City Trees

So what is an ideal location for a palm? According to the University of Florida's Environmental Horticulture Tree Fact Sheets, cabbage palms (Sabal palmetto) grow in narrow parking islands, sidewalk cut-outs, lining streets, and where there is air pollution, poor drainage, compacted soil, and regular drought conditions. In addi- tion, they state that "palms generally survive hurricanes better than broadleaf trees." With the extreme wind storms that we have witnessed recently in the Surrey/Vancouver region, wind firmness may be a characteristic we should focus on promoting into the future. But social popularity can also affect a tree's survival rate. Whatever tree gets planted, without proper buy-in from the community or property own- er—a good marketing campaign—it will eventually be removed by popular demand. Cold hardiness is still a potentially limiting factor for palms in Canada. Surrey is in Zone 8b and Vancouver is in Zone 9a in parts, particularly along the coast. Vancouver is known to have the occasional palm planted on private property, but the most well-known ones are along Beach Avenue in the West End. They are windmill palms (Trachycarpus fortunei) and they are some of the most cold hardy palms (to Zone 8a or even 7b, depending on reports). The ones along Beach Avenue were planted some 25 years ago, demonstrating their longevity for this region. According to Vancouver Superintendent of Urban Forestry Bill Stephen, palms in his city were histor- ically protected in winter by packing straw around the trunks, although many have survived without this management technique. Staff in the Department of North Vancouver (DNV) Parks Horticulture Department added Chusan wind- mill palm (T. fortunei 'Wagnerianus') and dwarf pal- metto (Sabal minor) to the list of cold hardy palms they favor. Both are available at local nurseries, indi- cating demand in the region. There is further species diversity potential in the mildest parts of southwest British Columbia. The DNV folks stressed the need to protect the small and fibrous roots in the early years, and they recommended that larger transplant speci- mens be guy-wired. I'm very thankful to have explored this topic because my perspective has shifted. I now see some very valu- able applications for palms in this region, primarily in consideration of the more extreme weather events we will likely see in our future. The more diversity we have, the more likelihood something will survive, whatever unknowns are to come. —Emily Hamilton, Arborist /Landscape Architectural Assistant at City of Surrey, British Columbia Zip ties are used to secure crown shafts for safety reasons on these royal palms (Roystonea regia). Photo by Jeff Shimonski 32

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