Author Archives: Canarius

Video – Trachycarpus fortunei & Trachycarpus takil in Habitat

Canarius | Tuesday February 22nd, 2011 |

A lovely video with pictures by Alexander Nijman and Asian music, published in Youtube by Innes54. The title is:

Himalayan Windmill Palms in the Wild

Trachycarpus is a genus of cold-hardy palms native to Asia. The video shows them in habitat in the steepest hills of the world. The beautiful pictures show two species: Trachycarpus fortunei and Trachycarpus takil.

The description in youtube says:

“Himalayan Windmill palms grow in a disconnected grove across the Himalayan orogeny in a transect of the Ganges, Brahmaputra, Irrawaddy, Mekong and Chang rivers, on almost inaccessible slopes and ridges of four of the deepest, wildest canyons on earth. Some of the region remains unknown to the hands and feet of man. This is a rare look at some of these palms in the wild.

Music: Snow Wears Down the Mountain, scored for Indian and Chinese traditional instruments and string orchestra, based on two pentatonic scales. “

The shop at www.canarius.com offers more than 100 palm species, including these two trachycarpus species. Visit the PALM SECTION of our SHOP!

Trachycarpus takil vs m12

Aechmea triangularis survives to -6 C (21 F) and blooms

Canarius | Monday February 14th, 2011 |

Aechmea triangularis grows very well in mediterranean climate and warm temperate climates. It is an attractive bromeliad with golden-green leaves and brow-black spines. It produces a long lasting inflorescence in late spring, with red bracts and blue flowers. Before blooming, tips of leaves fold back forming a triangle, enhanced by dark red markings. Grow it in bright sun conditions, with little or no fertilizer, to achieve more compact and colurful plants.

Charlie Dill’s picture of Aechmea triangularis, blooming after a freeze

Aechmea triangularis can take low temperatures with little or no damage at -6 C (18 F) for several hours. About its cold tolerance, there is an interesting report written by Charlie Dill about different bromeliads surviving to -6 C (21 F) in California has texts and pictures of this species.

LINK TO CHARLIE DILL’S FROST DAMAGE REPORT OF AECHMEA TRIANGULARIS AND OTHER BROMELIADS

Charlie Dill’s picture of an unscathed Aechmea triangularis

Our Shop

Please visit the Bromeliad Section of our Shop and check back often, because we offerent different bromeliads at different times of the year. We ship bromeliads to anywhere in Europe. Our bromeliads are already growing in many European countries, such as Spain, Ireland, Italy, Poland, and Germany. All bromeliads in catalogue are sold as bare-rooted “pups”, which are the robust basal suckers produced after blooming. Our pups are very easy to root – some will already show some roots when you open the box.

Aechmea triangularis with dark leaf tips before blooming

Aechmea triangularis with dark leaf tips before blooming

Where do mangos grow in Europe?

Mango Irwin Canarius | Thursday January 20th, 2011 |

Mango is not a strictly tropical tree. It grows better in areas with Subtropical climate because it needs a cooler winter for good fruiting. Mango trees do  grow and fruit in many areas of Europe with a Mediterranean Climate. Some varieties fruit better than others in cold climates.

Mango Irwin

Mango Irwin

Areas with Commercial Mango Production in Europe

  • Canary Islands (Spain)
  • Andalucía (Spain)
  • Sicilia (Italy)

Areas where Mango Trees Grow and Fruit

  • Coastal Southern Portugal
  • Coastal Southern Italy
  • Coastal Southern Spain
  • Coastal Greece
  • The Southern islands such as Malta, Crete and Cyprus.
  • Trees with little protection can fruit in Southern France, Riviera.

Mango trees are also grown in the Southern Mediterranean, in Northern African countries and Israel.

Buy mango trees in Europe

In our internet shop you can purchase a wide selection of young mango trees of different varieties. They are all grafted on the cold-hardy rootstock Gomera-1. Canarius offers more than 20 varieties of grafted mango trees. We ship from the Canary Islands to your place the same grafted trees that are sold to local farmers , ready to go to the field: same plants, same size, same deep pots. The plants you purchase are at least 2 years old, because the root trees are grown for 1,5 years before grafting.

