Talkback: Exotic plants in winter

I have been growing exotic plants for most of live and try to see what plants can take. Have bamboos which are not meant to grow out site here in the UK. I have ginger plants which flower each year from the 1985 that is meant not grow here in the UK. I have also had the Banana plants which have also grown outside. I have plants that grow side of pond which are not meant grow outside and one is in books as a house plant only. I have also grow Drosera binata from Australia and Drosera capensis which comes from south Africa and Venus fly traps which all grow outside. And have many more insectivorous plants that are said in older books not take below 5C but Saracenia leuco' has been in bog garden for years now. see www.insectivorousplants.co.uk for list of some more plants that can be grown outside. Yes I know that many of these plants are able to grow here in UK because of the global warming which is not giving our normal seasons at the right length. A lot of gardeners are being told the message today as the so called "Global warming " is going to give us all a very mixed weathers and not the dry weathers many think. We are going to have hotter times with colder times and wetter times with high winds and more Storm's and it will only wost until we stop the greed of people that are just using chemicals in petrol's plastic's burning gases and coals, when we could get all the power from the seas with wave power, as wind is not right as cost more in use of carbon then it safes. with power used to clean the blades and power to start and stop the blades as they only work in the right kind of winds. nuclear is the worst with carbon used to make power plant and then take them down again and who wish to have waste put next them when it will give higher illness and still births and that 1000's of years to become safer. " has any one lived that long know the Truth. So we all need to only have two children each couple and cut down the waste of the worlds resources, or this world is going die. Think of what we do in our life's as to the damage we can do, so no two holidays abroad a year and only one home each and help live by digging up your lawn ( using power just to have a cut grass ? )and plant it with plants and small pools of water to help the other live in world. We gardeners should be able to use as must water as we like to keep our plants alive all year around it's up to the water companies make millions and should give clean safe and build more places to hold water and even take out of the sea which is all around us, like other place in the world do. so never have water band again.

Based in London and trying to grow two Canary Palms, both in pots (approx 50cm diametre x 50cm deep), alas without success. They are both browning on the frond tips and I'm wondering whether this is a drainage problem. I don't think that the cold weather has helped but they have been unresponsive since last summer. any advice would be gratefully received.

i live in kirkby nr liverpool and i have growen banarners for about six years in my back garden i cover them up with flece fore the winter and i have not lost one yet

help my Canary island date palm ,i thought has survived & have lived trough this awful winter but on closer look it seems seems to have died in the middle will this affect the plant? will it stil grow ,or should i dig it up & buy a new 1.

I have a cordyline which has grown too big for its space .Is it possible to prune it and if it is when is the best time? josiel.

MY CANARY ISLAND DATE PALM HAS ROTTED FROM THE CENTRE IS IT NOW DEAD OR WILL IT RE SHOOT?

Keith, I'm guessing that it's now dead, and unlikely to re-shoot if it has rotted. Time for a trip to teh garden centre to find a replacement, perhaps.

Is the canary palm still alive??

The roots appear to be healthy the are firm and full of sap the leaves that were pruned back in previous years are green and healthy, the leaves that appear from the centre have rotted, should I wait and see?

I have just returned from Galloway in South West Scotland and seen lots of palms, young and mature in gardens. Just wondered if it was this species (I think it is) and if the mild coastal temperatures help, despite the wet climate.

hi keith, i'd say it's game over with your canary island date palm. if the center has rotted and you can pull the middle of the plant out, there is no chance of it making a recovery in the uk, even if the root ball and a couple of fronds still look ok. they are very slow growing and it will take years for it to recover. the canary island date palm is a master at "sulking" when not treated right. it could remain un-responsive for years, yet still be alive. i'd start again if i were you, if you actually want to see one grow and achieve good height and grow more fronds. they take long enough to grow as it is, so your wasting your time watching one with a rotten center! classic sign of frost damage or over watering. people flood these trees thinking it will make them grow faster, they have an excellent root system that is designed for seeking out the slightest bit of moisture. these trees grow in egypt and dubai where there is basically zero rainfall! uk rainfall is more than enough for them, so only water once when you plant them. but from my experience with growing these, rotten center is most likely frost and extreme cold damage. i'm not saying your tree has died keith, but unless you can plant it in florida for a while it aint gonna get any bigger!!

Hi Jason thanks for your advice, I actually bought a rplacement yesterday but instead of growing it elsewhere I wil now grow it in place of the dead one. Thanks Keith

no prob keith, hope you have better luck with this one!....i might try my hand at growing a coconut palm!...now thats a challenge coz it needs a minimum temp of around 75 degrees, even at night!....canary island palms will tolerate a few nights of hard frost, but with the coconut palm just one night of frost will kill it, they aint so forgiving! i read a few internet articles where people have actually got a supermarket bought coconut to germinate. the coconut itself is the seed so i just gonna half bury it, keep it warm and hope it will sprout!

I have just bouht a coconut plant/tree but with no instructions as to planting nor after care. Can you advise? please.

. Good day to you all,I lost two Phoenix Canaries Palm last winter both rotted in the center, both where Protected with fleece.But the Chamaerops Humilis came through all right. i Have four Banana Plants,Two Red Abyssinian and Two Muss Basjoo,i have them in a small lean to greenhouse. Question is will i need to protect them with Fleece as well the greenhouse is not heated, but i am going to line it with bubble rap will the bubble rap be sufficient

hey peops....hi cathy it depends where you plan to grow your coconut palm, the uk is not as ideal as barbados lol....hi brightdicksonia, i have a few mussa basjoos and i dont bother with green houses or fleeces, i just cut all the leaves off around begining of december, just leaving the trunks. they look like giant leeks but come march time new leaves will suddenly appear again. during spring and summer you should get a new leaf every week from a basjoo, which is why it aint worth trying to protect and save the leaves from the previous year.....just let them die and cut them off. during real hard frosts i just wrap an old bit of carpet around the trunks and tie it with string. a basjoo will survive in the uk no problem, and if the worse comes to the worse, you can still chop the whole plant off at ground level and it will still grow up again in spring. the roots and rhiyzome below the ground will stand up to the most freezing of weather. i trim off the pups when they sprout up and they also grow on quickly.......i think the original musa basjoos that i began with must be great great grandparents by now!!

Sadly my date palm has lost all its green and is completely brown apart from a little bit of green in the middle. Is it worth me cutting back all of the brown fronds leaving just the centre and seeing if it survives or should I just shed a tear and buy a new one?

Reply to Jackie: Yes, I'd cut off brown leaves and hope the centre of the plant is still living. Do give it a couple of months to start growing. Winter has only just passed, and spring is hardly here yet!

Here in Bournemouth, close to the sea where it can be a little milder - nearly all the tender plants survived except for a large Phoenix Canariensis which has a rotten centre like Keith's. The rest is alive and ten feet across. I know how slow these plants grow (3-4 leaves a year)and to wait for a sign of a shoot from the trunk is probably unlikely.

I have a chamaerops palm and the ends are going a little brown what can I do >>>>