I'm moving to a new place and I'm happy that trees can be planted now on the island. What happens when bananas fight? Someone told me that you get a banana split. I have moved these tall boys (photo) as they were awakening. The flower stage cane was too big so I cut it down. These things can get heavy. Too big too move. It would have flowered without fronds. I know it sounds strange and looks even stranger. I've separated the rhyzome in many parts as a mature basjoo is way too heavy to handle in one piece. Canes under 8ft were transported. As the old house owners walked out, they were surpised to see bare root bananas being transplanted now. Some canes were planted so close that they will push each other. I must leave room for other species but did not want to dispose of extra canes. Bananas will be used in cereal. Most don't like this kind of tiny, non-commercial crop. Someone helped me move palms under 300 lbs. Palms like immediate plantings but bananas can wait a week on the ground and will feed on the root ball portion. Mature palms are great as the impress buyers from eastern Canada. I'll manicure them and grab the winter crop left by the birds. I have lots of rock in the new garden which can be used to contain bamboo. I've planted eucalyptus and my new neighbours will find out how fast theese can grow. I need less summer water with these. I've packed juvenile camellias together to create a cluster with multi-colour and multi-type flowers. White ones are nice but the flower's lifespsan is so short. Some pinks are also too fast. I like drooping specimens. I'll put in a fall specimen to bring out of season interest to the cluster. I've planted fremontia native to CA. We don't think of California as having full PNW flowers on a tree but their native Blue CA lilac is a nice evergreen tree that was planted by old owners. Poor guys, they planted pieris on rock with no summer irrigation. That thing looked crispy as if it had been in So Cal. It's amazing how some rhodos survived summer on the rocks. I'll move them into the shade. So many rhodos are destroyed in summer out here. Many gardeners don't water them and in dry continental outlows, they go crispy. The clay turns to rock and that doesn't help. The soil I now have is a bit red like a Maritime soil. I had to move away large stones to plant palms. We have to deal with lots of rock on the island. I've planted cordys making sure that I want them there as they cannot be moved once mature. I must leave mature specimens behind. New onwers will see them as pinnates and will probably not know that they are simply dracaena spikes gone big. I've planted an olive tree. They are not a common find but I think that they are interesting. My fiance wanted cherry trees so I got a garfted tree with 5 kinds. Amazing what you find out here. I'll plant ficus. Instead of being bordered by laurel a la Vancouver. I'll border with the use of Windmill palms. Let some light in with semi-privacy. I've visited Asia where they had groves of these things. They let a fair amount of sun through but enough shade to harbour large leaf rhodos and camellias from direct sun. I have palm pups but few have patience for tiny pups so I'll plant my extras under neighbours' palms. A mother plant with a pup or two looks nice. Problem with juveniles is that thieves like them. I planted an evergreen acacia and will add more. Back in Ontario, a lawn was a good idea but out here with dry summer lawns and a huge mix of trees and plants, I want the whole thing as a garden. And being like one of the Vancouver exotic plant maniacs, there will be a tight cluster of palms and exotics that will probably compress gardening space. I've got to go to Vancouver to get gardening ideas. Any big plans for your garden? Us ex-easterners, we move in not expecting such a range of plants that take years to learn. Then we want all kinds of things in the yard. Oh, and I'll plant kiwi vines. The local Saanich cultivar of Greater Victoria. Cheers Here is a link that might be useful: Basjoo Canes

Thank you for sharing. That is an interesting photo.

Yes, the winter half of the year will be overcast most all of the time. Temperatures will be cold for 40% of the year, but not extremely so. Most of the time this cold will be just above the freezing point, sometimes just a little bit below. The air is cool and damp. Summer is the driest time of the year, but the summers are short (compared to US standards). The weather though is amazing in summer, just the right temperature, very mild, not too hot, and everything is lush green and bursting with life. By Canadian standards, the climate in Vancouver is considered virtually "subtropical", but that is compared to the rest of Canada. Expect to wear a rain resistant jacket for much of the year. Due to the nature of the rain, constant light drizzle often blowing in with a light wind, umbrellas are not very practical. Puff jackets are the common clothing item. Due to the latitude, the winter time of the year will have very short day length, but the summer time will have very long days. This difference will be noticeable compared to US cities, even including New York and Chicago. During the winter, the nighttime temperatures are almost the same as the days, but during the drier summer half of the year, the nights can get very cool to almost kind of cold. The cost of housing in Vancouver is overpriced. It can be unaffordable for many people to live there. The city has many cultural amenities, but not especially so compared to the biggest US cities.

