Tag: Florida

Leipzig Palms Cultivating Hyophorbe Lagenicaulis Bottle Palms

Since last year Leipzig Palms cultivating new palm species who are also great indoor plants. In Germany or Europe they can grow also outdoors from spring to autumn. Some of them even can withstand light frost. The new palms and details will be published until the end of the year. Of course you can order the young plants at the best price on our pages. Orders by eMail are also possible and a complete new shop will come still this year! http://www.lepalms.shop

Hyophorbe lagenicaulis, the bottle palm or palmiste gargoulette, is a species of flowering plant in the Arecaceae family. It is native to Round Island, Mauritius.

Bottle palm has a large swollen (sometimes bizarrely so) trunk. It is a myth that the trunk is a means by which the palm stores water. Bottle palms have only four to six leaves open at any time. The leaves of young palms have a red or orange tint, but a deep green is assumed at maturity. The flowers of the palm arise from under the crownshaft.

This species is often confused with its relative, the Spindle Palm, which also has a swollen trunk. However the Spindle palm’s trunk swells in the middle (resembling the shape of a spindle), whereas the trunk of the Bottle palm swells from near the base and tapers further up. Its inflorescence branches in 4 orders, and its 2.5 cm fruits can be orange or black. The trunk of both species becomes more and more slender as the palm ages.

Within Mauritius, the only other extant Hyophorbe species is the common Hyophorbe vaughanii. The Bottle palm can be distinguished from this species however, by its swollen trunk when young; by its much smaller (2.5 cm) orange or black fruits; and by its inflorescence, which branches in four orders rather than three.

The bottle palm is naturally endemic to Round Island, off the coast of Mauritius. While habitat destruction may destroy the last remaining palms in the wild, the survival of the species is assured due to its ubiquitous planting throughout the tropics and subtropics as a specimen plant. It is one of three Hyophorbe species which naturally occur in Mauritius, and one of only two that are still extant.

Bottle palms are very cold sensitive and are killed at 0 °C (32 °F) or colder for any appreciable length of time. They may survive a brief, light frost, but will have foliage damage. Only southern Florida and Hawaii provide safe locations in the USA to grow Bottle Palm, although mature flowering specimens may be occasionally be seen in favored microclimates around Cape Canaveral and Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater in coastal central Florida. It makes a fine container-grown palm in other locations as long as it is protected from the cold and not overwatered.

Source: Wikipedia

The future of agriculture is ecofarming, community farming, urban gardening, greening, aqua-, hydro- and permaculture! Greening Deserts projects like Leipzig Palms (LE Palms) and Urban Greening will also work in these fields and areas. If we finally get a place to start with the first Research and Greening Camp in Africa or MENA region and Europe we can start finally with all the important projects and research.

We need more environmental awareness and sustainability (sustainable living and work) in all fields or areas. We need to create a world of understanding, acceptance, respect, tolerance, compassion and consciousness. – Oliver Gediminas Caplikas

Greening Deserts and Leipzig Palms Cultivating Rare Palm Trees

Greening Deserts projects like Leipzig Palms (LE Palms) do not conservating and cultivating just endangered plants like rare trees. Beautiful decorative and ornamental palm trees are another speciality.

We care for endangered animals and plants around the world. Show some love and support our projects by constructive feedback or by buying some palms or palm products. http://www.lepalms.shop 

Bismarckia (Bismarck Palm Tree) is a monotypic genus of flowering plant in the palm family endemic to western and northern Madagascar where they grow in open grassland. The genus is named for the first chancellor of the German Empire Otto von Bismarck and the epithet for its only species, Bismarckia nobilis, comes from Latin for ‘noble’.

Bismarckia nobilis grows from solitary trunks, gray to tan in color, which show ringed indentations from old leaf bases. Trunks are 30 to 45 cm in diameter, slightly bulging at the base, and free of leaf bases in all but its youngest parts. In their natural habitat they can reach above 25 meters in height but usually get no taller than 12 m in cultivation. The nearly rounded leaves are enormous in maturity, over 3 m wide, and are divided to a third its length into 20 or more stiff, once-folded segments, themselves split on the ends. The leaves are induplicate and costapalmate, producing a wedge-shaped hastula where the blade and petiole meet. Petioles are 2–3 m, slightly armed, and are covered in a white wax as well as cinnamon-colored caducous scales; the nearly-spherical leaf crown is 7.5 m wide and 6 m tall. Most cultivated Bismarckias feature silver-blue foliage although a green leaf variety exists (which is less hardy to cold). These palms are dioecious and produce pendent, interfoliar inflorescences of small brown flowers which, in female plants, mature to a brown ovoid drupe, each containing a single seed.

