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Ideas

In the Editorial of Chamaerops no. 43/44 you said that you are having problems finding enough contributions to continue Chamaerops successfully. Here are some ideas that may help. One way to increase the number of articles you receive in the future is to include articles on other exotic plants. You already seem to have started this, as I noticed an article about yuccas in Chamaerops, which I liked very much. At the moment I am not a member of Chamaerops because my interest has started to move from Trachycarpus to other hardy exotics which are not discussed in Chamaerops. My suggestion is to broaden the magazine’s focus by dramatically increasing the number of articles on related cold hardy exotics, adding one or two articles in every issue of Chamaerops that discuss plants like Acacia, bamboo, Ficus, olives and so on. Another suggestion for new articles would be to write/design an article/map on cold hardy palm private gardens that are open for public visits. I noticed initiatives for this idea in both Dutch and German internet societies. You could choose one or more gardens from this map and add a description of all palms that can be found in this specific garden. The amount of hardy palm gardens with enthusiastic owners is inexhaustible so you would be guaranteed pages of palm information for years.

Of course, the ideas discussed above will only help to create some new ideas for articles. In the long term this may not be sufficient to continue Chamaerops. In my opinion, joining forces with the Pacific Northwest Palm and Exotic Plant Society would be the best option.

Maybe you could join forces with related European societies like the European Bamboo Society or the European Rock Plant Society. Of course, the percentage of palm articles would be relatively decreased. I visit palm message boards daily and notice there is an extremely wide range of hardy exotic plants that are being discussed. I think you should make use of this broad interest. I hope my comments are useful for the future of Chamaerops.
Kind regards,
Oscar Salden, Beegden, Netherlands

Thank you very much for sharing your ideas. Even though our focus is on palms, we warmly welcome articles on any exotic plants and would be happy to publish whatever we receive. I think articles on private gardens is a great idea, but again, someone will have to take the initiative to write something up. As outlined in the editorial, we will work more closely with the Pacific Northwest Palm and Exotic Plant Society in the future, particularly through the exchange of articles, and I would be glad to use our members’ contacts with other exotic plant societies to make similar connections. T.S.

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