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Old Posted Sep 3, 2010, 9:16 PM
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Palm Trees of Canada

Yes, there are palm trees in Canada, but of course they are along the west coast of BC, mostly along the east side of Vancouver Island (Victoria and Nanaimo) the Vancouver area and the sunshine coast north of Vancouver. They are primarily the windmill palm, but there are also Cordylines and two species of banana. I believe in the mildest areas there are a few other varieties that are able to survive as well, but they require more attention than the ones listed above.

I also recently learned of a local Vancouverite who is selling palms locally (and who also plans on donating some to the city in the future for other parks). Here is the website if interested: http://www.paradisepalms.ca/

Anyways, here is the tour!

We will start in Victoria, which actually by far has the most palms but i only have a few pics of:

This one was taken in early March, Victoria's climate is actually classified as sub Mediterranean due to its ild winters and dry summers.

[img]

These pics were taken in April










Now to Vancouver, which I have many many more pics of!

Here are a bunch at an older apartment complex in the Kits area.









These are the palms that most people see when they come to Vancouver, for they are in English Bay, a popular tourist trap. In fact as i was taking these pictures (these ones are from yesterday) I overheard an American couple from Martha's Vineyard exclaiming that there are palm trees in Canada!









Looks like a jungle! (This one is my favorite of the day)





Have to love Vancouver!



















These next ones are outside of an apartment building near English Bay







This one looks like a scene right out of southern Europe to me



The famous Blenz Palm Tree



The High School across the street



And now on Robson Street










Now here are a few from my neck of the woods, Maple Ridge, a burb of Van














These ones are from Sechelt, a small town on the Snshine Coast, north of Vancouver.














And last but not least, here is a pic of the Arbutus tree, which is native to the south Coast of BC. It is a beautiful tree and is evergreen. It is by far Canada's most exotic native tree.



Al pics are my own!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/30634635@N03/

Cheers!
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Last edited by Metro-One; Dec 12, 2017 at 2:57 PM.
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  #2  
Old Posted Sep 3, 2010, 9:51 PM
billy corgan billy corgan is offline
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I don’t see how this has anything to do about cities or architecture but windmill palms and banana trees are located in eastern Canada as well. In the past few years’ hardy tropicals are popping up all over the place. In Niagara on the Lake there are a few windmill and needle palms plus monkey puzzle trees (unprotected). Banana trees have been used as perennials in southern Ontario since I was a kid.
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Old Posted Sep 3, 2010, 9:57 PM
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Gardening is a big part of urban landscapes That is how it ties in.

But I do know that growing a palm in Ontario obviously takes much more work, and they will be far more stunted / grow slower than that of Vancouver or Victoria. The same as growing a palm in new York takes a lot more work than growing one in Seattle, which has the same climate as Vancouver.
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Old Posted Sep 15, 2010, 3:37 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Metro-One View Post
Gardening is a big part of urban landscapes That is how it ties in.

But I do know that growing a palm in Ontario obviously takes much more work, and they will be far more stunted / grow slower than that of Vancouver or Victoria. The same as growing a palm in new York takes a lot more work than growing one in Seattle, which has the same climate as Vancouver.
It really depends what kind of palms. Most of them prefer heat(it's a palms after all) so they will grow faster in Ontario than in Victoria/Vancouver but it will need protection in winter.

For example the needle palm:
Quote:
Needle Palms need hot, humid summer temperatures to thrive and the species does not grow well in the Pacific Northwest.
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Old Posted Sep 3, 2010, 9:58 PM
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I really dislike the idea of palm trees in Canada. It just seems so unnatural and doesn't go with the landscape/architecture in any way.
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Old Posted Sep 3, 2010, 11:01 PM
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Originally Posted by destroycreate View Post
I really dislike the idea of palm trees in Canada. It just seems so unnatural and doesn't go with the landscape/architecture in any way.
I don't get this complaint. For the most part, the types of palms occurring in these photos are naturally found in colder climates. Just because some people associate palms with tropical climates doesn't take away the simple fact that this plant species has adapted over the course of time to be sustainable in less than tropical environments. And yet on the west coast of Canada, where the climate actually is quite mild, it's wrong for them to be grown there? Granted the palms aren't original to the area, but I'd be surprised if there are many locations anywhere in the world that *only* have growing plants that are original to their area. I think their use in the landscaping seen in some of these photos is quite nice.

