June 2018 – LE PALMS

Conservation, Environment, Europe, Germany, News, Nursery, Palms, Sustainability

Conservation Diversity and Environmental Protection

Conservation, diversity and environmental protection is very important for LE Palms (Leipzig Palms). Not just to protect and to cultivate endangered palm species of the red list, but also to research and to trade with usefull crops or palm products. Like Greening Deserts we care a lot the Animal Rights and Human Rights, a healthy and diverse environment is a part of it. Palms are good to cool down urban areas and hot cities, especially for dry or barren (asphalt or concrete) places. They can grow under extreme conditions like less light or high temperatures where other plants would go down. They noticeably improve the city climate.

Palms or palm fruits are food for insects and animals like birds – not just date palms. It is possible to integrate many different palm species for each environment and region in Europe. Of course we can check which will best suit, so that it will be a balanced flora. It would be nice to have a real palm garden similar like the Palmengarten in Leipzig Lindenau, more palm gardens or palm parks in Germany or Europe would be great. That’s why Leipzig Palms have initiated this European palm initiative or movement, we want to inspirate the people, especially for creative city developments and sustainable urban planning. Urban areas are artificial landscapes and need more real natural places like the city forest in Leipzig. Wildlife and wildlife sanctuaries are important, too. All these thematics are treated extensively on Greening Deserts, for example in the master plans and studies. Each constructive feedback and support is always welcome.

Together with Greening Deserts we could change or transform the old Palmgarden in Leipzig into a botanical garden or botanical park without borders – an open place and space like it’s actually.

Conservation, Environment, Europe, Germany, News, Nursery, Palms

Sabal and Palmetto Dwarf Palms

We cultivate also another dwarf palms like Sabal minor, because some palmetto palms are very resistent to heat and coldness. Hardy and robust palms are a speciality of LE Palms (Leipzig Palms).

Sabal minor, commonly known as the dwarf palmetto, is a small species of palm. It is native to the deep southeastern and south-central United States and northeastern Mexico. It is naturally found in a diversity of habitats, including maritime forests, swamps, floodplains, and occasionally on drier sites. It is often found growing in calcareous marl soil. Sabal minor is one of the most frost and cold tolerant among North American palms.

This palm’s native range spans on the Atlantic Coast from central Florida north to Monkey Island, North Carolina. On the Gulf Coast, it spans from central Florida to central Texas, Arkansas, north to southern Kansas, then south in the State of Nuevo León in Mexico.

The dwarf palmetto grows up to 1 m (rarely 3 m) in height, with a trunk up to 30 cm diameter. It is a fan palm (Arecaceae tribe Corypheae), with the leaves with a bare petiole terminating in a rounded fan of numerous leaflets. Each leaf is 1.5–2 m long, with 40 leaflets up to 80 cm long, conjoined over half of this length. The flowers are yellowish-white, 5 mm across, produced in large compound panicles up to 2 m long, extending out beyond the leaves. The fruit is a black drupe 1–1.3 cm long containing a single seed.

Sabal minor is one of the most cold hardy palms, second only to the needle palm, Rhapidophyllum hystrix. It is leaf hardy to near 0 F/-18 C, and has been known to survive brief periods of -5 F temperatures. It is generally cultivated in subtropical and warm temperate climates, however it needs hot and humid summers (tropical summer conditions) to grow well.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sabal_minor

Africa, Conservation, Environment, Europe, Germany, News, Nursery, Palms

Chamaerops Humilis Fan Palms from Leipzig

LE Palms cultivating Chamaerops humilis and Chamaerops humilis var. cerifera in Leipzig, Germany. Other sorts can be cultivated on demand. It is a great fan palm not just for the mediterranean regions like North Africa and South Europe, it’s also a great palm for urban areans and hot cities. Palms are always good to cool down hot areas and to have more diversity for the urban greening.

Chamaerops is a genus of flowering plants in the palm family Arecaceae. The only currently fully accepted species is Chamaerops humilis, variously called European fan palm or the Mediterranean dwarf palm. It is one of the most cold-hardy palms and is used in landscaping in temperate climates. Apart from the fully accepted Chamaerops humilis, there are a few taxa of unresolved status plus numerous species synonymised under Chamaerops humilis. The species Chamaerops humilis itself has three accepted varieties as follows:

Chamaerops humilis var. argentea André (syn. C. h. var. cerifera) – “Atlas mountain palm” of Northwest Africa. Leaves glaucous.
Chamaerops humilis var. epondraes – Northwest Africa. Leaves glaucous.
Chamaerops humilis var. humilis – Southwest Europe. Leaves green.

