Rarities at the Palm Centre

Trachycarpus princeps - this one not for sale though!

Absence makes the heart grow fonder, that's what they say when you feel more excited to see or do something if you haven't done so for quite some time.

And somehow that's what I felt the moment we drove into the car park of the Palm Centre en route to our afternoon in Kew Gardens last Sunday. It's just that we haven't been to both for quite some time, many months, and that's a relatively long stretch of time considering that we have an annual pass to the latter. Life has been hectic on the whole this year and we haven't really made much use of this pass (and somehow I'm starting to think it will be the same again next year but it's handy enough to have the pass nevertheless, especially when the odd moment comes that we have free time and don't know what to, and presto, head down to Kew!).

Latania lodigesii

Rhapis humilis

Whenever we head down to this botanic haven we always visit the Palm Centre first, for they always seem to have a new gem or two to admire each time we visit. And because we haven't been for quite some time it looked like they have a lot more rare plants in stock. More likely they were all deliveries that trickled in during the summer months and fortunately lots more were left for us to see in the flesh.

A row of Phormium tenax 'Williamsii' - a phormium that can grow to gigantic proportions. If you have the space to do this justice plant it out and then stand back...

What they may lack in height they make up for girth - a row of very lush and stocky Yucca rostratas

Instant impact - a large Brahea armata

A couple of large Trithrinax brasiliensis (as labelled, but looked more like T. acanthoma to me...)

A row of Rhapis humilis. Much more elegant looking than the more usual Rhapis excelsa. All three have a sold tag already (not by us though!)

Several Trachycarpus martianus with good sized trunks were also for sale

Dasylirion serratifolium

Some smaller Yucca rostratas inside one of the greenhouses

And amongst the Yuccas are a few large cycads including a Dioon edule like this one (which is coning)

But this one is my favourite, gorgeous! Macrozamia communis

A few smaller Dioon edule are available inside the small, heated section within the greenhouses

Encephalartos natalensis

Encephalartos altensteinii

Cycas rumphii - took one of these beauties with us, our only purchase for the day

And back out into the greenhouses (the heated section is a 'greenhouse within a greenhouse') we saw rows of the elegant palm Chamaedorea microspadix

And rows of gorgeous Yucca filiferas - a yucca which turned out to be not so hardy in our area

Jubaeopsis caffra - haven't seen this palm in the flesh before, nice!

And back outside they had some nice sized Jubaea chilensis - a very slow growing feather palm from Chile

But the highlight of browsing through their plants for sale outside the greenhouses is seeing this huge Dasylirion quadrangulatum. The biggest specimen I've ever seen in person!

And this one isn't too bad either, a shorter yet multi headed Dasyliron quadrangulatum 

Lots of very, very nice plants! The only thing is at the moment neither of us are in a plant buying mode so we just went away with a small, inexpensive cycad. It is autumn and the cold months have barely started. Most of these gems are either not that hardy, or if it is, would be too late in the season to plant out. We're just over halfway through sorting our plants out to their winter homes and we have lots to overwinter indoors (or under cover) enough as it is, let alone add some more. So we have to be good and more disciplined this time.

Perhaps we'll let loose next year. Assuming (and hoping) that some of the gems we particularly liked are still there by then of course!

And speaking of Kew, Loree of Danger Garden paid it a visit a few weeks ago and is featuring photos with a write up of her visit every Wednesday in her blog (the series aptly titled Kew Wednesdays).

Sackler Crossing and 'shopping'...

The Mediterranean Garden

Visiting the Temperate House

The Palm House

Do check out some of the entries she has made so far and keep an eye on her future instalments. I thought it a fitting complement to this post as for me Palm Centre and Kew Gardens do go hand in hand, with the two being so near each other.

Mark :-)

Posted in: Nursery visit , palm
Location: The Palm Centre