Grafting Mangos in the Nursery

Grafting Mangos in the Nursery

A Palm from Tenerife growing outdoors in the UK for 16 years

Canarius | Tuesday January 18th, 2011 |

This video by HTUKDave shows the life History of a Washingtonia Palm,  from seed collection in 1992 to November 2009: 16 years.

Seeds came from the Canary Islands. They were collected by a hotel in South Tenerife in 1992. This Washingtonia robusta palm has grown in Chalk, Kent for 16 years, and survived various snowstorms and even a blizzard in Feb 2009. Although badly damaged the palmtree has recovered fully over the following summer.

Not all palms are tropical plants. Many palm species can resist snow and frost. Come and visit our shop at www.canarius.com . We offer above 100 palm species and will ship to your home.

A shop for Cycas and Cycad plants in Europe. Some good reasons to choose Canarius.

Cycas sp silver leaf Canarius | Friday January 7th, 2011 |
  1. Cycas sp silver leafWe offer the largest selection in Europe of the genus Cycas. Even more species will be added in the next months and years. You can buy them in the Cycad Shop, at www.canarius.com.
  2. All our plants are at least 2,5 years old. We ship no seeds, no two-leaf seedlings, no bare-root plants. Our cycads are solidly rooted in the pot. Many of them have coralloid roots: a good sign of health and age.
  3. We sprout our seeds. We do not import and re-sell cycads. Our plants have no stress from a past importation from a remote county with a different climate. They are ethically correct and suppose no environmental damage.
  4. We use no greenhouse, except for seed sprouting. Our cycads are robust plants grown outdoors, with mere summer shading. They have shorter, stiffer leaves with better caudexes.
  5. We are not in a tropical climate. The Canary Islands have a mediterranean climate with a bit warmer temperatures. Plants will stop in winter. They grow in the right way thanks to this rest.
  6. Our plants are all LEGAL. All species are protected by CITES regulations. All our plants have been started from seeds with official papers. If you are not in the European Union, we will prepare a special CITES Export Document when we ship these plants.
  7. We ship to anywhere in the world. We ship our plants worldwide, with all the necessary documents: CLICK HERE, and read about our worldwide shipping.

How is the exact look of the plants we offer?

Click HERE and you will see pictures of many of our plants just before packing.

How do we wrap and pack the plants?

See some pictures of our packing system.

Read more and see HOW WE PACK and WHAT WE PACK.

Dioon Holmgreenii

Dioon holmgreenii

Click HERE if you want to know about shipping costs.

Different Types of New Zealand Palms. Nursery Pictures

Canarius | Monday January 3rd, 2011 |

The New Zealand Palm Tree grows in cooler conditions than most palms and it is hardy to light frosts of about -5 C (23 F).

We offer more than 120 species of palm trees. Come and check our quality in the Palm Shop.   Come and read more about Our Plants

In our shop you can find different forms of the New Zealand Palm Tree in different pot sizes . We currently offer :

  1. Rhopalostylis sapida Oceana – Chatham Island
  2. Rhopalostylis sapida Auckland
  3. Rhopalostylis sapida East Cape
  4. Rhopalostylis baueri var. cheesemannii
 Rhopalostylis sapida East Cape - 12 cm pot

Rhopalostylis sapida East Cape – 12 cm pot

rhopalostylis sapida m12

Rhopalostylis sapida Auckland in 12 cm pot

rhopalostylis sapida m25

Rhopalostylis sapida Auckland – 25 cm

rhopalostylis sapida oceana vs m12

Rhopalostylis sapida Auckland in 12 cm pot

 

Rhopalostylis baueri cheesemanii vs m20

Rhopalostylis sapida Oceana – 12 cm pot

Rhopalostylis sapida vs m25

Rhopalostylis baueri cheesemanii – 20 cm pot

Furcraea gigantea variegata in the nursery

Canarius | Wednesday December 22nd, 2010 |

Furcraea gigantea variegata is a spectacular ornamental plant for Mediterranean to Tropical climates.