There also are at least three cultivars (C. humilis var. humilis ‘Nana’, C. humilis ‘Vulcano’, C. humilis ‘Stella’). C. humilis ‘Vulcano’ is a compact, thornless cultivar. May be silvery, but less so than argentea. The leaves tend to be thicker, and the appearance of the plant is bushier than var. humilis or var. argentea.

Chamaerops humilis is one of only two palm species native to continental Europe, the other being Phoenix theophrasti. It is mainly found in southwestern Europe (Malta, Sicily, Sardinia, over all the Mediterranean coast of Spain and Portugal, central and southern Italy, some parts of the southern Mediterranean coast of France and Monaco, as well as northwest Africa (Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia). It is the northernmost naturally occurring palm in the world, with the northernmost standing at Hyères-les-Palmiers, at 43° 07′ N.

Chamaerops humilis is valued in gardening and landscaping in many parts of the world. It is very drought-tolerant once established. It is hardy to −12 °C (10 °F), but does prefer hot summers. It is a very slow-growing plant. The blue form of the species, native to high elevations of the Atlas Mountains, has recently been introduced into the trade and early reports indicate that it may be −12 °C (−22 °F) or more degrees hardier than the green form.

It has gained the Royal Horticultural Society’s Award of Garden Merit. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chamaerops

Conservation, Environment, Europe, Germany, News, Nursery, Palms

Jubaea Chilensis Chilean Wine Palm

Jubaea chilensis, Chilean wine palms or Chile cocopalms from Leipzig are now ready for sale. You can order soon, visit our pages to stay up to date. http://www.lepalms.shop

Jubaea is a genus of palms (family Arecaceae) with one species, Jubaea chilensis, or J. spectabilis, the Chilean wine palm or Chile cocopalm. It is native to southwestern South America, where it is endemic to a small area of central Chile, between 32°S and 35°S in southern Coquimbo, Valparaíso, Santiago, O’Higgins and northern Maule regions. It was long assumed that the extinct palm tree of Easter Island belonged to this genus too, but it is distinct and now placed in its own genus, Paschalococos.

The tree grows very slowly, as it is usual for palm trees. It takes several years until the Jubaea starts getting its weight and size. It may take more than 20 years for the plant to get the height of a medium tree. It can reach a height of 25 m (82 ft) with a trunk up to 1.3 m (4.3 ft) in diameter at the base, often thicker higher up, and with smooth bark. The thickest well-documented Jubaea was that on the estate of J. Harrison Wright in Riverside, California which was 5′ 6″ (1.68 m) thick “at shoulder height”. The largest of several specimens at the Adelaide, South Australia Botanic Garden in 1889 was stated to be 6 ft (1.8 m) thick at the base. A hollow (but living) Jubaea in the Valle de Ocoa in La Campana National Park, Chile is between six and seven feet (between 1.8 and 2.1 m) thick at the base, with no apparent taper in the lower trunk. The 3–5 m (9.8–16.4 ft) leaves are pinnate. The largest individual specimen of indoor plant in the world was the Jubaea chilensis at Kew Gardens which was cut off by Kew Gardens in 2014 because it grew to the top of its greenhouse, England. Of the 2,600+ known species of palms, Jubaea chilensis is the second most massive, exceeded only by the floodplain or river bottom variety of Borassus aethiopum.

It needs mild winters, but will tolerate frosts down to about -15 °C (5 °F) as well as relatively cool summers, making it one of the hardiest of pinnate-leaved palms; this is because it grows up to 1,400 metres (4,600 ft) above sea level in its natural habitat. In the wild, the tree lives almost exclusively on the steep slopes of ravines.

In the U.S. this palm grows best in dry summer climates like most of California, and in semi arid climates in parts of Arizona, New Mexico, and west Texas. Generally, this is not a palm for tropical climates like Hawaii, Florida, or parts of northern Australia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jubaea

Archive: 30. June 2018

Conservation Diversity and Environmental Protection

Sabal and Palmetto Dwarf Palms

Chamaerops Humilis Fan Palms from Leipzig

Jubaea Chilensis Chilean Wine Palm