Some palms after winter in Holland

[Axel Amsterdam]

I took some street pictures of survivors in the western parts of Holland. 

Washingtonia outside UHI of Amsterdam, around 14 miles from the coast unprotected

 

Edited March 13, 2023 by Axel Amsterdam

[Axel Amsterdam]

washingtonia in an even more exposed spot also around 14 miles inland

 

Edited March 13, 2023 by Axel Amsterdam

[Axel Amsterdam]

Nearby chamaerops with Dutch bike for scale 😊

[Axel Amsterdam]

Brahea armata

[Axel Amsterdam]

Unprotected washingtonia in UHI of The Hague, 5 miles from the coast

Edited March 13, 2023 by Axel Amsterdam

[Axel Amsterdam]

And some cordylines 14 miles inland

 

Edited March 13, 2023 by Axel Amsterdam

[Axel Amsterdam]

And some potted ones in February in Amsterdam UHI. So there is a clear difference in leafdamage between washingtonia in the UHI and outside (obviously) but they all seem alive which is good news. It’s true that all these washies were planted 2 years ago, so 2 winters now, except the large one in The Hague. That one is an exception growing in a micro climate within the UHI, unprotected this winter as the picture is from mid February.

Edited March 13, 2023 by Axel Amsterdam

[SeanK]

I hope that Brahea grows to its full majesty some day.

[Axel Amsterdam]

Yes me too, the color of the fronds are good after a wet winter but its very slow.

[MarcusH]

I had no idea that you can grow so many palm trees in Holland that's truly amazing !! Seems to be that they can handle winter just fine . Keep them growing . 

[ChicagoPalma]

Surprised as well, but they have an 8b/8a climate in most of the Netherlands, but that doesn't mean it can't get cold enough to kill them, so I'm truly surprised.

[Little Tex]

12 minutes ago, ChicagoPalma said:

Surprised as well, but they have an 8b/8a climate in most of the Netherlands, but that doesn't mean it can't get cold enough to kill them, so I'm truly surprised.

I mean, it kinda does mean it doesn't get cold enough to kill them, these are all 8b palms.

[UK_Palms]

1 hour ago, MarcusH said:

I had no idea that you can grow so many palm trees in Holland that's truly amazing !! Seems to be that they can handle winter just fine . Keep them growing . 

The 2018 beast wiped out every Washingtonia that wasn’t protected in the Netherlands. Certainly in Amsterdam anyway. The January 2021 event pretty much did the same to anything that wasn’t protected. They had like 2 weeks solid below freezing with lows down to -12C / 10F and at least one day that didn’t get above -5C / 23F. The 2018 event was even colder, but didn’t last as long. The ones shown here are new plantings and that biggish one in The Hague got wrapped I think.

[MarcusH]

Maybe they would be better off planting windmill palms instead of washies.  Low teens for robustas are fatal.  

[ChicagoPalma]

5 minutes ago, MarcusH said:

Maybe they would be better off planting windmill palms instead of washies.  Low teens for robustas are fatal.  

Pretty much, but some minor to decent protection will do them washies enough for the winter.

[PalmatierMeg]

All of them look to have come through this past winter with little to moderate damage. They should be fine by summer. Take one winter at a time. Thanks for the guided tour.

[Axel Amsterdam]

Thanks all. Yes the winters vary considerably here. Last winter between 0C and -2C for a low accompanied by loads of rain, all these palms survived but my washingtonia filifera spearpulled. 

This year -5C for a low but days around freezing point. So moderate damage but most will survive. 

And then every couple of years we get hit by a -8C/-9C winter, nearly always accompanied by subzero days and everything unprotected is gone, except trachies and chamaerops. Chamaerops have survived the last decade in the western parts of Holland and look surprisingly healthy yearround.

Edited March 13, 2023 by Axel Amsterdam

[Axel Amsterdam]

And then there are the absolute lucky exceptions to the rule that survived the -8/-9C events with subzero days with a bit of fleece around the spear

[Axel Amsterdam]

These have been growing in situ for more than a decade protected with fleece and tarp during frostevents, circa 12 miles inland (summerpic)

Edited March 13, 2023 by Axel Amsterdam

[Axel Amsterdam]

These grow unprotected in the absolute mildest coastal location of Holland only a couple of hundred meters from the sea (summerpics)

Edited March 13, 2023 by Axel Amsterdam

[Axel Amsterdam]

chamaerops cerifera does well here like humilis (unprotected in the western parts of Holland)

Edited March 13, 2023 by Axel Amsterdam

[kristof p]

those are some nice palms!... I don't see any  Butia or Jubaea in your parts? Your climate is not very diferant then my climate with similar temperatures in winter and Butia and Jubaea seem to be doing fine around here. I  should plant another Washingtonia, I never tryed another one after the 2010 winter but they should be fine in most winters. I am also surprised how well my Livistona chinensis is holding up after all those years with only some fleece for protection during cold spells. Only times it showed damage was years ago during it's first couple of winters out of it's frost free enclosure.

[Axel Amsterdam]

There is a smaller butia i posted above which was only spearprotected, i believe that’s an eriospatha, it’s very green. And ofcourse the larger odorata with greygreen fronds above near the sea. I know only  2 large jubaea in the Amsterdam zoo. These survived all winters since 2014. 

Can you post a picture of the livistona? That’s something special in our climate.

Edited March 13, 2023 by Axel Amsterdam

[MarcusH]

Great pictures and proof that Holland provides a good climate for some types of palms . I'm amazed and I only lived 3 hours away from the border.  