Here's what I will toss out. I did some research in Alamogordo and there was a cold snap as you can see in the first picture. The airport is maybe 5 miles from most of Alamogordo. If you go to www.wunderground.com you can view archived weather history on "view calendar forecast" on the local station's page, e.g. type in Alamogordo it allows you to see weather history. I just wanted to point out -13 F was recorded at the Alamogordo airport in early Feb. 2011 and lots of palms made it through that winter. Several days of negative degree nights and not a whole heck of a lot of recovery during the day. Most that died were Washington Robusta (Mexican fan palms) as they were seen dead all over Alamogordo, Las Cruces and El Paso. Mexican fan palms aren't a good choice in this area unless they're a Cali/Mex hybrid because the snaps in New Mexico are just too cold for them. You would be lucky if you got 20 years before they succumb to the cold. I would bet any Washington Robusta in Albuquerque would probably be toast in a few years. A better choice might be the Washington Filfera which is the California fan palm. They have been seen to survive -20 F and pretty sure they would be able to survive anything Albuquerque could throw at it. The Washington Filfera rarely get leaf full leaf burn until it drops below 13 F Very few canary island date palms seemed to have died down in southern NM which was interesting. They are proving to be almost as hardy as the California fan palms. In 1962 there was a -7 snap in El Paso and there are many date palms that are 60+ years old many planted before the snap and are still alive today. However it looks like the few Canary Island dates planted in Alamogordo made it through the winter there in a south facing exposed location in temps as low as -13 which if this is true this might be a new cold hardiness record for these palms which shows how remarkable they are. There's not a lot of information about them in this area because they haven't really caught on in popularity until recently. Most of the newer neighborhoods are stocking the canary island date palms in Las Cruces and they seem to be doing fine. The trick might be that you need to grow them from seed put them in a pot and leave them outside until about 10F then bring them into the garage on nights any colder than that, put them outside in the day when young. After they outgrow the pot in a couple of years plant them outside and your tree will be adapted and used to the cold. I think that's why some of these palms are doing ok even despite the incredibly cold snaps. Even the exposed palms seemed to have made it down in southern NM. Anyways if you check out the image of Alamogordo street view if you look carefully in the top left corner of the street view picture shows a date of 2013 which is after the big 2011 freeze. They look a little ratty as some single digit nights were recorded in 2013 as well. These palms were there before the freeze as well and I'm guessing they're almost 30 years old so they've probably seen some incredibly cold nights over the years. I wouldn't be completely sure a date palm would make it in Albuquerque long term because the snaps in Albuquerque tend to have slightly colder day time recovery, maybe with some mild winter protection like with Christmas lights (non LED type, but the incandescent type) you could have a small one tucked up against your warmest south facing wall with some black gravel rocks beneath it (which absorb heat) and a few large black rocks positioned near the palm to re-radiate heat at night to the tree in the winter you could get one to survive at least until a big freeze maybe 20 years or so. I would imagine it might just survive the cold snaps Albuquerque based on the cold snap data from Alamogordo in a good sheltered location and maybe with a small amount of protection could make it. If a crazy cold winter came up you might need to do some bagging or have a fold out greenhouse to put over it just to be safe. There is a rule of thumb in areas that are on a slope but not too high in elevation but maybe a few hundred feet above the bottom of the valley floor you might see 3-4 degrees in warmer temps on the coldest nights which is going to give you an advantage. In southern New Mexico all the palms in sheltered locations like against a south facing wall seem to get very little leaf burn during the winter despite the very cold nights at times where as the ones out in the open seem to be totally burnt which is telling me that the sheltered location makes all the difference. There are many nights that fall into the single digits every couple of years in Las Cruces and that you're possibly looking at +5-10 F degree micro-climate increase. As far as palms go in Albuquerque I would give it a go and maybe if you are aware of a super unbelievably cold night bust out a small radiator or parabola heater to direct heat at it or get some heat tap to wrap the bud and top of the tree to raise the air a couple of degrees which would likely be just enough to make it through the cold nights or another trick is depending on how your house is built put it near a south facing bathroom exhaust vent. If the vents are on the side of the house then at night just turn on your bathroom vent that blows toward the palm and that would probably help too although not as much as heat tape. This is a good video for showing the freeze damage in palms in Las Cruces which recorded a -5 night. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=81fxNatT2lQ