Thought this might stir the pot with some folks on here: Exotic Invaders The author then goes on to talk about water use issues - is it as bad as he makes it out to be?
With such a small footprint windmill palm isn't going to suck up nearly as much water as just about any other exotic tree that would like to be kept watered all summer. Building cities full of concrete and other artificial materials and then not planting interesting small trees easy to fit into urban spaces and highly compatible visually with modern architecture because such trees are "unnatural" is silly. That's like not putting a cherry on top of a sundae because the cherry would have sugar in it.
What on earth does "doesn't belong here" mean? To my mind, if it grows for us, it belongs. Does the author think that the thousands of Japanese flowering cherry trees that line the boulevards of so many streets in Vancouver and Victoria belong? I live probably less than 30 miles from Oak Bay, as the crow flies, and here on Salt Spring Island we grow hundreds and hundreds of palms (probably in part due to Banana Joe landscaping a small townhouse development in the village with them). They grow well here, don't seem to mind our wet winters, survive well our occasional freezing temperatures and require less water than we're likely to use on a rhodo. I have six windmill palms on my property and love them. They make a nice contrast to our native douglas firs and cedars. They don't clog my gutters with needles or invade my flower garden with their roots. If only our native trees were as well-behaved. With global warming heading toward us like a freight train, it might not be long before our native trees head north to cooler temperatures and windmill palms become commonplace. Diane
"They’re just not suited to our climate." They certainly must be suited to our climate since there are tall specimen of Trachycarpus fortunei that have survived since the 1960's. Some rare plantings date back even further. Cheers, LPN.
I wouldn't give this article any more thought than any other personal opinion you may hear on the street. And I don't know about you, but I work with the public and I have heard some very quacky view points! "Palms don't belong here"..., I would guess that likely neither does the author. Was his ancestors originally from BC or Canada for that matter? The world is a shrinking place and just as people will roam and settle where they can survive, so will plants of all kind.