Washingtonia filifera

Sorry folks. It's your completely ignorant English cousin again. Bought this at a nursery only 10 miles to the south, today. Unfortunately, like most English nurseries, when I asked for advice (the baby is only 1 foot tall after all) I was told that ' Nobody here knows anything about palms but we think it's hardy' (and this is our best local nursery).
I don't even know what I have bought. (That's N.E. England for you). Anyone got a photo of this grown up. Or better still anyone got any advice (soil etc). I am (to repeat previous requests) 250 miles North of London, black clay soil, on the coast with sometimes heavy (but not freezing cold) winds in winter. Max in summer (I'll put this in fahrenheit because most help seems to come from the States) 80 deg. (more often 78) min in winter 28 deg occasionaly 25 deg.

Sorry that I am a complete palm newbie but I find this site the best on the web for sensible advice.

look on this website under that species and you will see plenty of palm photos. As for cultivation, it likes desert climates.. Does more poorly here in So Cal the closer to the beach you go (dislikes the humidity)... you wouldn't happen to have humidity there, would you?

Thnx Palmbob. No real humidity problems in sunny Scarborough (just the occasional summer sea fog maybe two days a year). I was just a little concerned about my clay based soil.

webwise. I think its the wet winters that I would be concerned about with you ( and me! ) when it comes to the washingtonias. I can't grow them here, they rot in the winter- Like Palmbob said, they come from the desert and don't like any kind of real moisture-esp in the winter

Whoops. i think I may have wasted £3 (about $5). At least at that experience comes cheap. I'll try keeping it in the glass house until it hopefully hits about 5 feet and then put it out in a sheltered spot with plenty of drainage. (If I'm still here then). The trouble here is not that we get ultra cold winters but that we can get wet ones. I'll enjoy it under glass for a few years though, even young it's quite a nice looking plant, and then I'll trust it to the elements (with a little artificial help with drainage). Thnx all.

it gets crown rot, so its the crown that you want to protect in the wet winters...good luck, its a fast growing palm, I wish it would do better here

Thnx. I'll keep you informed so tune in in 10 years. LOL