TrachysnowLI
Palms

Palms (Apr to Oct)

Hardy and semi hardy Palms mail order from Jungle Gardens, these are my second favourite plants for tropical effects, some being totally hardy! This particular palm is a  Trachycarpus Fortunei growing in my front garden, totally happy and regularly flowering in coldest Oxfordshire.

Butia Capitata
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Jelly Palm 3 litre plants ■☻җ җ ♣

Apart from the Trachycarpus family this is one of the best hardy palm alternatives to grow in the UK, frost hardy to about minus 10°C and very difficult to obtain young plants. It is not a fan but a feather palm, looking much more like the traditional date palm with beautiful blue-green leaves. In my own experience it is only marginally hardy in our frost pocket without any protection at all but easy to wrap with a bit of hesian on extra cold nights to protect the crown and new growth.

Butia Capitata 5L
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Jelly Palm large 5 litre plants ■☻җ җ ♣

Apart from the Trachycarpus family this is one of the best hardy palm alternatives to grow in the UK, frost hardy to about minus 10°C and very difficult to obtain young plants. It is not a fan but a feather palm, looking much more like the traditional date palm with beautiful blue-green leaves. In my own experience it is only marginally hardy in our frost pocket without any protection at all but easy to wrap with a bit of hesian on extra cold nights to protect the crown and new growth.

Trachycarpus fortunei 10L
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Chusan Palm The hardy Palm, 10 litre plants ■☻җ җ җ 
My favourite hardy palm from China that I have been growing for maybe 30 years. I have lost one before in a particularly cold and wet winter in Chesham but I think it was the wet rather than the cold that proved fatal. In Oxford we have experienced temperatures down to about minus 15C in the past which did not damage the plant in the picture. Once established it grows quickly and we are probably talking about planting one out in your Garden in its 3rd or 4th year from seed to give it a chance to succeed. A must for any Palm devotee it has a very hairy trunk with huge (and I mean huge up to 4 ft across) fan shaped leaves and grows well in most soils particularly slightly alkaline.  The photograph on the left was taken in our garden, illustrating a 20 years old palm flowering in May.  The one below taken in 2008 is the size of of our 10 litre plants.

Trachycarpus takil
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Kumaon Palm - 3 litre plants ■☻җ җ җ 
The rare and only-recently-in-cultivation Kumaon Fan Palm is closely related to fortunei. Takil is a big tree, broadly similar in appearance to T. fortunei but larger in all its parts, and probably a good few degrees hardier, thus making it the hardiest in the genus. Sometimes the trunk fibres fall naturally, leaving a bare trunk. The most obvious differences from fortunei, apart from size, are the more numerous segments of the leaf up to 60. Rare to find a supply but we have picked up a few 3 & 5 litre plants.

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Symbols

To Grow -- Easy ■ Moderate ■ and Challenging ■

May be ok for a dry Conservatory ♣

Hardiness - To -5°C җ To -10°C җ җ Fully Hardy җ җ җ

Needs Shady Position ☻ Sunny Position ☻ Water Loving ♥