Palm Day at Kew
Steve Swinscoe with a report of a wonderfully
palmy day.
Steve Swinscoe, Manatte, 32460 Le Houga, France
Chamaerops No. 4, published online 23-11-2002
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Hot, humid and heavenly! On the palm trail at Kew.
The day that we had all been looking forward to
came at last! Saturday July 20th dawned bright and balmy over London
- a good omen for things to come on Palm Day at Kew. Wearing my
favourite blue shorts and colour coordinated T-shirt emblazoned
with multi-coloured palms, I set off through the leafy and flowery
suburbs of London Town confident that, appropriately attired, no
one could doubt my claim as a true blue European Palm Society Palm
Nut and Fou de Palmiers.
Kew Gardens (or to give it its proper title: The
Royal Botanic Gardens) is located in the western suburb of Richmond
and was founded in 1840. It covers 121 hectares and has on its grounds
and in its glasshouses over 30,000 types of plant from all over
the globe. Thus, probably the most extensive collection of any botanic
garden in the world. This was my first visit and I assure you, I'll
be back for more. The day before my departure from home in France
I received the programme of the day's events and my name badge.
After parking my car and spotting fellow Fous de Palmiers we headed
for Jodrell Gate and the Jodrell Lecture Theatre, around the corner
from the main entrance to the gardens. Jodrell was to serve as our
base of operations for the day's events. From 10 10.30 am Martin
Gibbons, editor of 'Chamaerops', greeted us at the door, ticked
our names on the list of people who had signed up for the day, and
invited us to enjoy coffee and biscuits.
We had the opportunity then to chat with friends
made on previous occasions and to be introduced or to introduce
ourselves to others whose names we were often familiar with from
what they had written. At last we were to see them in the flesh.
In all we were a grand total of 86 members of E.P.S. and Fous de
Palmiers. France was well represented with a total of 17 members
present, and in addition there were members from Belgium, Holland,
Germany and Sweden as well, of course as England, Ireland, Scotland
and Wales. Isn't it wonderful that a family of plants can draw so
many people together from so many different places to share their
enthusiasm, experience and knowledge?
At 10.30 sharp, Dr. John Dransfield, eminent botanist,
palm authority, and co-editor of Principes, the journal of the International
Palm Society, welcomed all present. He then introduced Sue Minter,
formerly with Kew, and now with the Chelsea Physic Garden. Sue was
in charge of the reconstruction of the famous Palm House and gave
a lecture on its history and rebuilding. Her interesting talk was
accompanied by slides which enabled us to follow the evolution of
the Palm House from the initial planning stages, through its heyday
in Victorian times, and up until its reconstruction, followed by
the official reopening on November 6th 1990. She rose to the challenge
of condensing years of work and the subject of the book she has
authored "The Greatest Glasshouse - the Rainforests Recreated"
into a fascinating 20 minute talk quite a feat I must say.
Sue Minter's talk led naturally to her introduction
of David Cooke, the 'hands-on' man in charge of the Palm House,
who gets his own dirty in his duties. He spoke to us in detail about
"The Replanting and Day-to-day Maintenance of the Palm House
Palms", and also showed us slides during his talk. It was fascinating
to learn how the fantastic palm collection was completely removed
from the Palm House and temporarily stored, while the restoration
work, which took 4 years, was undertaken.
One major change was made, which was agreed to only
with reluctance by the Victorian Society, and that was to replace
the containers in which the palms had been growing, with beds. The
new arrangement would finally give the palms longed-for foot room
and enable them to stretch out and flourish. Once the rebuilding
was complete, David supervised the replanting. We learned that the
first plant to be brought back in was not a palm at all, but a cycad:
Encephalartos altensteinii. It was 'watered' as we say in France,
by Champagne all round. I wonder if the plant got some too?
Naturally, these informative talks whetted our appetites,
even more so for those of us who, like myself, had never been there,
to visit the Palm House in person. As David concluded, the lights
came up, and we split into 2 groups to make the long-awaited visit,
with Sue and David acting as guides.
We had been told it was hot inside, and I was ready
for it (remember, I was dressed appropriately). After all, I used
to live in Florida. Stepping inside it was like a quick trip to
Fort Lauderdale in July, and here I was, in London. As some Fous
de Palmiers would remark it was the 'depaysment complet'. Of course
it was not only the climate that reminded me of Florida, but also
the lush vegetation, with luxuriant palms gracing every vista. Tony
King of E.P.S. predicted that his glasses would fog up in seconds.
He was right. A few minutes later I discovered the reason why Martin
Gibbons was wearing a tie for palm day.... it came in handy for
wiping the condensation off his camera lens.
Periodically, jets of mist would send a warm vapour
throughout the Palm House, making the extremities of the north and
south wings disappear when one was in the centre transept, and bringing
to mind images we tourists have of the famous London fog.
Of course, I can't begin to name all the palms we
saw. I was puzzled by one fine specimen I took to be a Butia and
was rather surprised to find it in this tropical clime. Dr Dransfield
told me it was a Syagrus, and David later told me that for years
it was labelled Butia, until recently when it was reclassified.