Found only in Madagascar, an island well known for its rich diversity of unique taxa, Bismarckia is one genus among a diverse palm flora (some 170 palms of which 165 are solely in Madagascar). They grow in the plains of the central highlands, nearly reaching the western and northern coasts, in savannas of low grass, usually in lateritic soil. As much of this land has been cleared with fire for agricultural use, Bismarckias, along with other fire-resistant trees like Ravenala madagascariensis and Uapaca bojeri, are the most conspicuous components of this arid region.

Bismarck palms are grown throughout the tropics and subtropics under favorable microclimates. They are planted in several areas of Florida in the United States, as well as in a few areas of Southern California, and southern Arizona. It is also grown in many parts of Indonesia and Australia. Bismarck palms will suffer from cold damage but they quickly recover. The green variety is more cold sensitive than is the silver-gray variety. The green variety is damaged at 32 °F (0°), but the silver-gray variety will tolerate 28 °F (−3 °C) and will recover from 23 °F (−6 °C). While Bismarckia tolerate some drought, they thrive in areas with adequate rainfall. Because of their massive crowns, they need plenty of room in a landscape area.

Bismarck palms are easy to grow in the right environment as they are adaptable to a wide range of soils and prefer to have good drainage as the Bismarck does not like to have root rot. The Bismarck palm can adapt to either acidic or alkaline soil and prefers to be watered directly into the root system or sprayed through the palm heart. When planting the Bismarck palm make sure to not to cover up any part of the trunk, as this will lead to problems as the Bismarck palm is susceptible to be eaten by microorganisms that live naturally in soil and other mediums.

Source: Wikipedia

Palms or palm trees can be used for professional agriculture (ecofarming) and diverse forestry in dry and barren landscapes. Many palms are very drought- and heat-resistent. They can protect (by dropping shadow and holding water) other smaller plants around, for example crops or young trees.  Greening Deserts and Leipzig Palms refer to some palms as ‘protectors and wards from the desert’. They are also good to improve the climate and cool down whole cities or urban areas. We therefore recommend palm trees not only for German or European opencast mining areas (open pit deserts), but also for the reform of agriculture and forestry.

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

Cultivation of Butia Palms in Leipzig Germany

Butia palms or jelly palms are diverse crops and useful plants. In their countries of origin, the jelly palm is grown as a crop, because the plants carry plum-sized fruits, which are suitable for direct consumption as well as for the production of jelly and marmalades. The taste has similarities to peaches and pineapple. The particularly nutritious kernels are excellent for producing animal feed but also eaten as a nut.

From single seeds up to three seedlings can grow. The frost resistance varies depending on the plant between -8 °C and -15 °C. Butia is one quite undemanding palm, which is also suitable for planting in mild areas here with us. It makes low demands on the ground, prefers a high sand content and thus good drainage, but then would like to be poured abundantly in summer. Like the origin from a very precipitous area suggests, it has no problems with wet. The substrate should always be slightly damp being held. Suitable substrate is coconut fiber substrate, vermiculite, perlite or a mixture of these three substrate types. All these substrates are germ-free and provide good moisture retention. The jelly palm prefers the brightest possible location with good sunlight. Most palm seeds germinate in reasonable conditions within one to three months. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butia

LE Palms (Leipzig Palms) cultivates the three species Butia capitata, Butia odorata and Butia yatay. These varieties are very resistant or robust and tolerate frost and a bit more cold temperatures, so they are relatively winter hardy. Winter protection themes will be described in a few more articles this year.

Butia capitata, also known as jelly palm, is a palm native to Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay. This palm grows up to 8m (exceptionally 10m) in an
extremely fast manner. It is easily identifiable with feather palm pinnate leaves that arch inwards towards a thick stout trunk.
Butia capitata is notable as one of the hardiest feather palms, tolerating temperatures down to about -10 °C; it is widely cultivated in temperate climates. In the United States, B. capitata is grown along the West Coast from San Diego to Seattle, and along the East Coast from Florida to Virginia Beach, with a few known plantings north to the Long Island, NY area. Butia capitata has become naturalized in some areas of the Southern United States, from Virginia to Florida.
Ripe fruit are about the size of large cherry, and yellowish/orange in color, but can also include a blush towards the tip. The taste is a mixture of pineapple, apricot, and vanilla. Taste can vary depending on soil conditions, and the tastes of apple, pineapple, and banana together is also common. It is tart and sweet at the same time, with a flesh similar to a loquat, but slightly more fibrous. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butia_capitata

