can i grow a howea/ketia palm outdoors in london uk.

Discussion in 'Outdoor Tropicals' started by fernwood, Jan 27, 2008.

  1. fernwood

    fernwood Member

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    hello every one...I'm new to this site and your help would be invaluable...I've created a sub-tropical garden in central London where we drop to -3c once in a blue moon...so far this winter we have dropped down to -1c for couple of nights "so it shows you, quite a rare occurrence",anyway cutting to the case...have 12foot howea palm in a pot outside not troubled so far can leave it out permanently..your response would be warmly received. thank you
     
  2. Michael F

    Michael F Paragon of Plants Forums Moderator 10 Years

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    If you could rely on your temperatures staying like that, yes, but you can't. Sooner or later, there'll be another severe winter like some of those in the early to mid 1980s, and you'll get -10 or lower.
     
  3. fernwood

    fernwood Member

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    hey Michael ..do you think that will happen with global warming and all ...if it comes every ten years it's worth taking the risk ,but really doubt it will?
     
  4. Michael F

    Michael F Paragon of Plants Forums Moderator 10 Years

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    Yes, it will. Global warming has so far brought slightly less than one degree of global temperature change over the last century. A severe winter 100 years ago with -15°C, would still be a severe winter now with -14°C. The current run of mild winters we're having at the moment is just natural variability and NOT to be confused with global warming!

    What global warming does more obviously, is significantly increase the length of the growing season: every day is (on average) a degree warmer than it would have been without man-made CO[sub]2[/sub] release, which adds up to a lot of extra accumulated heat over a year.
     
  5. fernwood

    fernwood Member

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    OK we've all herd of vineyards right up to york in the middle ages and the ice fairs on the thames..what about the northwest passage ice free ...Mediterranean flower and fawna beginning to take hold in southern England...I'm no green zealot ..but we're breaking various temperature records all the time ..????
     
  6. Michael F

    Michael F Paragon of Plants Forums Moderator 10 Years

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    That, like the other cited examples, depends more on accumulated temperature than extremes. A steady extra one degree of heat all through the summer will thaw an awful lot of ice, but a one night blast of -45° won't re-freeze it sufficiently to counteract the steady thaw. But it will kill the temperate plant that some Inuit gardener decided to experiment with!
     
  7. fernwood

    fernwood Member

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    hi Micheal.... i might be coming around to your idea of global temperature variants....( arctic ice refreeze) ..but London still hasn't drop below 0c 95% of the winter ...howea palm philodendron selloum growing wonderfully.....?
     
  8. Michael F

    Michael F Paragon of Plants Forums Moderator 10 Years

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    Got lucky this winter . . . but you have to get lucky every night of every winter, whereas the freeze only has to get lucky one night of one winter . . .
     
  9. fernwood

    fernwood Member

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    yeah ...i know what you're saying... when camilla's first came this country ,they were treated as conservatory plants!!!!....phoenix palms are common sight all over London know....people love to push boundaries...and discover that the bounds were wrong..go on live a little ..."get that lemon tree out of the conservatory"......
     
  10. James Park

    James Park Member

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    Hi,
    I live in SW England, where our temperatures dropped no further than 30F. I am on the coast, so temperatures are stable. We never get settling snow. We have coolish summers, with temperatures never going above 77F. We can grow bougainvillea, cordyline manners-sutternae, jubaea, washingtonia, ananas, tillandsia sp and even strelitzia without protection! Would howea cope?
    Thanks,
    James
     
  11. LPN

    LPN Well-Known Member 10 Years

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    Might be worth a try, although these are only able to withstand temps as low as 28f (-2c) on older established palms. More tender up to that point ... perhaps a winter protection method may make this possible for you there.

    Cheers, LPN.
     
  12. fernwood

    fernwood Member

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    take a chance if you don't mind a failure ..my kentia/howea palms came through last winter fine not one scorched leaf..they're a understory palm so tuck them next to a wall for protection ,we had a few nights of -4c so i threw a fleece over them ,all was fine .PS or you can create a micro climate with other hardier shrubs IE fatsia & Nestle the palm in the middle
     
  13. James Park

    James Park Member

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    hi,
    I planted out a half dead miserable howea that I rescued from B&Q about 2 weeks ago, and it is putting out a new leaf! It gets full sun for the whole morning, but the new leaf is used to it so it is growing in full sun. I can just tell it will grow fine!
    There is someone in South England growing many true exotics in this thread:http://www.uk.gardenweb.com/forums/load/ukgard/msg1022405430858.html
    Thanks,
    James
     

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