Palm Trees, In Ireland??

Ireland Strange things · 18 comments


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Why in the world are there palme trees in northern Ireland

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18 thoughts on “Palm Trees, In Ireland??”

  1. I wouldn’t say that this is really that unusual. I’ve seen palm trees in people’s gardens more than once in the north of England. Sure, they obviously haven’t grown in these places naturally, and are probably a bit over the top on the owners’ part, but not that strange.

  2. Unusual perhaps, but there are palms and cacti that are quite hardy in a variety of climates. If you can find one they add visual zest to any garden or yard.

  3. That’s exactly the same as asking, “why are there palm trees in southern italy”. You idiot freak.

  4. They’re cordylines, not palms and are native to New Zealand where they grow in areas experiencing frequent sub-zero temperatures in winter. They survive in gardens as far north as Norway. Although tall ones are less popular, smaller varieties are very common garden plants throughout the British Isles and certainly hardy in my east-coast Scottish garden.

    There is a true palm, the Nikau, which is also hardy in southern (colder) latitude in New Zealand and would probably also survive, quite happily, in Northern Ireland.

  5. Commonly known as cabbage trees here in NZ. Be warned the leaves will choke up a lawnmower, don’t run over them. I wouldn’t have one in my garden.

  6. I am a bit embarrassed only after this was published did I notice that these trees were all over Northern Ireland.

  7. you can grow a variety of palms in ireland.cordylines are not a palm,but you can grow date palms like you see in spain.windmill palms, buta palms native to south america,all hardy to are climate.take a visit to your local b and q or homebase in summer.i grow five variety’s of palms and other exotics.i live in the west coast of ireland galway.

  8. Just got back from Ireland. They really can grow palms! Not a surprise, since palms can be grown as far north as coastal NC. I live in FL and know that the cordylines are not palms.

  9. The trachycarpus fortunei and trachycarpus wagnerianus can withstand -18 degrees centigrade. My palms withstood the harsh winter of 2008/2009. The trees were completely covered by snow and survived 🙂

  10. Actually John as you can see above I felt embarrassed about 90 days ago.

  11. I’ve been given a tiny seedling of an irish palmtree, originating from Cork. It seems to be doing fine in my garden, It has grown about 10 cm. in 2 months!
    I live in the Netherlands btw, close to the coast, with quite cold coastal winds. Wonder if it will survive our winter or whether I have to dig it out and store it in the cold greenhouse.

  12. hannie you have a young cordyline and they can grow quiet fast,you should give it some winter protection till it gets a bit older.they can take up -5-6 with no damage.

  13. I live in Northern Ireland and I grow those trees in front of our house.They are not typical palm trees.They are known as Cabbage trees,and are monocots like other palm varieties.They are native to New Zealand and tolerate cold better than other palms.

  14. I live in Ireland and we have one of these in our garden, its not a palm tree. Spikers right, its getting cut down because the leaves mess up the lawnmower

  15. the plants in the pic aren’t palmtrees but Cordylines, they resemble palmtrees. But there ARE genuine palmtrees groing in ireland, the UK and the netherlands, usually trachycarpus fortunei’s that can take frost of below -15C.

  16. Can you recommend any trees of this type that will flourish in northeast Ohio, u.s.? Our winters can be severe at times. This past season reaching feel like temp of -35F. This is unusual of course and normal temps can fall as low
    as zero degrees F. We also experience plenty of snow.

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