A quick trip to the Palm Centre

I am fortunate to live close to Kew Gardens and RHS Wisely so there is always something to see if I want a plant fix.  Interesting nurseries however are a bit rarer. There is however one good local one, The Palm Centre which usually has a good mixture of exotics.  Not having visit for a while, it seemed time to pop down and see what was new.

As the name suggests it specialises in palms, and they always have a massive amount of different size.

I do plan to get one of these trachys at some point in the future, but it is destined for further down the garden where the garage currently is.  So for now time to move on.

Next up where the chaemaerops humilis. There were quite a few of these, of various shades of green/blue.  One of these was going to come home with me.

Then it was on to see the yuccas, there was a big table of yucca rostratas.

It had cacti on one side and cycads the other.  There were some lovely yucca rostratas, including a few double headers.

This was one of the plants on my list, so I spent a good amount of time going though every plant and selecting the best.  They were on special offer as well.

You don't have to limit yourself to these small sizes.

The puyas were interesting, very blue in colour.

It is puya coerulea and there were a few of different sizes.  The problem with puyas is they are just so vicious with teeth all along the edge which have a nasty habit of catching you. So far I have managed to avoid any in the garden, but these were seriously tempting.

They had some really nice yucca filiferas.

I love them when they get that big, such structural plants. They also looked great against the brahea armata.

The nursery also has large fern and bamboo sections, but by now I was too distracted with my purchases to explore today. They do mail order as well, so well worth looking them up.

So what did I come home with?

The chaemaerops humilis is staying roughly there, the two yucca rostratas are for else where.

These were some of the bluest I have seen, hopefully they will stay that way.  One is set for the front garden, the other is sadly to replace one of my large trunked ones.  The builders knocked it out of its pot, and just pushed it back in during one of the wettest winters on record.  When I came to plant it there were no roots.  I thought it would be fine and re-root, but sadly was wrong and it has gone downhill this year.

The spear is still good, so I have decided to remove it and plant it up somewhere to be nursed back to health.  Obviously there is a slight difference in size between this one and the replacement, but I can't afford another one that size, and the small one should be interesting in that spot.

At the same time I picked a few pots, one for a plant a friend has given/lent me.  It is a lovely yucca whipplei.

It is staying in a pot and going in the front, so I thought I would re-pot to refresh the soil.

A quick trim showed it already has a bit of a trunk.  It is going to look great out on display. It may well be re-called to the original home when he sees this.

It has been a long time since I have bought any big succulents, so it was fun. They can all stay there until the weekend when I can plant and move everything around.