People living in the northern Slovak region of Kysuce are more and more interested in palm trees. (source: Pavol Stolárik)
Palm trees, more commonly associated with beaches, are becoming a more frequent sight in Slovak gardens, even in northern Slovak regions, such as Kysuce.
Talking to My Kysuce regional news site, exotic plants expert Marián Kucharčík says that demand for such plants is rising in Slovakia. Due to climate change and vegetation zones shifting northwards and to higher altitudes, it is now possible to grow plants which were usually seen only at much more southerly latitudes.
Although any palm trees planted in Kysuce would need some special preparation to withstand the region's colder temperatures, around the towns of Nitra or Trenčín this would not be needed ahead of winter, says Kucharčík.
According to the Slovak Hydrometeorological Institute, the average air temperature in Slovakia has risen by between 1.8 and 2.0 °C since 1881.
In Kysuce, temperatures in the last 30 years were 1 °C to 1.2 °C higher than between 1961 to 1990. In the coming decades climatologists expect fewer very cold and more tropical days in the region.
Moreover, local forests will change as well, with spruce making way for beech and maple trees, not only because of temperature changes, but also due to the spread of fungi and spruce bark beetles.
