Any small needle palms in the lower BC mainland?

ronbruce · Post by **ronbruce** » Fri Aug 21, 2009 7:17 am

Would anyone know if there is any to be had anywhere or must I resort to seed?

It would be nice to start with a larger plant but my wallet says no.

Thanks for the help.

hardyjim · Post by **hardyjim** » Fri Aug 21, 2009 9:25 am

Try e-bay

ronbruce · Post by **ronbruce** » Fri Aug 21, 2009 7:32 pm

Will check or maybe Craigslist too.....

Rubtherock · Post by **Rubtherock** » Fri Aug 21, 2009 9:31 pm

Too bad your Home Depot probably doesn't have what we have here. All palms have been discounted for the end of season. The smaller ones here have been marked down to six dollars. I bought a few of the 99 dollar fifteen gallon palms that were marked down to 40 bucks.

Paul Ont · Post by **Paul Ont** » Sat Aug 22, 2009 6:06 am

Ron,
If all else fails, Tony at Cole's nursery in Niagara, Ontario, has some 3 gallon needles still in stock (I think). Google coles or 'Niagara tropicals blog' if you're interested.
Just wanted to give you another option!
Paul

BILL MA · Post by **BILL MA** » Sat Aug 22, 2009 6:06 am

How much are you willing to spend Ron? I'm sure there are some places in Seattle that have them. Not sure how much of a pain it is to ship plants into Canada. I wish I had better access to palms, I would mail you some if I did.

Bill

ronbruce · Post by **ronbruce** » Sat Aug 22, 2009 7:26 am

Well I am a bit of a cheap... I mean I'm a bit cheap.

I had considered shipping one in from Broadway Gardens last year. Not sure if that is the same as the one you suggested Paul but I will look it up.

Thanks for the ideas guys. Maybe I will have to slip down to Seattle sometime and see if I can find something somewhere.

I keep wishing tropic.ca would get some needles as they are on the BC coast. I wonder if Maple Leaf Garden Centre in North Van ever carries needles? I think I remember Wes mentioning they sell some neat Yuccas at times. Hmmmm

Okay, just emailed Maple Leaf but pretty sure last year they told me no so we'll see what happens this time.

Laaz · Post by **Laaz** » Sat Aug 22, 2009 9:41 am

You may want to try Home Depot. They have had all of their 3 gal palms on sale for $9.95 for a while down here. That included Needles over growing their pots. If they don't have them in stock, they may be able to order some in. The grower is Morning star nursery I believe.

My needles have seed on them, but won't be ready probably until Dec.

Okanagan desert-palms · Sat Aug 22, 2009 12:20 pm

Ron I`m pretty sure you won`t find any Needle palms on the coast. I have tried every nursery and finally gave up and ordered a few from Broadway gardens in Ontario. I have one 7 gal to sell give me a pm if your interested.

John

Paul Ont · Post by **Paul Ont** » Sat Aug 22, 2009 1:51 pm

It's too bad that no one out there will carry them. I guess the fact that T. fortunei is so well known and common (and grows so well) on the coast, makes it less likely that the nurseries will carry other things. Considering that both S. minor and R. hystrix are 'poor' performers in climates with 'cool' summers, it makes sense that proven performers would be perferred. That being said, these hardier plams would be much better suited to the climate in the interior then T. fortunei! Take a look at any desert grown T. fortunei to see why (if you can find a pic you'll see that T. fortunei grown in hot/dry conditions have incredibly small crowns and tedn to look really poor.) Is there not enough of a market in the B.C. interior to support a nursery having some R. hystrix shipped in from the American southeast?

I think in all the nurseries I've visited out there I've only seen: W. robusta, T. fortunei, T. fortunei var. wagnerianus, J. chilensis, and C. humilis. I didn't see one, but I've been told that you can sometimes get Butia capitata as well.

lucky1 · Post by **lucky1** » Sat Aug 22, 2009 2:50 pm

My experience ordering from N./S Carolina (a great nursery called Plant Delights) should cure you of ordering from out of country.

Forum folks will remember this. I ordered 6 Yucca rostrata Sapphire Skies bareroot, just little guys. They were something like $11.00 each at the nursery there. By the time I paid for shipping, taxes, etc, plus the very expensive PHYTOSANITARY certificate (which allows it into Canada showing it's not "infested"), well, I've never admitted what the FINAL cost was...BUT each one of those little yuccas cost me...are you sitting down?....SIXTY DOLLARS.

Ontario nurseries were sold out of them so I had no choice.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it

Barb

PS--yup, they're all doing great! will post some pics later on.

ronbruce · Post by **ronbruce** » Sat Aug 22, 2009 8:33 pm

Wow, it's all quite amazing isn't it?

I know one nursery in town got the those plants here last year, Barb and no one bought them. Also I saw them in a garden centre in Oliver as well. I don't think either location has them this year. I'm glad to hear they are doing well for you. Sad that there is not much interest in them until someone has an amazing one in their yard or a public park and then everyone will want one. We must be the pioneers for others I suppose.

I did see some Butia capitata (pretty sure that's what it said) in Kelowna at the Flower Farm.

Agreed, Paul, they do stick with the cool summer type palms even though the coast was rather toasty this year.

I know there are some neat palms down in the Tri-Cities area of Washington. I wonder if Spokane would have any at all?
Seems like there should be a market for these beautiful plants here but....

Laaz, I may resort to seed yet. I'll think on it, John, thank you.

I did find a place that carries the needle palm seed in Chilliwack but the seed could be old and it does seem a bit of a slow way to go but then the plants would be slow as well.

BILL MA · Post by **BILL MA** » Sun Aug 23, 2009 8:07 am

Give these people a email and see if they would ship to you. It's far away so you would need to see how much it would be. They have very nice products. Might be to far but worth a look.

http://www.chillypalmtree.com/

Bill

ronbruce · Post by **ronbruce** » Sun Aug 23, 2009 8:54 am

Thanks, Bill. Certainly another option for me.

It may be a wee bit expensive to send one here but their site is inspirational as are all of you.

lucky1 · Post by **lucky1** » Sun Aug 23, 2009 10:35 am

Yup, I was also able to find this butia capitata at Art Knapp's nursery last winter.
A tad pricey at approx $54.00 (by U.S. standards), but I was happy to find it.

It's grown like mad in just over half a year.

Good luck finding your needle palm; I've never seen one offered in the Okanagan.
Barb

ronbruce · Post by **ronbruce** » Sun Aug 23, 2009 9:24 pm

Thanks, Barb. I really have looked for several years now but have yet to see one in the flesh. One day even if just from seed.