Dave Poole wrote:
Rusty wrote:

Canary Island date palm, which is being very widely planted in
the
south ...

Do you get dates? How long does it take, on average, any idea?

Unfortunately the fruits are small and the flesh of the Canary
Island
date is very dry and mealy, so it has no culinary value. The 14m.
high, 120 year old plant here in Torquay flowers regularly every
late
spring, but probably needs a nearby pollinator for fruit and viable
seed to be set. There are lots of them being planted around town
and
a few that will be flowering size in the next 4 or 5 years

Phoenix dactylifera is the one for fruits, but there are only
comparatively young plants being grown out of doors so far. Maybe
we'll know whether they can ripen sufficiently in another 10 years
or
so. There's no doubt that it can be grown in some parts of the UK
at
least, but whether you could harvest decent quality fruits is
another
matter.

Commercial date palms have to be artificially inseminated, as far as
I remember. So you'll need to do a bit of climbing when the time
comes.

--
Mike.