Crete Palms? What Can Be Grown?

[PalmTreeDude]

I am curious about what can be grown on Crete, Greece. My understanding is that it is a 10a/b climate for the most part? Anyone have any pictures? 

[Neil C]

Have you tried a "streetview" style search to see what palms are growing in and around the popular tourist resorts?

 

Regards Neil

[Phoenikakias]

In the valleys it is 10B hands down. But 10B temperate not subtropical, if you get me.  You will not find  big variety of palms, in fact the variety is quite poor. However you can see Howea, Triangle, Archontophoenix thriving along with many Plumeria cultivars and Pachypodia.  And Avocado orchards are kept in a commercial scale. 

Are you going to settle down in Crete? 

[palmfriend]

Hello there,

I had the privilege to visit Crete exactly 20 years ago to join a friend`s wedding ceremony - 

I am still very thankful for that opportunity - and I took some photos. Since I wasn`t in palms at that

time I cannot really offer a solid documentation but something else, not unimportant to question asked 

in this threat:

(my apologies ahead for the poor quality, old photos scanned in almost 15 years ago on a hurry before departing

to Japan)

the south coast, facing northern Africa

another shot at the south coast (with kind of spartan restaurants while offering awesome food - at least at that time)

this one taken while getting a free ride on a pick up truck - of course not inside the cabin - while searching desperately for 

an ATM (having cards but not a single coin not to mention any bills in your pockets while traveling was a quite interesting experience)

finally...

a final photo taken in Heraklion, Crete`s capital (or main city) where you can see some CIDPs.

What I tried to show was: Crete is as dry as a bone, sun through the whole year, hot and almost no rain -

so very few palms. But one thing I have learned for sure - even if this forum is not the right place 

to mention it: Forget everything what you know about olive oil - nothing, I repeat, NOTHING beats

Crete`s olive oil, it is a class apart! 

Oh, and one more thing: What the locals over there just call "wine" - dwarfs stuff like Jack D`s or

similar easily (if you know what I mean)! So, be careful!  

best regards

Lars

 

 

[Janni]

I visited the island a couple of times and I was suprised of some tropical findings here and there, but compared to other european mediterranean countries the variety of tropical plants is poor. As I know that the greeks don't care much about tropical plants (especially not about tropical palms), I went to crete without high expectations concerning the flora. However, I found a relatively large variety of plants (for greek standards). There were a couple of Archontophoenix, Syagrus Romanzoffiana, Plumeria, Shefflera, lots of CIDP and Washies all over the island. In the Botanical Park of Crete there were a lot of other tropical plants, including papayas, mango trees, coffee trees and lots of citrus trees and many other.

I know about Roystoneas in Crete, but I don't have any own pictures of them. Here is one example I recently found by coincidence on the net: https://www.holidaycheck.de/hm/bilder-videos-hotel-kosta-mare-palace/1b23d470-9c79-31d5-abce-f569203e96bc/-/m/picture/mediaId/423938cc-f248-4101-9219-53cccff16b77

Have a look at my post from 2014 http://www.palmtalk.org/forum/index.php?/topic/43901-crete-greece-2014/

I don't know if the pictures of that old post still work. here is a link to my library on photobucket http://s229.photobucket.com/user/Janni82/slideshow/Crete%20Botanics%202014

 

[Phoenikakias]

18 hours ago, palmfriend said:

Hello there,

I had the privilege to visit Crete exactly 20 years ago to join a friend`s wedding ceremony - 

I am still very thankful for that opportunity - and I took some photos. Since I wasn`t in palms at that

time I cannot really offer a solid documentation but something else, not unimportant to question asked 

in this threat:

(my apologies ahead for the poor quality, old photos scanned in almost 15 years ago on a hurry before departing

to Japan)

the south coast, facing northern Africa

another shot at the south coast (with kind of spartan restaurants while offering awesome food - at least at that time)

this one taken while getting a free ride on a pick up truck - of course not inside the cabin - while searching desperately for 

an ATM (having cards but not a single coin not to mention any bills in your pockets while traveling was a quite interesting experience)

finally...

a final photo taken in Heraklion, Crete`s capital (or main city) where you can see some CIDPs.

What I tried to show was: Crete is as dry as a bone, sun through the whole year, hot and almost no rain -

so very few palms. But one thing I have learned for sure - even if this forum is not the right place 

to mention it: Forget everything what you know about olive oil - nothing, I repeat, NOTHING beats

Crete`s olive oil, it is a class apart! 

Oh, and one more thing: What the locals over there just call "wine" - dwarfs stuff like Jack D`s or

similar easily (if you know what I mean)! So, be careful!  

best regards

Lars

 

 

By 'wine' you probably mean home made raki, and you are quite right with over 80% alcohol! I strongly recomend never smoke cigarettes  when drinking this kind of stuff, which is highly inflamable.

About the oil imo everything is overestimated in this island as it is highly promoted in the touristic market. One can find even better oil quality from Messenia and Lakonia, but again best oil quality is reserved for local use only. 

 

[kinzyjr]

Well, definitely phoenix theophrasti

[CroToni]

11 hours ago, kinzyjr said:

Well, definitely phoenix theophrasti

well if its in zone 10B and the winters are warm why cant coconuts grow there.

[Phoenikakias]

Because climate is warm temperate and not subtropical, meaning that winter lacks an average of above 20 C. It is the same ongoing debate around the climate in SoCa, which is also 10b and thus technically subtropical but most attempts of growing a coconut tree usually fail. And mind that SoCa is a couple latitudes to the south of Crete...

Edited December 8, 2017 by Phoenikakias

[dalmatiansoap]

Anybody knows any locations with "wild" Theophrasty grove?

Edited August 2, 2020 by dalmatiansoap

[kinzyjr]

22 minutes ago, dalmatiansoap said:

Anybody knows any locations with "wild" Theophrasty grove?

Preveli Beach and Vai according to Palmpedia: https://www.palmpedia.net/wiki/Phoenix_theophrasti

[JLM]

I was only able to find Phoenix and Washingtonia, about it. The the rural areas seemed to have more than inner city areas. As said above, it is extremely dry, all you have to do is look at the surroundings in street view to tell. 

[Antti]

I've seen many W. robusta and Ph. canariensis, seldom Ch. humilis an d Sabal. It's strange but native Ph. theophrastii is neglected (beautiful very drought hardy smaller copy of dactylifera). As for me I'd perform in Greece/Crete whole country program of propagation of this unique "national" palm, e.g. free seeds or seedlings for all who wants to grow it, divide between all puplis, planting in streets, gardens and squares... There're millions of seeds each year river blows to the sea in Preveli.

Edited August 8, 2020 by Antti

[mlovecan]

I'm in Rhodes. I have found Palmpedia's survivability index quite useful:

http://www.palmpedia.net/wiki/MEDITERRANEAN_SURVIVABILITY_INDEX

Rhodes falls in line quite well in the "Foxtail Zone". Crete is warmer and should have no issues with all in that list and below.

 

 

 

[James B]

It all depends on your sprinkler system and irrigation. That and what the local nurseries are selling. If you have the irrigation you can give your Palms all the water they need and there are dozens of palms you can grow.

Im 50 miles inland in Socal and I grow: Roystonea, 6 types of Archontophoenix, Chambeyronia, Clinostigma, Dypsis, Phoenix, Kentiopsis, Carpoxlon, Chamaedorea, Wodyetia, and Ravenna to name a few.

Edited August 9, 2020 by James B