When a specimen blooms, it produced a huge, tall structure with abundant flowers. Some months later, hundreds of aerial pups are produced on the inflorescence and they are collected for reproduction. A few, non-variegated (non-striped) plants are discarded and only the variegated plants are kept. Here you can see some small pups rooting in the nursery.  This picture was taken in Spring 2010.  Nine months later, these plants are ready for the market and average 40-50 cm in height.

These plants are NOW AVAILABLE ! – You can buy them in the Agave Section of our shop.

Furcraea gigantea variegata in the nursery

Furcraea gigantea variegata in the nursery

New Species in the Shop – December 2010. Palms and Bromeliads

Canarius | Monday December 6th, 2010 |

Canarius has just been updated, with new additions of 15 PALMS and 7 BROMELIADS.

Let’s start with…

PALMS

New frost hardy species such as Brahea sarukhanii and Brahea sp. Nuri

We have spectacular plants of Allagoptera caudescens with leaves that are white underneath.

New species of Parajubaea: Parajubaea sunkha and Parajubaea cocoides. Now you can buy all the existing species of Parajubaea in Canarius.com

New larger sizes of previously offered palms, such as Kentiopsis, Rhopalostylis and Nannorhops, now in larger 20 cm pots.

New, Nannorrhops palms in 20 cm pots with large sized leaves

New, Nannorrhops palms in 20 cm pots with large sized leaves

New rare species of Pritchardia: P.minor and P.munroi. Pritchardia minor is a sought-after high-elevation species which stands more frost than others and keeps a small size.

Young Pritchardia minor in the Palmetum of Santa Cruz

Young Pritchardia minor in the Palmetum of Santa Cruz

We ship young potted plants like these:

Young pritchardia palm in 12 cm pot, ready for shipping.

Young pritchardia palm in 12 cm pot, ready for shipping.

and then…

BROMELIADS

The bromeliad nursery is growing larger. Each year we have more species to offer. This time we added new tough-leaved neoregelias, like Neoregelia concentrica Neoregelia farinosa.

Neoregelias are cold-sensitive bromeliads but N. concentrica is one of the most sought-after, cold-hardy neoregelias and can take some frost and snow.

Purple colours on Neoregelia concentrica

Purple colours on Neoregelia concentrica

Also Neoregelia camorimiana is back, and N. burlemarxii.

Neoregelia camorimiana becomes very red and shiny

Neoregelia camorimiana becomes very red and shiny

There is also a new Billbergia distachya var. rubra, a great wild type with bright, wide bracts.

We ship large-sized pups of bromeliads like these:

Pups of Neoregelia burlemarxii, ready for shipping. They can bloom in one year.

Pups of Neoregelia burlemarxii, ready for shipping. They can bloom in one year.

Parajubaea sunkha
Parajubaea cocoides

A new variegated Agave attenuata from Tenerife

Canarius | Wednesday December 1st, 2010 |

We grow a new variegated form of Agave attenuata with striped leaves. It is unique because it appeared in the Canary Islands from a normal plant. In 2004, the local plant grower Luís Borja obtained the original variegated branch from a plant grown in Tegueste, Northern Tenerife. Agave attenuata Tenerife is only reproduced by pups, so it takes a lot of time to make many plants.

We reproduced the plant on a small scale and it was released in 2010 with the name Tenerife.

Agave attenuata Tenerife is a very stable variegated clone of Agave attenuata. Stripes are yellow, often close to the margins but sometimes scattered anywhere in the blade. Leaves are particularly waxy.

Variegated Agave attenuata Tenerife

Variegated Agave attenuata Tenerife

Agave attenuata Tenerife is a good grower if compared to other variegated types of  Agave attenuata, because it is quite fast growing and it will seldom or never burn in full sun.

Agave attenuata variegata Tenerife

Agave attenuata variegata Tenerife

You can buy rooted pups of this succulent plant in the Agave Shop, at Canarius.com.

The following pictures show normal, non-varigated pictures of Agave attenuata, which is a widespread ornamental plant in the Canary Islands,

Normal Agave attenuata in Tenerife

Normal Agave attenuata in Tenerife

 

Agave attenuata Clump

Clump of a typical, non-variegated Agave attenuata