[kristof p]

41 minutes ago, Axel Amsterdam said:

There is a smaller butia i posted above which was only spearprotected, i believe that’s an eriospatha, it’s very green. And ofcourse the larger odorata with greygreen fronds above near the sea. I know only  2 large jubaea in the Amsterdam zoo. These survived all winters since 2014. 

Can you post a picture of the livistona? That’s something special in our climate.

I found some pictures of the palm somewhere during last summer... As you can see it is in a very protected spot. There is an old T. sp nova growing in front of the Livistona. I will remove it as it never realy does wel in this deep shade and the Livistona needs some more space. It's been there since 2006 and I stopped building the winter greenhouse somewhere around 2014 so it only get's some fleece for protection for the last 9 years.  It has the speed of a slow Sabal minor :p. I go visit my parents in a few days and make some more recent pictures.

[Axel Amsterdam]

Thanks Marcus and Kristof and all the people that liked the pictures. Kristof that first picture has great atmosphere and that frond is huge.

 

It’s still very hard to find anything besides trachies and chamaerops in gardens here as the winters are too cold for most other palms. The other plants that are planted by many people are oleanders and yucca rostrata which do really well and easily survive long term. 

I also found a reddit picture of the recent jubaea plantings. These jubaeas have been outside since 2014 i believe in large planters outside the UHI of Amsterdam and are now finally planted out in the city center.

Edited March 13, 2023 by Axel Amsterdam

[Axel Amsterdam]

To top it off, some nice rostrata’s that grow to perfection in this opposite to habitat climate and a beautiful oleander in Amsterdam during summer.

[Axel Amsterdam]

oh i forgot a special palm, butyagrus recent picture, not protected during the past winter and the current one. Outskirts of Rotterdam. According to the owner it’s very slow but still there it is.

Edited March 13, 2023 by Axel Amsterdam

[Axel Amsterdam]

I figured a picture of a Dutch winter landscape of windmill and chamaerops should not be missing in this overview 😊(pictures around 2 years old):

 

 

Edited March 14, 2023 by Axel Amsterdam

[Axel Amsterdam]

 

Edited March 14, 2023 by Axel Amsterdam

[Las Palmas Norte]

On 3/13/2023 at 7:32 AM, Little Tex said:

I mean, it kinda does mean it doesn't get cold enough to kill them, these are all 8b palms.

These will not make winters even zone 9a here in micro-climates of Vancouver Island. We need the Dutch climate to grow these Washingtonia. Nice growing exotica over there @Axel Amsterdam

[Foxpalms]

12 hours ago, Las Palmas Norte said:

These will not make winters even zone 9a here in micro-climates of Vancouver Island. We need the Dutch climate to grow these Washingtonia. Nice growing exotica over there @Axel Amsterdam

Does anyone in BC have any photos of the Norfolk Island pine growing in Tofino? 

[Marco67]

Thanks for posting Axel. Especially in the province of Zeeland which is partly zone 9 you should able to grow more cold tender species. 

You see people in the Netherlands planting more things like Trachycarpus, Chamaerops, Olive trees and Oleanders in their garden.  

[Axel Amsterdam]

Yes the unprotected CIDP and the larger butia pictured above are located in Zeeland. 

[Las Palmas Norte]

10 hours ago, Foxpalms said:

Does anyone in BC have any photos of the Norfolk Island pine growing in Tofino? 

I was contemplating a drive over to the west side of the island sometime this spring. I'm not sure where that tree is, but if I find it I'll be sure to snap a pic.

[Arecaceus]

Nice pictures. Quite a few Washies. Here I'm a lone wolf with trying them. At least I don't know of any in my vicinity. I'm surprised your filifera spear pulled. Mine looks not amazing but the inner fronds and centre spears are still looking normal. My filibusta looks like crap. No spear pull either (yet). I check every couple of days. But both palms haven't been protected and they have seen worse in Feb. 2021. Btw I planted my Santa Catarina the other day. You're very lucky because at least in Amsterdam people are going further than just Trachies and Chamaerops.

[Axel Amsterdam]

Yes, well it was a twin washy (originally a pulled seedling and one from seed from under a group of true filiferas) and one spearpulled and never regrew after last winter. I dug up the other one in december to replant in a much better sunnier position as it was really slow although it had been in the ground since 2014.

Today i noticed a nice silvery chamaerops:

Edited March 15, 2023 by Axel Amsterdam

[Arecaceus]

36 minutes ago, Axel Amsterdam said:

Yes, well it was a twin washy (originally a pulled seedling and one from seed from under a group of true filiferas) and one spearpulled and never regrew after last winter. I dug up the other one in december to replant in a much better sunnier position as it was really slow although it had been in the ground since 2014.

Today i noticed a nice silvery chamaerops:

Ah sad to hear man... That's a standard Chamaerops but with more silvery undersides right?

[Axel Amsterdam]

yes i believe this is called argentea sometimes. It’s not cerifera.

[Arecaceus]

47 minutes ago, Axel Amsterdam said:

yes i believe this is called argentea sometimes. It’s not cerifera.

Interesting. I have posted my front garden one somewhere here in this forum and it always had rather light green on the upper side of the leaves and the undersides were very very white with what I guess is evaporation protection. When I planted it, in it's first years several people told me that my palm had bugs. 😂 But I guess that's just a variety of standard Chamaerops. My other Chamaerops all look different.