Halifax trying palm trees in ‘pretty harsh’ winter climate
HALIFAX — Atlantic Canada’s largest city has a new, and highly unlikely, tropical flavour.
Nine palm trees have been planted in four Halifax parks, although the jury is out on whether they can survive winter in a North Atlantic city known as the Warden of the North.
The parks, all on the Dartmouth side of Halifax Harbour, now feature cold-hardy palm varieties that grow in China, Japan, and northern India.
The varieties include windmill and miniature Chusan palm, needle palm and pindo palm.
Municipal horticulturalist Chris Poole said aside from wanting to see if the palms can survive, it’s also part of his job to create public interest and to encourage people to enjoy the city’s public spaces.
“I think by planting these palms around we’ve certainly achieved that and more,” said Poole. “When you take one look at them, it just looks as if you are in a different part of the world.”
While palms are grown successfully in Vancouver and Victoria — those cities tend to have the warmest winters in the country. By contrast, the minimum daily temperature in Dartmouth averages -8 C in January and February, according to data from Environment Canada. And temperatures can dip well below that during typical cold snaps.
Ben Freeman, a post-doctoral researcher at the University of British Columbia’s Biodiversity Research Centre, is skeptical of Halifax’s palm plan, although he “applauds the ambition.”
He said the trees’ keys to survival in more northerly climates are cold and frost tolerance.
“Unless you actually go and try, you don’t know whether they will survive, but I’m guessing that Halifax is too big a jump.”
Still, Freeman thinks Halifax’s experiment is “pretty interesting,” because climate change has made colder places a little warmer.