www.urban-forestry.com 29
Personally, I would like my colleagues to commit to
popularizing our wonderful Chilean palm (Jubaea
chilensis), the world's southernmost native palm. It
need not be repeated until exhaustion, but instead
can serve as a unique and striking living being,
appropriately located, that invites us to see it in new
ways, and that urgently needs our protection and
care. Certainly, because of its slow rate of growth,
its effect is not visually immediate. But I am sure it
can be very effective in helping us appreciate the
meaning and the gift of a more leisurely existence
in the accelerated maelstrom of our cities.
—Felipe Fuentes R., Municipal Arborist, Calera de Tango, Chile
Photo
by
Earl
L.
Paraszczynec
While this plaza
in Barcelona,
Spain may have
been intentionally
planned with palms
from the beginning,
it also demonstrates
how plantings could
be incorporated
into paved areas
after-the-fact. Unlike
the root systems of
broadleaf trees,
palm tree root sys-
tems are exclusively
adventitious. Palms
have numerous
roots but all are
small in diameter,
resulting in less dis-
ruption to nearby
pavement.
