Minor corrections Plant info. Mon 6 June

Yep, there is some incompatibility between the EDIT function and this comp. If I try to edit and correct errors, it just jambs up my computer for the day.

The correct growth rate for Canary Date palms in Qld plant nurseries is actually 400 mm 16 inches annual trunk height, once the crown has formed I remember more accurately now.

Note that in most "good" garden situations (with adequate water and fertiliser) in the ground you'd be lucky to get half that rate in Mediterranean and subtropical climates and a quarter of that growth rate in temperate zones, like the South Island of NZ

I checked several textbooks last night and one excellent NZ text I had actually has listed both the Chilean Monkey Puzzle Tree (Aracauria araucana) and the Qld BUNYA Pine (Aracauria bidwillii) as being cold tolerant to USDA Zone 8 (I had incorrectly remembered the Chilean tree as being zone 7 and the Bunya as zone 9 or 10 recommended Winter cold tolerance) Note that the Norfolk Island Pine is indeed zone 10. This would be why it can grow, but only in the most very coastal parts of Christchurch and area in Southern New Zealand right beside the sea, at the mildest edge of a zone 9 climate

Therefore you can grow the BUNYA pine in many more places than I thought and the Chilean tree in quite some less

I had thought the Chilean tree was grown widely throughout Scotland but it seems it's mostly the Southern parts of England, although it may extend up into Scotland along the Western Edge (where a zone of milder climate exists upto and including the Hebridian Islands) Scotland is considered zone 6 or 7 depending on what texts you read. The mildest areas being in a strip some 50 or 100 kms wide along the Western coast

Remember that trees can be grown in one zone colder than the books say, at the mildest edges of that zone (usually grow seedlings as large as possible first then plant out one late Spring) May need some protection the first Winter outdoors. Come on people (including avid gardeners plus those stick-in-the-mud traditionalist public parks and spaces supervisors) lets push the envelope here and start growing something a little different to commonplace ho-hum varieties

Therefore both the Bunya and the Chilean Pine trees could find a place in the mildest regions of Zone 7 climate too for example.

Note also that this posting correctly spells the pine's latin names which before where mis-spelled by a letter or so.

Re the 2 Phoenix dactyliferae palms I planted some days ago, I see that around the base of one a significant number of Lupins are sprouting already

I had some old farm Lupins seed of ten years age and stored under poor conditons so I expected a poor germination rate or none at all. I sowed the seed very thickly around the 2 young palms. By Summer when they die off their strong roots will have penetrated the hard clay subsoil to quite a depth, then as their old roots die away, they will leave opportunities for the young palm trees roots to more easily penetrate deeply in their first dry Summer season.

I have 2 young Canary Island dates to plant out over the next few days, now I know these Lupin seeds are ok, I'll just need 5 or 10 only to plant around each newly planted palm

This morning I dug out some more clay subsoil from the holes and hopefully tomorrow a "volunteer" from the nearby small town will turn up to help me extricate these palms from their tyre-pots and shift them into position