Imagine coming of age and then having your name changed. That's
what happened to this palm. Wasn't it Shakespeare who wrote "What's
in a name?..." Whatever we call it, this palm is thriving and
gorgeous.
A personal treat for me was seeing two varieties
of Cocos nucifera - the Coconut Palm, probably my favourite palm
for its beauty and all that it represents to man in that favoured
band encircling the globe, known as the tropics. I had often read
that it was impossible to grow coconut palms indoors even under
the most perfect of conditions, and didn't really expect to find
any at Kew. But there they were. Dr Dransfield's expert opinion
was that only the height of the greenhouse would inhibit the healthy
development (and presumably, fruiting) of Cocos nucifera when the
proper conditions are met. Perhaps one day they'll be harvesting
coconuts in the Palm House.
As an aside, and speaking of coconuts, Kew had a nice specimen of
the mystical double coconut, Lodoicea maldivica. Unfortunately,
the electric warming cables that were heating the bed in which it
was growing suffered a thermostat malfunction, and the poor thing
was cooked alive. David took the opportunity during his earlier
talk to ask if any Palm Society member visiting the Seychelles could
bring back a double coconut to replace it. Both Kew and David would
be most grateful and promise to take good care of the donation.
The reconstruction of the Palm House included a
marine exhibit located underground below the central transept. Since
it is so much cooler than the glasshouse above, many visitors lingered
there to talk. But if you thought it was hot at ground level, all
you had to do was ascend the intricate wrought iron spiral staircase
up to the catwalk that encircles the main area. The view was breath
taking, and so were the heat and humidity - definitely Amazonian!
When you returned to ground level, it actually felt cool, and once
outdoors, the lovely 22c London day seemed almost bracing, further
proof that everything is relative.
Lunchtime crept up on us and we returned to Jodrell
for a buffet feast prepared for us by Eric Taylor. Admiring with
our eyes whilst waiting in line to serve ourselves, I commented
to Fous de Palmiers Monsieur & Madame Renard, from Montpellier
how good everything looked, and Jean Luc jokingly replied that the
British had surely made a special effort since they knew they were
playing host to the French. When I passed this on to British members
present I was asked to assure the French that the Brits eat like
this every day! Three cheers to Eric for the copious spread appreciated
so much by all the visitors. We enjoyed our meal sitting on the
lawn of the lecture theatre, getting to know each other better and
sharing notes.
Next on the programme, was a talk by Dr John Dransfield,
entitled "My Favourite Palms". He, too, illustrated his
talk with slides showing us a vast array of many peoples' favourites,
including his own. We all puzzled at the final slide of an extremely
unusual palm in the garden of Marty Darian in Vista, California.
Dr Dransfield and Natalie Uhl of Cornell University in New York
had spent a good while contemplating this specimen in total mystification,
before learning that it was a sculpture and made of 100% steel!
Chamaedorea metallica eat your heart out!
Following Dr. Dransfield's talk, we once again divided
into our two groups. Alternately one group took the short coach
ride to the Palm Centre nearby to admire and buy some of the extensive
collection of palms, cycads, and books for sale (there was a run
on the rare and highly prized Needle Palm - Rhapidophyllum hystrix).
Meanwhile the other group was escorted by David
Cooke to the Temperate House to look at the non-tropical palms with
which we Europeans are more familiar, and thence to the palm nursery
where seeds are sown and seedlings are raised.
In the Temperate House we were amazed by the stupendous
specimen of the Chilean Wine Palm, Jubaea chilensis, supposedly
the biggest glasshouse plant in the world, at some 20m tall and
weighing around 60 tons. It is so tall that in 1982 Her Majesty
the Queen planted a young specimen facing the giant in preparation
for the day when it may have to be sacrificed before it literally
bursts through the glass roof. In the meantime, this spectacular
palm is so at home that it produces quantities of viable seeds every
year and has never even noticed that it's not growing in its native
Chile, but in London. It seems a shame that one day it may end up
as palm honey or palm wine. Instead I suggest that they open up
a hole in the roof of the Temperate House and let it poke through
its beautiful fronds and brave whatever future London winters may
serve it.
After the two groups changed places, we rallied
one last time at Jodrell for the conclusion of the official programme,
tea and biscuits, and the raffle of rare palms, and the new book,
"Palms & Cycads Around the World". The raffle was
a fund raising venture for the European Palm Society promoted by
the sales pitches of Tony King and Jacques Deleuze. E.P.S. stickers
with the Chamaerops insignia were also on sale. Dr. Dransfield gave
thanks to the organizers of the day, Martin Gibbons, David Cooke
and Eric Taylor, and bade all a fond farewell and suggested that
the next joint E.P.S./Fous de Palmiers get-together be in France.
I'll vote for that!
Officially the programme concluded at 5pm but we
hangers-on lingered, comparing photos, notes and experiences, until
we were in danger of being locked in the gardens overnight, still
reluctant to say goodbye and call it a day.
I think I can speak for everyone present, when saying
that Palm Day at Kew was a tremendous success (only one regret we
never managed to all assemble for a group photograph) and a fine
time was had by one and all.
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