Butia odorata is native to the grasslands, and dry woodlands and savannahs of South America. Populations range across a wide area of northern Argentina, southern Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay. Long pinnate leaves that arch and recurve towards the ground from atop a thick stout trunk. The trunk can grow to 20 feet, but normally reaches 12-15 ft (3.7-4.6 m) with a diameter of 1-1.5 ft (0.3-0.5 m). Trees 3-5 m tall, 40-50 cm in diam. This palm was also known incorrectly as Butia capitata for many years. The true Butia capitata was first described and named by Martius as Cocos capitata in 1826. It was discovered in the state of Minas Gerais by Martius near the town of Montes Claros and is a cerrado-loving palm endemic to the central planalto region of Brazil. It is a very different palm from the more robust coastal plane or restinga-loving “Butia capitata” of Uruguay and Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil.
Full sun to moderate shade (the fronds grow longer in shady situations, giving the palm a more graceful aspect than those grown in full sun). Prefers sandy, well drained soil but is adaptable and very drought tolerant. Regular watering and feeding will produce a faster growing, more attractive palm. http://www.palmpedia.net/wiki/Butia_odorata

Butia odorata can tolerate freezing temperatures to about -15°C (5°F). It naturally occurs in open, sun exposed, montane or lowland hilly
locations, and should be planted to maximise sunshine exposure.

Butia yatay is long-lived, can grow up to 12 meters and is thus higher than most other species of the genus Butia. Her tribe is from covered with dark leaf bases. The up to 2 m long, bluish leaves are pinnate. The yellow inflorescences contain up to 100 flowers. The fruits have a diameter of 3 to 5 cm and are not edible for humans. But they attract many birds and were the main food of the probably extinct turquoise macaw. In its region of origin in the south of Brazil, Uruguay and northeastern Argentina, the Yatay palm once formed large forests. She grew up there on sandy soil. Many of them were cleared for agricultural use. The largest preserved Yatay forest is located on one area of approximately 85 km² in the El Palmar National Park in the Argentine province of Entre Ríos. Today Butia yatay is also subtropical in other Regions planted as a decorative palm. It also tolerates dry heat.

 

Cultivation of Diverse Palm Tree Species in Leipzig

Today we want to inform about the first palm species we started to cultivate last years in Leipzig, Saxonia, Germany. All articles and contents on the new website will be translated into German language and you can use the translators on Facebook and Google. We will offer one and two year palms in our upcoming shop and later in the palm store, lounge and café in Leipzig city.

Washingtonia filifera (Lindl. ex André) H.Wendl. California Washingtonia, Northern Washingtonia, California fan palm, or Desert fan palm. Tree to 23 m tall; leaves large, with petiole up to 2 m long, and leaflets up to 2 m long. Inflorescence to 5 m long; flowers white; fruit oval. Southwestern USA, just into extreme northwest Mexico. Palms are often found at the base of mountains, hills and form around desert oasis in the southwest. They are used in landscaping, particularly in southern counties of California.

Washingtonia robusta H.Wendl. Mexican Washingtonia or Southern Washingtonia. Tree to 25 m tall; leaves smaller, with petiole up to 1 m long, and leaflets up to 1 m long. Inflorescence to 3 m long; flowers pale orange-pink; fruit spherical. Northwest Mexico. (Teresa Ribeiro et al.).
The fruit is edible, and was used by Native American people as a minor food source. They are also eaten by birds, which disperse the seeds in their droppings after digesting the fruit pulp. Washingtonia species are also used as food plants by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species, including Paysandisia archon.

Both species are cultivated as ornamental trees, widely planted in California in particular, but also in Florida, extreme southwest Utah, Arizona, southern New Mexico, Texas, the Carolinas and the Mediterranean region in southern Europe and north Africa, parts of Australia, and the leeward sides of the Hawaiian Islands. W. filifera is modestly hardy in drier climate and able to survive brief temperatures in the vicinity of -15 °C (10 °F), provided the air and soil are not too wet, and the afternoon temperatures are not too cold. Intolerance of wet, prolonged cold is the main reason the filifera species cannot grow properly in temperate marine climates. W. robusta is less sensitive to moisture than filifera, but far more easily damaged by cold.

The genus is named after George Washington.

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