Tahina palms in public gardens?

[Cindy Adair]

I have been asked by a Tahina project donor to start a topic listing Botanical gardens world wide that currently grow Tahina spectabilis. 
 

I think this is an interesting idea, especially if pictures are added, perhaps even with a Tahina mug or a person wearing a Tahina shirt included for scale.

It would be nice to try to see all the public Tahinas, much as I now visit my holy grail Lodoiceas  (double coconuts). That is once air travel is safer,  as I believe there are no Tahinas (or double coconuts) in Puerto Rico public gardens. 

Remaining Tahinas in pots or seeds or seedlings (when seed is next available) could be gifted to a garden with an appropriate climate, but lacking this monotypic genus now. Or mailed to me (just kidding).
 

OK up to you all to keep this topic alive with some photos and a list!

[Cindy Adair]

Someone staying inside today please help research this topic.

I will start:

https://fairchild.gardenexplorer.org/taxon-18589.aspx
 

If I understand it correctly, the link above lists four Tahinas at the famous Miami, FL Fairchild Gardens and locates them on a map. Anyone have a photo whether old or recent or can confirm that four still grow there? If only I could visit today and check it out myself!

Please check out the plant inventory on any Worldwide local gardens to see if they grow this species? Phone calls to gardens (if open) would work too.  
 

Some gardens may have them under glass just like at last visit two greenhouses in Chicago had one double coconut tree each.
 

Thanks!

[www.dadluvsu.com]

Can't say for certain, never been able to travel there, but palmpedia shows photos of this palm attributed to Nong Nooch Gardens, Thailand...

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

[kinzyjr]

Looks like the Merwin Conservancy in Hawaii can be added to the list: https://merwinconservancy.org/2015/11/featured-palm-tahina-spectabilis/

Supposed to be A few at McBryde and NTBG’s Conservation and Horticulture Center : https://ntbg.org/news/tahina-palm/

[Cindy Adair]

Thanks folks! Some nice photos and information on those links. 

Keep it up as I'll bet there are more spread around the world....

[Kim]

Singapore Botanic Gardens, photos taken June 17, 2016:

[Kim]

Gardens by the Bay, Singapore -- for some reason, I don't have a pic of the Tahina group from my 2016 visit, but I do have a few photos from my first visit there, September 9, 2012 not long after the gardens opened. Not to be confused with the taller palms, the Tahinas are the little bitty palms that almost look like ground cover. 

 

 

 

 

 

[Kim]

Nong Nooch Tropical Garden, Thailand, my one photo taken September, 2012. The Tahina is the small green fan palm just beyond the stone spheres.

Fortunately, Bo took several photos the same day. I hope he doesn't mind if I add them here:

[Kim]

Not your typical public garden, but arrangements can be made to visit Usina de Arte and its Parque Artistico-Botanico. It is located outside the town of Xexéu, in the municipality of Agua Preta, Pernambuco, Brazil. This unique location is the former Santa Teresa sugar mill and assorted outbuildings and a wonderful old house and grounds, all converted to a center for arts of all kinds, and a botanic garden where PalmTalk member Gileno Machado has been planting furiously. Visited January 2020.

Outside the "Big House" and down the slope toward the pond, is a Tahina! The palm is not situated in the main botanic/sculpture garden, because it would be much too exposed to the searing sun, whereas here, there is some tree canopy and irrigation to give it some relief. 

J

Just to give you some sense of this nascent garden, I'm adding a couple of photos, hopefully not going too far off-topic. 

The "Big House"

Some of the botanic/sculpture garden

 

[bgl]

Another shot of one of the Tahina spectabilis in Palm Valley in Singapore Botanic Garden. I took this photo on July 10th, 2017, almost exactly a year after Kim's photo above. There are a handful of Tahinas in this general area but it's conceivable that this is the same palm that Kim has in her photo above. (EDIT a few minutes later - after carefully comparing the two photos I think they are two separate individuals, but definitely in the same area).

[bgl]

Passing through Singapore in February 2018 on my way to Surabaya I had an extra day to meet some friends and also an afternoon visit to Gardens by the Bay, which is always a great experience. It opened to the public on June 28, 2012, and Kim and I were fortunate to visit in September that year (on our way to the Thailand Biennial), see Kim's photos above. The growth of the palms has been nothing short of spectacular, thanks to Singapore's non stop heat, 12 months of the year. And as can be seen, the Tahina spectabilis group has performed extremely well!  Photo taken on February 17th, 2018.

[Cindy Adair]

Great additions Kim and Bo!

Photo journals second best to being there. 

Plus a reference for the future.

[Jeff Searle]

Great! Much more than I was expecting to see at these gardens.

Jeff

[PALM MOD]

It is so rewarding and a testament to PalmTalk and the IPS that a palm unknown 14 years ago, with so few individuals left in precarious habitats, and that only produces seed once in its lifetime is already growing happily in so many public and private gardens around the world.

I have always wondered how many palms have never made it outside their natural habitat and succumbed due to their habitat destruction - never to be seen and appreciated - not even in photographs. 

