Palm Tour of Buenos Aires, Argentina

[Xerarch]

I've been living in Argentina for around two months while doing an internship. Although I've been focused on work, I never am unfocused on palms, as many of you can relate. I'll start out with some photos from the botanical garden, I'm glad I didn't listen to a coworker that told me that there wasn't much there.

Bare with me on these, looking at tiny thumbnails on my iPad I can hardly tell which ones I'm posting, anyway right in the entrance I was immediately impressed with some species that are uncommon around town, Archontophoenix, Howea, Phoenix paludosa, Livistona

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More Phoenix, Livistona, Trithrinax, Butia, Chamaedora, Caryota, and even some Washintonia filifera, plus whatever else shows up in these.

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Interesting hybrid

Chamaerops humilis

More Trithrinax campestris

Some nice Buti

Lots of nice statues and fountains around

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Tons of these creatures around, must be some kind of invasive species that have infested the place. Every time I would get close to one my eyes start to water and it gets hard to breath.

I found what I think is the likely food source for the invasive creatures, maybe I should let management know.

[Xerarch]

A photo of Arizona, I mean, the Botanical gardens in Buenos Aires

Arguably the most important plant to many Argentinians

Tall Howea

Cycas I suppose, perhaps someone can say which

Sabal bermudana

Giant B.O.P

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Not a palm, I know, but I've already thrown in a several non-palm photos

Now some photos from elsewhere in town, some Syagrus

Dypsis decaryi

Ravenea rivularis

Some sights on a boat tour

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Outside the cemetery in Recoleta

Inside the cemetery, tons a amazing mausoleums inside, plus somebody let this Livistona go.

A natural mule?

More randoms

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Dypsis lutescens? In a yard in town, I was impressed given the norm in the area

Lots Phoenix around

One of my personal favorites from the trip, this is actually in a yard in Bariloche, the ski destination in Argentina, I took a quick weekend there, In spite of the heavy snowfall in nearby mountains and occasional snow and relatively cold temps in town, the place looked pretty mild to me, green grass, no snow on the ground anywhere, parrots flying around, I started looking around for Trachy's, and I found one!

A view from the mountains down to Bariloche

Well I think that's about it for now, hope you enjoyed.

[DoomsDave]

I have enjoyed!

More if yuo can.

Don't be afraid to post pics of the city, nightlife, etc.

Aristotle Onassis spent a lot of time in BA, which was a very fast city in the 1920s. Maybe still? Or no.

But show.

Muchas Gracias.

[Josh76]

Great pics. Do you know what the minimum temps are in the botanic garden? I always thought that BA got the occasional freeze in winter but some of those plants suggest otherwise. Also - any pics of the native fig Ficus luschnathiana?

[richtrav]

It should be pretty warm, when the big airport at Ezeiza on the outskirts of town has dropped to 23 in cold winters I don't see readings lower than 33 at Jorge Newbery, which is right on the water and about a mile from the botanical garden. All time record lows are probably upper 20s in the middle of town. Santiago Chile seems to get colder despite a similar latitude.

Buenos Aires is a wonderful city with a lot of charm but from the very limited time I got to spend there in January it didn't feel quite as upbeat and looked a little less well kept compared to the times I spent there in the '90s. It looks like quite a few apartment high-rises have been built since then, Argentines complain it's gotten expensive but compared to other world cities it's pretty affordable. They keep insane weekend hours, dinner is usually around midnight.

[Pip]

That was awesome, thank you.

[Alberto]

Thanks! Nice photos! I´d like to visit it again!

[Patricia-CR]

Thanks for the wonderful tour from such a lovely place.

[Xerarch]

Great pics. Do you know what the minimum temps are in the botanic garden? I always thought that BA got the occasional freeze in winter but some of those plants suggest otherwise. Also - any pics of the native fig Ficus luschnathiana?

I don't have any official data on temps at the botanical garden but observations around town suggest that freezes, at least hard ones are very rare indeed, at least within certain proximity to the coast. I have been here right through the middle of winter and have not seen any frost, there were a couple days with temps in the low 30's but it never did freeze.

As for the native Ficus luschnathiana, unfortunately they are not really planted around town. I have seen them however, in habitat, in a nature preserve near Puerto Madero, I didn't get a photo because there was a lady sitting right in front of it and I didn't want her to feel weird while was taking a photo of "her". There are however some fantastic Ficus macrophylla around town though, further evidence of mild winters.

