pronounced dry season.

We do have a long growing season for palms and, as noted above, when we have a mild winter, they'll grow happily all through it. Growth rates can be impressive, but so can the casualties in the event of a freeze.

Wollongong's shortage of hot weather for growth makes trucking specimens from Brisbane look like a smart idea.