(The banana palms seem a little more odd, but if people are willing to put in the work to have them there, I say more power to them... I'm all for increasing greenery within cities.)
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Old Posted Oct 8, 2011, 6:49 PM
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Originally Posted by OhioGuy View Post
I don't get this complaint. For the most part, the types of palms occurring in these photos are naturally found in colder climates. Just because some people associate palms with tropical climates doesn't take away the simple fact that this plant species has adapted over the course of time to be sustainable in less than tropical environments. And yet on the west coast of Canada, where the climate actually is quite mild, it's wrong for them to be grown there? Granted the palms aren't original to the area, but I'd be surprised if there are many locations anywhere in the world that *only* have growing plants that are original to their area. I think their use in the landscaping seen in some of these photos is quite nice.

(The banana palms seem a little more odd, but if people are willing to put in the work to have them there, I say more power to them... I'm all for increasing greenery within cities.)
Do the coastal areas of the US have pallm trees too? I haven't seen too many.
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Old Posted Sep 3, 2010, 11:18 PM
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Originally Posted by destroycreate View Post
I really dislike the idea of palm trees in Canada. It just seems so unnatural and doesn't go with the landscape/architecture in any way.
Have you seen the landscape of most of Southern BC? Identical to Southern/Central California pretty much
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Old Posted Sep 4, 2010, 12:35 AM
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Nice pictures. It is still strange for me to see palm trees in Canada, even though they can grow there.

What is that more lush, more tropical-looking palm called? Is it a banana palm? We have some of those here in Delaware (another place where palm trees look out of place) in people's yards, but I never knew what type they were.
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Old Posted Sep 4, 2010, 1:05 AM
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Yep, those are banana trees, here you simply stick them in the ground and they grow back every year (they die back usually in November, or December in southern BC, depending on where you are, when the temperature drops below -2 C (28 F) for the first time). So all growth there is one years worth of growth. But here their roots don't freeze.

Last year, during our really hot summer, some people actually had a few bearing fruit (of course really small), such as my neighbors down the street. Our long frost free season helps them a lot.

There are two types that can grow here though, the first is the pure green one (the most common) and it is the most hardy, and that is likely the one you see in Delaware. The other is the one with the mixed green / purple leaves you can see in a couple of my pics, they are less frost hardy but still do fine here.

Obviously all of the exotics here are outside year round (many of my pics shown are taken in early March and early April for example).

Many of the windmill palms shown have grown much larger over the past 10 years (when i first started taking an interest in them) A few of them, as shown in a couple pics, are approaching 30 feet tall.
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Old Posted Sep 4, 2010, 1:49 AM
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Thnks for clearing that up for me.

One thing that I forgot to add is that that arbutus tree looks great. It looks like something I would expect to see in Australia.
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Old Posted Sep 15, 2010, 4:38 AM
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Originally Posted by destroycreate View Post
I really dislike the idea of palm trees in Canada. It just seems so unnatural and doesn't go with the landscape/architecture in any way.
Nor does it go with all those crazies that mug you in the middle of the day. The type so intimidating that you don't even chase them down to get your stuff back. Am I right, or am I right?
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Old Posted Mar 9, 2012, 5:40 PM
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Originally Posted by destroycreate View Post
I really dislike the idea of palm trees in Canada. It just seems so unnatural and doesn't go with the landscape/architecture in any way.
There are numerous cities around the world including San Francisco where they aren't native to the area.

It does seem kind of weird, but to me they're just like adding park benches or art, etc...
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Old Posted Mar 9, 2012, 6:45 PM
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SW Ontario: Windmill palms survive ?

Hi Metro-One,

Thanks for posting more pictures of Windmill palms, especially pictures in the winter.

I really enjoyed the pictures you posted, along with others. Had I not found your thread, I would never have realized there are palms trees in Canada, thanks for creating this thread.

Do you know where else in BC these windmill palms survive outdoors in terms of areas colder than Vancouver (zone 8a).

I am trying to see if they will survive outdoors without protection in southern and SW Ontario in the future.

Toronto: 6a (not downtown)
Toronto: 6b (downtown, near lake Ontario)
Niagara region: 6b
Windsor/SW Ontario: 6b-7a
St Catharines just West of Niagara Falls: 7a Surprise !

I am hoping one day when tourists from the US visiting SW Ontario or Niagara Falls will exclaim (as your earlier post) "Wow, Ontario has palm trees ... ! "

Thank you !