[Gileno Machado]

17 hours ago, Kim said:

Not your typical public garden, but arrangements can be made to visit Usina de Arte and its Parque Artistico-Botanico. It is located outside the town of Xexéu, in the municipality of Agua Preta, Pernambuco, Brazil. This unique location is the former Santa Teresa sugar mill and assorted outbuildings and a wonderful old house and grounds, all converted to a center for arts of all kinds, and a botanic garden where PalmTalk member Gileno Machado has been planting furiously. Visited January 2020.

Outside the "Big House" and down the slope toward the pond, is a Tahina! The palm is not situated in the main botanic/sculpture garden, because it would be much too exposed to the searing sun, whereas here, there is some tree canopy and irrigation to give it some relief. 

J

Just to give you some sense of this nascent garden, I'm adding a couple of photos, hopefully not going too far off-topic. 

The "Big House"

Some of the botanic/sculpture garden

 

Thanks for your pictures Kim, that Tahina has grown a bit since then. We have actually planted a second Tahina there, in the open area. Now we’re having a nice mild (and wet!) winter here. Let’s see how it performs through our long summers though. You and Bo visiting here was great. Come back next year.

[kinzyjr]

Guess we should include this link since it has information about this palm as well as photos of various specimens in public and private gardens:

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

[Cindy Adair]

I am so appreciative of all the posts, even as I step back on my comments due to other commitments.

Keep them coming and they will be searchable on PalmTalk for years. 

[Mandrew968]

Montgomery Botanical Center. My father for scale...

[realarch]

Good Grief! Speechless.

Tim

[Dypsisdean]

4 hours ago, realarch said:

Good Grief! Speechless.

Tim

Second that - thanks for the pic Andrew.

 

[Merlyn]

Here is a photo of the small one in part shade, taken in November 2018.  It's in the Leu Gardens palm area, just North of the Phoenix circle. 

[Merlyn]

And here's the larger one, just around the corner.  Also taken in November 2018 at Leu Gardens:

[Eric in Orlando]

We have 7 planted out at Leu Gardens. The biggest is maybe 6ft overall. 3 are in the Palm Garden, 3 in the Tropical Stream Garden and 1 in the Idea Garden.  One of them in the Tropical Stream Garden is growing in moderate shade and growing fine. I will get current photos in the next couple of days. These were all grown from the first batch of seed that was available.

 

 

[Rick Kelley]

To the best of my knowledge, Hilo has two Tahinas in free, public gardens. The one at the zoo is well hidden and will not become visible to the public until it gets considerably larger. However, the one growing in the University of Hawaii at Hilo Palm Garden is going gangbusters. Not as fast as those in hotter climates like South Florida or Singapore, but pretty fast by cooler Hawaii standards. It is roughly ten ft (3 m) tall. It seems to have a new giant frond every time I stop by.  Just a few years ago it was much, much smaller. Looks like it might swallow its neighbors in a few more years. The UHH Botanical Gardens were planted and are maintained by retired biology professor Don Hemmes. If visiting Hawaii, it is certainly worth a visit. Besides palms, there is a comprehensive cycad collection and a large bromeliad collection. Currently the campus is closed due the pandemic, but will most likely reopen in the summer of 2021. So was this photo taken by an unmanned drone? I'm not sayin.

[Mandrew968]

Update from this week. This palm's gravitas doesn't transfer to photos...

[fiji jim]

Nice pics there.

It was quiet difficult to capture a good pic due to the crowded space, however here are a few.

I obtained 10 seeds in 2007 or 6, not sure. The larger planted here is about 6 meters tall now.

The smaller germinated at the same time but was restricted in a large container for several years after the first was planted.

[Mandrew968]

Here is another one at sea-level. Glove and saw for scale. 

[Foxpalms]

One at Kew.

[Jonathan Haycock]

There are two growing next to each other in Cairns Botanical Garden, Queensland Australia.

[Jonathan Haycock]

The largest I’ve seen in Australia is located at Queens Garden, Townsville.

[Jonathan Haycock]

A trio planted at Townsville’s Palmetum, Queensland Australia.

There is also a small one at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney Australia, and 2 at the Palmetum, Santa Cruz, Tenerife. Sorry don’t have pictures.

[fiji jim]

I am surprised that this species could grow well at the latitude of Sydney, Oz.

What location are these stills captured?

jim

[johnnymak]

On 3/17/2023 at 5:07 AM, fiji jim said:

I am surprised that this species could grow well at the latitude of Sydney, Oz.

What location are these stills captured?

jim

Are you referring to the last three small individuals? They are in Townsville, QLD.

[fiji jim]

Thanks for the reply.

So, I guess that the one at RBG Sydney is under some protection from the cold winters.

[Jonathan Haycock]

14 hours ago, fiji jim said:

Thanks for the reply.

So, I guess that the one at RBG Sydney is under some protection from the cold winters.

No protection for the Sydney specimen. The gardens are in quite a mild microclimate. 

[Foxpalms]

Palmetum one.

[fiji jim]

That's a beauty.

Where is it?

[Foxpalms]

On 4/15/2023 at 5:20 AM, fiji jim said:

That's a beauty.

Where is it?

If you are talking about the one I posted, Santa Cruz de Tenerife.

[sjurek]

Naples Botanical Garden

 

[Daryl]

Here's one I saw growing in the Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney last week... doing well for lattitude 34S