Northern latitudes and their associated climates can be deceiving. Take British Columbia's lower mainland as an example. Being north of the 49th parallel you would associate this area more with conifers and a boreal forest than tropical and sub-tropical plants. Well, with climatic zones between a 7 and a 9 this area can (and do) support such sub-tropical plants as palms and banana plants, though these are of the hardy and cold-tolerant variety. The photo above is a prime example of this deception. Pictured are fan palms, the Windmill Palm, or
Trachycarpus fortunei in Latin. English Bay Beach (Main) is a prime location for these palms and other sub-tropical plants such as banana plants (
Musa ssp.). Below is a planting along a street opposite the beach. Not what you would associate with a northern climate, is it? I hope you enjoy these photos.
Northern latitudes and their associated climates can be deceiving. Take British Columbia's lower mainland as an example. Being north of the 49th parallel you would associate this area more with conifers and a boreal forest than tropical and sub-tropical plants. Well, with climatic zones between a 7 and a 9 this area can (and do) support such sub-tropical plants as palms and banana plants, though these are of the hardy and cold-tolerant variety. The photo above is a prime example of this deception. Pictured are fan palms, the Windmill Palm, or Trachycarpus fortunei in Latin. English Bay Beach (Main) is a prime location for these palms and other sub-tropical plants such as banana plants (Musa ssp.). Below is a planting along a street opposite the beach. Not what you would associate with a northern climate, is it? I hope you enjoy these photos. 
The flowers are yellow (male) and greenish (female) followed by greenish fruit that turns yellow to blue-black in mid-autumn. The fruit are kidney-shaped at 10-12 mm long. The photo above and below show them as they look in August.
Above is a photo of a planting of fan palms, banana plants, annual flowers and various other interesting plants in a small park opposite the Starbucks at Denman and Davie Streets in Vancouver's West End. Below is a close-up of a banana plant (Musa ssp.) in flower with fruit. Interesting, eh? Perhaps you have learned something whether you live in the Vancouver area or elsewhere.
1 comment:
Thanks. You do with words what I portray in photos. Continue what you are doing. Collectively, we all enrich each other's experience in life!
Post a Comment