Last edited by Toronto6A6B; Mar 9, 2012 at 7:30 PM. Reason: Added one paragraph
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Old Posted Mar 9, 2012, 8:07 PM
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Originally Posted by Toronto6A6B View Post
Hi Metro-One,

Thanks for posting more pictures of Windmill palms, especially pictures in the winter.

I really enjoyed the pictures you posted, along with others. Had I not found your thread, I would never have realized there are palms trees in Canada, thanks for creating this thread.

Do you know where else in BC these windmill palms survive outdoors in terms of areas colder than Vancouver (zone 8a).

I am trying to see if they will survive outdoors without protection in southern and SW Ontario in the future.

Toronto: 6a (not downtown)
Toronto: 6b (downtown, near lake Ontario)
Niagara region: 6b
Windsor/SW Ontario: 6b-7a
St Catharines just West of Niagara Falls: 7a Surprise !

As far as I know there is no 7a zone in Southern Ontario. At least the Natural Resources Canada site don't show it, but it does show the very small 5b area on the South shore of Montreal which is no bigger than downtown Toronto. (this is the only 5b zone in Quebec, aside from the Magdalene islands)


atlas.nrcan.gc.ca
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Old Posted Mar 9, 2012, 8:28 PM
Toronto6A6B Toronto6A6B is offline
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Zones in SW/S Ontario

I know, it's very confusing as I found conflicting websites as well. Some shows Windsor 6b whereas some shows Windsor 7a, St Catharines 7a, some even shows Pelee Island 7b ... Wow !

This website shows Windsor, St Catharines, Niagara Falls 7a, Pelee Island 7b
http://www.veseys.com/ca/en/learn/re...7mhnaoe012q070

This website shows St Catharines 7a, Windsor & Niagara Falls 6b
http://www.plantmaps.com/interactive...diness-map.php

But in both websites, St Catharines (Niagara-On-The-Lake) is in 7a.
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Old Posted Apr 10, 2017, 1:36 AM
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Needle palm in my backward
20170409_144621 by DjeepMtl, sur Flickr
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  #18  
Old Posted Mar 17, 2012, 7:08 AM
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Originally Posted by Surrealplaces View Post
There are numerous cities around the world including San Francisco where they aren't native to the area.

It does seem kind of weird, but to me they're just like adding park benches or art, etc...
I don't know what's weird about palm trees existing in a city like Vancouver with it's mild weather (albeit a fair bit of rain). I remember the city planting some palms on a median in Victoria years ago (they've flourished since) and there being a bit of an uproar over putting in a plant that wasn't indigenous to the area. I laughed knowing that palms aren't even indigenous to the city that made them famous in North America-Los Angeles.
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Old Posted Jan 28, 2017, 12:22 AM
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Originally Posted by destroycreate View Post
I really dislike the idea of palm trees in Canada. It just seems so unnatural and doesn't go with the landscape/architecture in any way.
I like it

As you likely know many of the Asian palm species can survive here in Denmark too, but the mindset here is that it's unnatural and thus is a very rare sight, typically only in private yards ( with the exception of a few places such as beaches that wants to attract tourists )


As I see it the plants in nations these days are so mixed and non native anyways, so palm trees are a very welcome sight and I think it's awesome that Canada has embraced it rather than go all NIMBY on it, like us silly Danes tend to do..
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Old Posted Feb 20, 2021, 12:47 PM
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I really dislike the idea of palm trees in Canada. It just seems so unnatural and doesn't go with the landscape/architecture in any way.
What about cactus? There are cactus in Canada, even a desert in British Columbia. Osoyos area. Prickly pear cactus are common... If somebody can show me Saguaro cactus growing in B.C. I'd be really impressed. In Toronto, amazed. Not Winnipeg-- impossible! By the way, prickly pear cactus also grow in unexpected areas in the U.S., near Chicago for example on the Indiana dunes. There might even be cactus in New England, on Cape Cod for example. By the way..palm trees and cactus are NOT native to L.A.. the nearest natives are out in the desert near Palm Springs. The most typical native vegetation is chaparral shrubland and scattered oak woodland in damper places. Spiky yuccas are native to the area in the brushy areas, but I'm not sure if they are "cactus".

Last edited by CaliNative; Feb 20, 2021 at 8:45 PM.
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