Palm Crazy at the Palm Centre

So we had three choices this morning of what to primarily do today: go to Kew Gardens, go to a shopping mall and brave the sales again, or stay at home and do some gardening.

Ok, it's not a palm but a handsome specimen of Dasylirion serratifolium

All three started on equal footing but choosing one would be essential otherwise our sense of laziness would have prevailed and both of us could have easily stayed in bed all day (a luxury activity in its own right).

Shopping mall was crossed off, strictly speaking we only have a doormat on our need list and to dedicate an entire day in pursuit of the perfect doormat would have been very boring. So it was down to two. Now these two were neck on neck as it was lovely and sunny outside today, a far cry from the stormy weather we've been having recently. Checking the forecast it seems set to be a sunny day again tomorrow so perhaps make tomorrow a gardening day?

That leaves visiting Kew then, right, a decision has been made! But is it actually Kew itself than we're motivated to see or is it actually something else, somewhere nearby? On my blog post yesterday I did mention Kew as one of the three that may be we ought to visit less frequently....

No brainer there, the title of the post has said it all. The primary motivation was the Palm Centre and as they have their post Christmas sales ongoing the attraction was even more intense. So off we went!

Just a few of their amazing palm specimens on their display border

Bearing in mind that it's only recently that we've been plant shopping again after months of hiatus the enthusiasm is even higher than usual and plant retail therapy was badly needed. As soon as we arrived, short of jumping out and running around crazy we immediately went inside their glasshouses to check out what's on offer. And the stock levels were high and it didn't disappoint, we knew we're in for a shopping treat!

A sea of lushness, a welcome sight especially in the winter. A good selection of ground ferns

Impressive specimens of Cycas revoluta, with trunks taller than me. I've never seen cycads this tall for sale before and all three were tagged as sold and price tags removed

How's this for a focal point in the garden?

Cussonia paniculata ssp. paniculata - this used to be growing on the ground but it's been transferred to a pot

Still an impressive specimen

Encephalartos lehmannii - much earlier in the year they had a wide selection of cycads, most of them were very rare and on our visit this time they only had a few. Hopefully they'll have more again early next year

Remnants of what was a great selection of cycads available for sale

Strelitzia reginae - looks good en masse like this

A love it or hate it sort of plant. I love it (for now)! Strelitzia juncea

The houseplant section

Before we set off I checked out their website and made a mental list of three plants to keep an eye on, namely Rhapidophyllum hystrix, Chamaedorea microspadix, and Trachycarpus 'Naggy' (a cross between female T. nanus and male T. wagnerianus). Whenever I make a list I rarely get them all and even rarer that I stick only to what's on the list. Will it be different this time? We'll continue with the tour...

Ohh la la, now we're talking! Chamaedorea microspadix

We lost all of our Chamaedorea microspadix in the garden fire we had last July as they were all huddled together in a spot that was badly affected, very close to ground zero. So were on a mission to find replacements so as soon as we saw this group...sorted!

However, other plant eye candies were everywhere...

Chamaerops humilis

Loads of handsome specimens of Dasylirion serratifolium

Yucca rostrata

Even their Yucca gloriosa looks good!

Phoenix canariensis and Chamaedorea micropsadix

Winter weary but still pretty, in a leafy and tall sort of way - Tetrapanax papyrifera 'Rex'

Brahea armata

Trachycarpus martianus

Another fine specimen of Trachycarpus martianus

Their 'plant studio'

Dasylirions, Yuccas, and Agaves

Now on to outside...

The usual suspects - Trachycarpus fortunei

Butia capitata

And a not so usual suspect, the gigantic growing and still very rare...

Phormium williamsii

More palms on parade

All of the items were thirty percent off and some were fifty percent off. The Butia capitata seen in the photos were only £35 each, an absolute bargain but we walked away from it, for now anyway.

So what did we buy? Much to my surprise I only bought what I set off for, exactly those three palms I listed. Gaz bought a couple more small C. microspadix and three pots of bargain T. fortunei (they make great filler plants for the style of gardening that we do).

We went palm crazy at the Palm Centre

We spent two hours at the Palm Centre and 45 minutes at Kew Gardens...well we were running out of time hence the short stay at the latter. It was dark already when we got home, too dark already to take decent photos of our haul unwrapped. We bought a few more palms somewhere else a week or so ago and we'll be featuring them all together soon, perhaps even tomorrow!

Mark :-)

Posted in: botanic garden , exotic blog , exotic garden , Kew , Nursery visit , palm