To może tekst w orginale;
I can even recall the specific moment when I
decided that I would grow palms. In 1957 I left
my home, a small village near Ghent in Belgium,
for a business trip in Italy. After having crossed
France, I arrived on the other side of Mont Blanc
in the Italian town Aosta. When I was driving my
car from Aosta towards Ivrea, my attention was
suddenly drawn to something that looked like a
palm tree at least 500m away. When I got closer, I
saw the characteristic stem of a palm tree with a
big crown of leaves, planted very close to the wall
of a house. This palm tree was later identified as
being a Trachycarpus fortunei, but 40 years ago,
this name was practically not known. At that time,
"Chamaerops excelsa" was used, though we now
know this species does not exist. (There is, of
course, a Chamaerops humilis, which is completely
different). From that moment on, after seeing that
a palm tree could grow in such an inhospitable
region, I decided that I would grow palms.
I started a nursery in 1963 under the name of
“Plantimpex," and soon grew and commercialized
Howea forsteriana, an indoor palm tree appreciated
for its durability and ease of cultivation.
I still remember the first two Trachycarpus
fortunei I planted in my garden in May, 1965.
They were imported from Spain through a local
nurseryman, and grew very well for 20 years only
to be destroyed in the 1985/86 winter, which was
the coldest winter in the last 35 years. That January
had a minimum temperature of -18°C which lasted
approximately ten days, followed by a two week
spell of very mild weather, and followed again in
February by another ten days in which the
minimum temperature was as low as -19° C.
I planted more Trachycarpus fortunei between
1965 and 1980, and a lot of those palms survived
that winter, although they all suffered from the
severe cold spell. In February, 1967, I planted
about ten T. fortunei, all 3 to 5m high and
imported directly from Italy. They all grew well
until 1985 when they were mostly killed during
that infamous winter. In the spring of 1975 most
palms were in full bloom, and my surprise came
in the summer of 1976 when I discovered some
small palms only a few centimeters high growing
in the shadows of the big ones. They survived the
winter of 1985 and by now have reached 3 1/2 to
4m with trunks 2 1/2 to 3m high.
I could not stay with just one genera and
species, of course, even though I still consider
Trachycarpus fortunei to be the best palm tree for
In Chamaerops,
for instance, there have been several articles by
palm enthusiasts about palms that are now grown
in countries where you would not suspect them to
grow, such as Austria, Azebaidjan, Bulgaria,
Crimea, Georgia, Germany, Holland, and
Scandinavia. In terms of cities, a lot of
Trachycarpus fortunei, among others, have recently
been planted in Paris, and I predict that London
will soon be the capital of palms, as you see them
everywhere.
I hope that these few lines may
encourage other palm enthusiasts all over Europe
who have not yet, for one reason or another, started
planting palms in their own gardens. Wherever
you live, if you can find a southern corner that is
well protected in winter, even in the coldest
regions, you, too, can grow palms.
Chamaerops No. 42 - 2001 A L i f e t i m e o f E x p e r i e n c e
Eric van Speybroeck, Zevergem (De Pinte), Belgium
our region. I believe it even grows better here than
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