Palm trees in Scotland?

[mtbc]

I went to secondary school in Truro, Cornwall; I returned to visit the city last month. There are palm trees growing in its very mild climate: over a typical winter the temperature there barely dips below 40°F. Dundee's temperature does but still generally stays above freezing. On my morning commute to the University of Dundee I turn off the A90 onto the A85 and, as I pass Apollo Way into the technology park, that section of Riverside Avenue develops pots in which plants resembling palm trees are planted. I wonder if that is what they truly are.

At work, from the edge of campus one can see Tesco Riverside. This used to be something of a tease as the railway line runs in between so students would have a long walk to actually get there safely. The city council did a most useful thing and a large, long bridge emerged with an elevator and ramps and whatnot: one may now walk or bicycle quite directly from campus to Tesco. On this route one passes through Seabraes Gardens which also appear to have palm trees.

I know little of botany: quite possibly these plants are not palm-related at all, perhaps that is more plausible, though Dundee's climate is not harsh. Either way, I appreciate the effort of those who cause such pleasant additions to our urban environment.

Comments

[crazyscot]

Many years ago I came across what was billed as the Worlds Most Northerly Palm Tree, somewhere on the west coast north of Inverness. Google appears to confirm my memory - it's a New Zealand Cabbage Palm, planted in 1854 in a walled garden near the sea at Scourie Lodge.

http://www.deadlinenews.co.uk/2016/01/22/worlds-most-northerly-palm-tree-for-sale/

https://www.google.co.nz/maps/place/Scourie+Lodge/@58.1695181,-5.2858268,9z/data=!4m5!3m4!1s0x4891d4061041257f:0x2460f7c462a634cb!8m2!3d58.354538!4d-5.153614

[mtbc]

Goodness, thank you, that is rather far north, and it does indeed look like the kind of palm tree I see around the British coast.

Locally at Scone Palace I think we have the first Douglas fir, grown from the seed or cones brought back from the US, though I guess that's more expectable.