Abbotsbury subtropical gardens UK

[Foxpalms]

Today I visited the Abbotsbury subtropical gardens in southern England. Being near the coast it means the gardens has some interesting palms at 50N. All day it was very sunny and you could feel a significant difference between the shaded microclimate and the ones that were on a south facing slope.

[Foxpalms]

Monstera deliciosa 

[Foxpalms]

 

Edited May 22, 2023 by Foxpalms

[Foxpalms]

Mule palm

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Archontophoenix cunninghamiana's

 

Edited May 22, 2023 by Foxpalms

[Foxpalms]

Brahea armata 

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Birds of paradise 

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Random assortment of plants and a prickly pear with fruit.

[Foxpalms]

Jubaea chilensis

Edited May 22, 2023 by Foxpalms

[Foxpalms]

Brahea Edulis

[Foxpalms]

Brahea brandegeei

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[Foxpalms]

Aloe Africana

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Butia eriospatha

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Butia eriospatha X syagrus romanzoffianana Santa Catarina 

[Foxpalms]

Fishtail palm. Nice to know these can survive and grow in the ground here.

[Foxpalms]

[Foxpalms]

The birds they had.

[Chester B]

What an amazing place.  I would love to see it in person if I ever make it over there.

[Foxpalms]

9 hours ago, Chester B said:

What an amazing place.  I would love to see it in person if I ever make it over there.

There are so many great botanical gardens in southern England, the issue is they are quite spread out however over in Cornwall they are all grouped fairly near each other.  I'm sure you would love looking at all the palms here, and for me as someone who likes zone pushing it's nice to see the more tender palms growing in the different microclimates.

[Alberto]

I certainly could walk around for hours in a subtropical garden like this.

[Jack Lord]

Wow. That there are Papyaas is amazing.

[Foxpalms]

On 5/23/2023 at 4:14 PM, Alberto said:

I certainly could walk around for hours in a subtropical garden like this.

Always nice to spend hours looking at palms in gardens!

[UK_Palms]

I’m surprised to see the Archontophenix came though last winter so well on the English mainland, and the fishtail palm too, given it was arguably the worst winter in 12-13 years, since 2010. I don’t think they got any protection at all there and it is also a few miles inland in Dorset at 50N with no UHI whatsoever. The potential is likely far greater for many other species along the south coast.

[Foxpalms]

10 hours ago, UK_Palms said:

I’m surprised to see the Archontophenix came though last winter so well on the English mainland, and the fishtail palm too, given it was arguably the worst winter in 12-13 years, since 2010. I don’t think they got any protection at all there and it is also a few miles inland in Dorset at 50N with no UHI whatsoever. The potential is likely far greater for many other species along the south coast.

Especially in Ventnor I know they have some flame trees in the gardens so they experiment a bit, but really they should try different varieties of archontophoenix and chamedorea ect. The isle of Portland as well would be fine with the more tender palms. I still think in protected spots next to the house or under canopy you could grow king palms in places such as Southsea, Broadstairs and Sandbanks. At the moment though theres still loads of coastline perfectly suitable for washingtonia and phoenix canariensis where hardly any have been planted and it certainly it isn't the case they can't grow there as there are a few completely undamaged ones around. Chambeyronia macrocarpa is supposed to be more hardy than archontophoenix so that needs trying more in mild areas. I have loads of rare palms I have never posted on here which at some point I will experiment with outside, such as for example the more hardy raveneas, there's definitely a lot of things that have not been tried. The palms in the gardens don't get protected the only dead tropical from this winter there was a Dracaena (I think one of the less hardy ones) which was not under any canopy. Another thing worth considering is whilst the average may only be a certain temperature where the Metoffice stations are along the coast, in areas that are on a south facing slope it gets a lot hotter. From a flat windy field to a protected south facing slope this week the temperature on the south facing slopes was at least 3c higher plus there would be less frost in the winter. I think queen palms would have no problem growing there. Asides from the palms cordyline fruticosa is another one that does well in mild spots as well as acacia, jacarandas, Norfolk Island pines, bougainvillea, monstera deliciosa, Strelitzia, Passiflora edulis, Brachychiton acerifolius, aloes ect. There's so much potential however not many people are trying things In good spots, and there are so many rare palms hard to get that end up going to people in areas miles inland where it's too cold for them to ever be experimented with (parajubaeas).

Edited May 27, 2023 by Foxpalms