La palma

BenC · Post by **BenC** » Mon Feb 10, 2025 8:23 pm

Enjoy your holiday, Charlie! Look forward to seeing more photos in due course.

La Palma is a superb island and so varied. I have not been back since before the eruption in 2021. We stayed in El Paso which I gather was quite severely damaged in places. It would be fascinating to see any photos of the new lava flows. Have a good trip!

Post by **charlie** » Mon Feb 10, 2025 8:50 pm

I think you will be p.easantly surprised how little the island has been impacted, it still looks lovely!

Post by **charlie** » Tue Feb 11, 2025 4:59 pm

BenC wrote: ↑Mon Feb 10, 2025 8:23 pm Enjoy your holiday, Charlie! Look forward to seeing more photos in due course.

La Palma is a superb island and so varied. I have not been back since before the eruption in 2021. We stayed in El Paso which I gather was quite severely damaged in places. It would be fascinating to see any photos of the new lava flows. Have a good trip!

Here we go, as you can see we are right on the edge of the lava flow, good news is it hasn't really impacted the island as a lot of it was back over the previous eruptions waste land

20250211_134649 by charliepridham, on Flickr

20250211_134658 by charliepridham, on Flickr

Post by **charlie** » Thu Feb 13, 2025 6:00 pm

Over to the wetter east side today

Lots of pericallis, I used to grow several until I realised where the nasty smell was coming from!

20250213_120145 by charliepridham, on Flickr

Only a few of the sonchas were out rest are covered in buds , going to be spectacular in a couple of weeks

20250213_120238 by charliepridham, on Flickr

Hard to believe you are not on madeira

20250213_122709 by charliepridham, on Flickr

Couldn't resist this one for Paul!

20250213_133238 by charliepridham, on Flickr

neIl armstrong · Post by **neIl armstrong** » Thu Feb 13, 2025 7:23 pm

Very happy trip around La Palma with BPS in 2014 -image showing St Spracklers of Benfleet with the late great Tim Pyner -and a huge dragon tree!

MartinNicklin · Post by **MartinNicklin** » Thu Feb 13, 2025 9:07 pm

Those Sonchus are lovely indeed. Mine was cut to the ground even in the greenhouse last winter. It made about 6ft this year but when I went in there the other day I was disheartened to see that it has happened again. I was interested to read that you grew Pericalis, presumably not as the common houseplant but rather the shrubbier species? Just out of curiosity, what kind of low temperatures will they take? I'm thinking for my frost-free (just) greenhouse.
I have to say this freezing cold miserable February is really depressing me. Seeing your photos and those of my old neighbours currently in Madeira are making me want to "up sticks".

Post by **charlie** » Fri Feb 14, 2025 9:05 pm

MartinNicklin wrote: ↑Thu Feb 13, 2025 9:07 pm Those Sonchus are lovely indeed. Mine was cut to the ground even in the greenhouse last winter. It made about 6ft this year but when I went in there the other day I was disheartened to see that it has happened again. I was interested to read that you grew Pericalis, presumably not as the common houseplant but rather the shrubbier species? Just out of curiosity, what kind of low temperatures will they take? I'm thinking for my frost-free (just) greenhouse.
I have to say this freezing cold miserable February is really depressing me. Seeing your photos and those of my old neighbours currently in Madeira are making me want to "up sticks".

I grew 4 species of pericallis the 2 I remember were p.lanata and p. Aurita but trust me you don't want them under glass! I was blaming the cat!! As to temps under cold glass. They were fine with -2c , outside they survived but never did much

MICHAEL · Post by **MICHAEL** » Fri Feb 14, 2025 11:45 pm

How tall would that dracaena be, approximately. The foliage looks finer than normal, or maybe it's just so big everything looks a bit smaller. They're impressive when they take on a proper tree shape. Is that specimen a famous one? I thought I saw photos on the net the other day of one that looked similar...

Paul S · Post by **Paul S** » Sat Feb 15, 2025 8:02 am

neIl armstrong wrote: ↑Thu Feb 13, 2025 7:23 pm
Very happy trip around La Palma with BPS in 2014 -image showing St Spracklers of Benfleet with the late great Tim Pyner -and a huge dragon tree!

That was indeed a fine trip - many happy memories.

Michael - that Dragon tree isn't particularly famous because not many people visit la Palma (just 145,000 last year). The famous one is on the north coast of Tenerife and is a similar shape but bigger/older. But it looks just right for an oldie growing in its habitat - when they get huge the crowns are a little smaller than vigorous younger plants, especially those in cultivation.

Post by **charlie** » Sat Feb 15, 2025 5:10 pm

Made a return visit to a lovely little garden at Los Llanos , recent must have received some tlc as the gates and metalwork were all much more colourful

20250215_135126 by charliepridham, on Flickr

20250215_122129 by charliepridham, on Flickr

20250215_121628 by charliepridham, on Flickr

20250215_121315 by charliepridham, on Flickr

20250215_120553 by charliepridham, on Flickr

20250215_120751 by charliepridham, on Flickr

20250215_120713 by charliepridham, on Flickr