[Xerarch]

I have enjoyed!

More if yuo can.

Don't be afraid to post pics of the city, nightlife, etc.

Aristotle Onassis spent a lot of time in BA, which was a very fast city in the 1920s. Maybe still? Or no.

But show.

Muchas Gracias.

BA is a pretty happen'n town but not so much as it was even a decade or two ago, Argentina has suffered a number of economic setbacks, including a huge one in 2002. The general mood around town is fairly depressed, especially among people that know something about economics and what really makes a country tick. Even so, people are flooding in from elsewhere in South America because conditions here are pretty good relatively speaking for the continent.

A few pics of town

El Puente de la Mujer

View from my apartment window

Japanese garden

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Florida street, one of the major pedestrian only streets

Lots of street performers, this guy holds perfectly still like this

Tango dancers

There are a couple varieties of parrots wild around town, these are monk parakeets

[Xerarch]

It should be pretty warm, when the big airport at Ezeiza on the outskirts of town has dropped to 23 in cold winters I don't see readings lower than 33 at Jorge Newbery, which is right on the water and about a mile from the botanical garden. All time record lows are probably upper 20s in the middle of town. Santiago Chile seems to get colder despite a similar latitude.

Buenos Aires is a wonderful city with a lot of charm but from the very limited time I got to spend there in January it didn't feel quite as upbeat and looked a little less well kept compared to the times I spent there in the '90s. It looks like quite a few apartment high-rises have been built since then, Argentines complain it's gotten expensive but compared to other world cities it's pretty affordable. They keep insane weekend hours, dinner is usually around midnight.

Pretty much agree with what you have said here. People really do eat late here, for most people, even on the weekdays, dinner doesn't start until 9:00 pm (later on weekends). People are really interested in my eating schedule in the U.S., I get asked about it a lot and they just can't believe it when I tell them that a fairly typical (north) American household eats dinner around 6:00 pm. It's also funny that they are under the impression that every American gets up in the morning and eats bacon, eggs, and pancakes. I tell them, sure, that would be nice, but in the real world most of us don't have time (or enough extra holes in the beltloop) to do that very often.

[IHB1979]

Fantastic photo tour, thanks for sharing!

[richtrav]

I don't know if you've been yet or not but an easy weekend trip would be to take the hovercraft over to Montevideo. They have a nice park system scattered through town called the Prado and there are some interesting plants in the various parks. I remember some impressive large old Jubaea there and one very robust xButyagrus that may be the F2 that was mentioned in an old book on the trees of the Prado.

And if you're really ambitious you can rent a car and take the coastal road towards Punta del Este, along the route is a place called Pan de Azucar that has both Butia and Syagrus and a couple of naturally occurring xButyagrus. There is a trail to the top of the hill and one of the hybrids is (or at least was) growing right along the trail. Be careful if wandering off the beaten path, there is a cool but absolutely vicious shrub - a Colletia I think - growing all over the hillside that is nothing but a mass of spiny stems.

[Xerarch]

I don't know if you've been yet or not but an easy weekend trip would be to take the hovercraft over to Montevideo. They have a nice park system scattered through town called the Prado and there are some interesting plants in the various parks. I remember some impressive large old Jubaea there and one very robust xButyagrus that may be the F2 that was mentioned in an old book on the trees of the Prado.

And if you're really ambitious you can rent a car and take the coastal road towards Punta del Este, along the route is a place called Pan de Azucar that has both Butia and Syagrus and a couple of naturally occurring xButyagrus. There is a trail to the top of the hill and one of the hybrids is (or at least was) growing right along the trail. Be careful if wandering off the beaten path, there is a cool but absolutely vicious shrub - a Colletia I think - growing all over the hillside that is nothing but a mass of spiny stems.

Going to Uruguay on the Buquebus boat has been on my list, but it doesn't look like I'm going to make it since I'm leaving Friday night. I have been to Uruguay before and have seen both Syagrus and Butia in habitat there, in fact I have some great photos of some huge Butia in habitat near Castillos, Uruguay. I have wanted to post them but it has been some years since I have been able to find the photos. I don't remember seeing any Jubaea there, that would have been nice, if I ever get to go back, I'll need to make it a point to see it.