On our way to Kew Gardens last Thursday we popped round to The Palm Centre first as we always did in the past. We haven't been to Kew Gardens for four years and even more so to The Palm Centre, as our last Kew visit was by train not by car as we tend to do. So we were extra curious as to how it is looking now after not seeing it for so many years.
Turns out it still pretty much the same but as expected there have been some rearrangements of display areas and they stock a lot more houseplants than they used to. Let's have a look...
Trachycarpus oreophilus
Jubaea chilensis to the left, planted out here for over two or even three decades already
As you come in on the driveway you are greeted with specimen palms for sale. They are geared for both the public and landscape gardeners needing specimen planting. As you can see from above they have a range of large Butia capitata, Jubaea chilensis, Chamaerops humilis, Chamaerops humilis var. cerifera among others. They also have a Trachycarpus display bed to the left of the driveway showing the different species in their collection, and the second photo above is Tracycarpus oreophilus.
There is a large outdoor retail section at the back where more specimen palms for sale can be found, as well as a range of bamboos, trees, shrubs, and some Dicksonia antarctica tree ferns (rounbd £90 per foot)
On the borders of this section are also a range of exotic plants permanently planted out to showcase how they behave with a free root run, established, and thriving outdoors.
Trichocereus terschekii
On to the greenhouses and above are their range of cacti and succulents for sale. Most notable above are the Trichocereus terscheckii which seemed reasonably priced at that size for £99. This is te same cactus growing permanently outside by our front door and I'm aware of several private exotic gardens in the UK have this permanently planted out all year round.
Trichocereus terschekii
And even more Trichocereus terscheckii spotted along the way, this time bigger specimen plants for instant impact. They also a range of tree aloes with Aloidendron barberae on the third photo above and some other agaves and other succulents.
And a few more odds and ends as seen above, including a glimpse of their outdoor herbaceous perennial retail area.
So what did we buy? Not much really but you can't walk out of the Palm Centre after so many years without buying a palm so we bought a small Butia odorata (ex. capitata) for growing on, an Asplenium bulbiferum for the jungle veranda, and Nandina domestica in their bargain corner as a filler plant.
So off to Kew Gardens we go which will feature in a future post.
Mark :-)
