Quote:
Originally Posted by chris
Can/Do Palm Trees grow in the Okanagan Valley??
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Well, I would think that since the southern Okanagan is actually milder than southern Ontario throughout the winter (a few locations average highs stay above freezing even in January), and since a few forum members have said that there are a few palms planted in southern Ontario (which I would love to see pics of), it would definitely be possible. But, just like in other locations that are at the extreme fringe of such palm's viability, such as in southern eastern Canada and the northern east coast of the USA, they would likely have to be very well taken care of, and likely planted near the sides of buildings and / or warm air vents or in very sunny southern exposed slopes, and would probably need to be wrapped in the winter or at least heavily mulched. I have seen palms in Kelowna (in the central Okanagan) during the summer but they are in huge hidden planters and are taken to areas of shelter in the winter (I wonder if some of the palms seen in Eastern Canada are also cared for in the same way, and not truly planted outside year round, especially those not near large buildings / vents for radiated heat)
As one would guess, with the mildest climate in Canada, the south coast of BC is the easiest place to plant and grow such permanent exotics (with the widest variety, least intensive care and best results as well).
So I would not be surprised if some palms do start popping up in the Okanagan over the next few years, but again, I doubt they will be as lush and open as those in Vancouver / Victoria.
Again, while it may be possible to plant palms in other areas of Canada, such as the Okanagan and souther Ontario, only along the south coast of BC can you achieve such lush exotic gardens as this away from any shelter or building. All these trees are in the wide open in the middle of a square.
And some are now getting really tall, such as this one:
Also, only along the south coast of BC will the windmill palm's reproductive organs survive in Canada, since they die at a warmer temperatures than the tree itself. I have pictures of their seeds (they look like grapes) on the first page.
The best location for growing palms / exotics in all of Canada is in Victoria, and apparently in Oak Bay (a part of Victoria that is heavily into gardens and street scapes) there are over 3 000 palm trees. I have seen some pics and they are more varied than in Vancouver and have grown even larger and more lush. My goal is to take the ferry over sometime in the near future and spend the day photographing palms and other gardening plants in Oak Bay.
Also to mrnyc, 3K a tree! Holy shit! haha!
PS - Thanks for the feed back everyone!