About growing palms and exotics in various parts of the world:

• Brenton Gauthier explores cultivation of Palm Trees in Oregon.  A great collection of pictures!
• Huw's "Pleasure Garden" Contrary to what Huw would like us to think, it's not half so bad as it sounds. (England)
• Joe Bunnewith hosts a page regarding Hardy Palms in Rhode Island, with descriptions of extremely hardy palms that show potential for cultivation in the Northeast but have not been tried much, many good pictures and other intesting stuff about exotic plants in the Northeast.
• Marc Vissers' Garden Pages (Belgium) Info on Citrus, other exotic stuff. . .take a look at his palms page which has some interesting links.
• Brian and Becky's Oregon Palm Garden by Brian Mielke of Salem, Oregon.
• An Exotic Garden in England Nice pictures on this page by Andrew Withey (note Cordyline indivisa in the top picture on the right)
• Palms in Austria by Robert Lackner.  An interesting report on the performance of palms in central Europe's cold winters.
• Hardy Palm Trees and Ferns around Washington, DC by John Corgan
• Seattle zone 9 picture show by Robert Wagner
• Daryl's Palm page (Queensland, Australia)

• The Cool Tropics is one of the most comprhensive and centrally located of all hardy palm and exotic plant pages I have found.  Find information about exotic plant societies, palm seed germination tips, and all kinds of other stuff.  Includes a Cold-Rating Data Bank, which lists the lowest temperatures certain plants have survived and is becoming an invaluable hardiness reference; and a "cybershopping" list of exotic plant sources on the web.
• Growing Hardy Palms by Leonard Holmes.  Some important basic information.
• Palms of the World by Mike Maxson.  Excellent page, but no emphasis on hardy species.
• The Hardiest Palms by T. J. Walters.  Covers all the basics of hardy palm growing.
• The Hardiest Palm by Mark Glicksman, an expert on Rhapidophyllum hystrix, the world's hardiest palm.
• Palms Online
• The Palm Centre, an English nursery specailizing in palm cultivation, has an excellent catalog of palm species which is very informative, with good pictures.  The nursery is operated by Martin Gibbons, to whom we owe a lot of our "new" palm species.  He is an expert on the genus Trachycarpus.
• Conservation Palm Pages
• Virtual Palm Encyclopedia (Palm and Cycad Societies of Florida)--amazingly comprehensive site (why do I bother?)
• Palms and Gardens in the south-west of Europe --a beautiful palms page, includes more than you ever wanted to know about Chamaerops.
• Chris Kloosterman's Palm Tree Resource Page
• For some great practical cultural information, Palm Trees and Other Tropical Pleasures by Henry Donselman.
• Digital Raingardens  All kinds of interesting stuff here, but some of it can take a while to load.
• Cold-hardy and desert palm species, information and photos.

And, as a Northwesterner, I feel compelled to promote the. . . (drumroll please). . . .

. . .an organization promoting cultivation of palms and exotics in Washington, Oregon, and British Columbia.  They also have members from other parts of the world with similarly cool climates and publish a quarterly journal about their endeavors called Hardy Palm International.

There are also other palm society chapters that cover a good part of the world--have a look!

Palm photos:

Those of you who have already traveled the hardy palm homepages have probably seen most of these before, but that doesn't stop me from including some of the best palm photo links. Tell me if you know of any others.

• Virtual Palm Encyclopedia Photo Gallery--probably the most palm photos in any one place on the web--an enormous compilation of images from other people's web sites.
• Cold-hardy Palms in Dallas, Texas by Tony Cerbone.  WOW!  Give yourself lots of time to look through this great collection of photos.
• Exotic Plant Photographs from the Pacific Northwest Palm and Exotic Plant Society
• Hardy Palms in Tennessee
• International Palm Society's photo gallery --check for more photos on other parts of the IPS page.
• SPEPS Photo Page --some great looking palms, etc. in the Southeast US.
• The Palm Centre's Catalog
• Possible palms for western Oregon from Brenton Gauthier (more pictures at his Palm Trees in Oregon home page)
• Mike Maxson's Palm Photos of the Month
• Trachys in British Columbia from the Pacific Northwest Palm and Exotic Plant Society
• Photos of Sabal Species from Joe Bunnewith
• Another site
• T. J. Walters' Hardiest Palms Photo Gallery
• Florida Fort Lauderdale REC Palm Portrait Gallery
• Fairchild Tropical Gardens Image Library
• Another Site--LOTS of pictures here
• Digital Raingardens 1998 garden photo gallery
• PACSOA palm index--full of good pictures
• A small gallery of hardy or desert palms by William Spencer
• Joe Bunnewith's Indoor Palms Page
• Daryl's Palm Photos
• Brandt's Palm and Tropical/Subtropical Tree Page--a great compilation of exotic tree photos!

Messageboards provide an excellent source of information because they allow you to directly hear the experience of other individuals.  I have personally found them an indespensable tool for suggestions, referrals, and all kinds of enlightening advice I don't know where I would be without.  If you have a question about something relating to hardy palms or other exotic plants, post it on the board--just be sure to come back soon after you post your message (within 10 days, to be safe) or your answer will be pushed off the bottom!

• The Hardy Palm and Subtropical Board is probably the oldest palm and exotic discussion board on the web, visited by a great number of people.
• Northwesterners should also make use of the Northwest Palms Discussion Board.
• A board dedicated to growing Palms and Subtropicals in the Northeast also exists.
• Gardeners across the Atlantic can refer to The UK Oasis.
• Digital Raingardens operates another messageboard.
• Had enough palms?  Try Bamboo and Banana talk.
• The International Palm Society also has a messageboard, though many species that are not particularly hardy are discussed.
• Here's a board called Growing a Tropical Jungle.
• And of course I must mention my Hardy Eucalyptus Board, which I set up to host discussion of plants from Australia and New Zealand.

Back to. . . .

Hardy Eucalyptus Page
Cold-hardy Treeferns Page
My plants