August 2020 Newsletter

A Virtual Tour of Mauritius Our post-Biennial trip takes us about 150 km east of Reunion Island, along a submerged ridge known as the Seychelles-Mauritius plateau, to the island nation of Mauritius. Mauritius is a volcanic island in Indian ocean. It is about 8 million years old, making it the most ancient island in the […]

July 2020 Newsletter

SAVING TAHINA — YOU CAN HELP PalmTalk (the public forum of the International Palm Society) is initiating a program to preserve Tahina spectabilis, an endangered palm that PalmTalk brought to the world’s attention in 2007. The discovery of this enormous, new palm generated worldwide interest, but now due to its extremely limited and fragile range in […]

June 2020 Newsletter

So many IPS members were looking forward to visiting Reunion Island for the 2020 IPS Biennial. The coronavirus pandemic forced us to forgo planned travel and group events, and stay-at-home orders have us longing to get outside. In lieu of a real hike in forest, we offer you this virtual hike. The islands of the […]

Webinar – Designing with Palms with Jason Dewees

Last week The International Palm Society invited you to our first free webinar. Over 150 people registered to listen in as palm expert Jason Dewees presented a slide talk about designing gardens with palms, showing examples of spectacular, well-designed landscapes from Hawai’i, California, South Carolina, Georgia and Florida, all beautifully photographed by Caitlin Atkinson. If you […]

May 2020 Newsletter

Palms and Art Regretfully, this was the month we were to convene on Réunion Island for an undoubtedly memorable biennial experience. Obviously, this was not possible. Instead, we shall indulge in armchair travel through the eyes of great artists. Given that Réunion is an overseas department of France, I will dedi-cate this newsletter to French […]

April 2020 Newsletter

Palms in Habitat – Washintonia filifera in Arizona Before this year, I had never been to the desert. Being a palm guy, I eagerly said yes to a trip with Larry Noblick to see our native Washintonia filifera in its desert habitat. I was also interested to see what the desert was all about. Besides […]

March 2020 Newsletter

One of the great joys of all palm lovers is visiting palms in habitat. This is why the International Palm Society Biennial meetings are so memorable. This exhilaration clearly resonates with our mandate of palm and habitat preservation. The Southern California desert hosts the only palm native to the western United States and one of […]

The Cliff Date Palm – Phoenix rupicola

Date palms are littered throughout the central Florida landscape.  While not native, they are certainly ubiquitous and have adapted well to Florida’s climate.  I’ve often wondered how the original specimens were introduced.  Perhaps it was a plant pioneer like David Fairchild or Henry Nehrling.  These palms certainly occupy an important part of Florida’s landscape, particularly […]