The Prostitute Palm?

Published in Highlights

Palm trees are not native to Croatia, but they thrive in the Mediterranean climate of the coastal regions.

The palm branch is a symbol of Victory, triumph and eternal life. It is also a symbol of peace. For the village-like town of Vrboska, known as the 'Little Venice' on Hvar, a single palm tree defines the image of the place. Rising modestly from the centre of the little islet called Škojić (the local dialect word for islet), the palm provides a charming visual focal point in Vrboska's seafront.

 

Škojić is used for summer entertainments, serving as a magical backdrop to events such as Vrboska's boat-concerts, and the perfect setting for performances such as 'Two ladies in the summer night', staged on July 10th 2014. Pictures from Vrboska's cultural programmes can be viewed on the Vrboska Tourist Board's Facebook page.

It was therefore a (nasty) surprise to many that the local council had considered and approved a proposal to remove the palm tree and re-plant Škojić for complete cover with spruce (genus picea, Croatian smrča), myrtle (myrtus communis, part of the myrtaceae family, Croatian mirta), pistachio (pistacia vera, member of the cashew family, Croatian pistacija), and carob (ceratonia siliqua, family Fabaceae, Croatian rogač). The news aroused a strong reaction, with some two hundred locals immediately signing a petition to save the palm. Opinions were expressed on the internet, with a UK tree expert who has a holiday home in Vrboska describing Škojić's single palm as an icon and a strong visual element anchoring the town's disparate seafront buildings. Local reporter Mirko Crnčević wrote a measured piece in Slobodna Dalmacija on July 21st 2014, which was followed by a wide-reaching commentary by Jurica Pavičić in national daily Jutarnji list on July 26th.

The Škojić palm has not been in place for all that long: pictures from the 1970s, such as that in Niko Duboković's excellent little guidebook to Hvar (first published in 1974, Croatian text available on the internet), show the islet covered in shrubs and trees. But despite being a relative newcomer, the palm has established itself as an emblem which, it seems, most residents and loyal visitors wish to keep. It has witnessed all the everyday and festive activities of the town, including major events such as the 2014 Procession in celebration of the quatercentenary of Vrboska's Weeping Cross. Many feel that no photograph of the Vrboska harbour would be complete without it.

The architect of the landscaping project, Dobrila Kraljić, justified the proposed destruction of the palm by terming it "exceedingly eccentric and pretentious". She accused it of sticking out like a sore thumb and seducing the eye, of conjuring up reckless exoticism. To her it was "inauthentic" and out of keeping with the environment behind it. Her ruthless denigration of the poor palm evoked a tart response from fellow-architect Barbara Matejčić, who said it sounded as though Dobrila Kraljić was describing some Eastern European prostitute, not a tree. This comment may imply racism and perhaps an unwarranted slur on the oldest profession in this pedantically politically-correct world, but one can appreciate the point nonetheless.

Is the poor lambasted palm "inauthentic"? And even if it is, is that a crime worthy of the death sentence? Does the same apply to all the other palms lining Vrboska's streets and adorning the gardens? There are a lot of them, and not only in Vrboska but all over Dalmatia.

Palm trees certainly arrived in Dalmatia from elsewhere; as did a lot of other trees, shrubs and plants. One of the joys of horticulture is the way successful plant immigration enhances a landscape. Traveller Maude Holbach, after visiting Dalmatia at the beginning of the 20th century, described her impressions of the plants flourishing on Hvar, which was then known as Lesina:
"As might be expected from its climate, all kinds of southern plants and trees flourish on Lesina, among them the date palm, olives, oranges, and lemons, giant agaves and eucalyptus." ('Dalmatia: the Land Where East Meets West' by Maude Holbach, pub. Cosimo inc., first published 1910, p 211.) On Vis (Lissa), she came across a palm of magnificent stature: "Hard by the site of the Roman villa is a date-palm, which is unmatched for size and beauty upon the shores and islands of the Adriatic. It grows in a neglected garden by the seashore and lifts its stately head full eighty feet or more into the air, rising from a bed of wild flowers and surrounded by satellite palms which would be noticeable elsewhere, and seem small only in comparison with their giant neighbour.
Three hundred years at least, the natives say, this monarch among palms has kept watch and ward upon the shores of Adria. It witnessed the invasion of the armies of the Crescent, which sent a terrified people crowding to the towers of refuge and defence, which still stand, and add a very pcturesque touch to the town. There seems no reason why it should not stand here for centuries still, and witness the awakening of sleeping Lissa to the throb of modern life which is surely coming." (ibid. p 218)
 

Thank Heaven Ms Kraljić was not around then to propose eliminating this magnificant specimen and its natural companions. A manicured orderly cultivated garden would not have made the same impression on this perceptive visitor. Wild flowers are an important part of Dalmatia's identity and personality. Tragically, it seems the decision-makers for Jelsa Council's horticultural arrangements are unaware of the part wild flowers with their natural beauty play in attracting tourists. For instance, the wild flowers which adorned the road islands around Jelsa with vibrant colour in the spring were mercilessly eradicated, leaving depressing expanses of bare earth. The shrubs planted to fill the space were ruthlessly cut back into an unnatural neatness. In particular, the forcible restraint of the rosemary, which should be allowed to grow and spread freely, is not an attractive sight.

Can the cost of revamping Škojić be justified? Personally, I doubt it. There are many more urgent needs within the locality which are not met because of a shortage of funds, despite the successful efforts of Jelsa's current mayor, Nikša Peronja, to reduce the debt left over from the previous authorities. A recycling system, which is vital for the health of the community in the Jelsa region, is not yet in sight, despite being an important part of the Croatian law on sustainable rubbish management, in keeping with European directives.

PRESERVE THE ŠKOJIĆ PALM!

Why?

1. Škojić is very attractive as it is

2. In its present form, Škojić is ideal for staging concerts, readings and other events

3. The Škojić palm is a unique emblem identifying Vrboska

4. It is an established tourist attraction

 

© Vivian Grisogono MA(Oxon) 2014

 

Media

Vrboska in 1969, without the palm Video uploaded to Youtube by Pero Razović
You are here: Home highlights The Prostitute Palm?

Eco Environment News feeds

  • Signs tout a natural paradise, but pollution from over-farming has left Northern Ireland’s Lough Neagh choked by toxic algae

    The bright, cheery signs dot the shoreline like epistles from another era, a time before the calamity.

    “Ballyronan marina is a picturesque boating and tourist facility on the shores of Lough Neagh,” says one. “Contours of its historical past embrace the virginal shoreline.”

    Continue reading...

  • As Swiss glaciers melt at an ever-faster rate, new species move in and flourish, but entire ecosystems and an alpine culture can be lost

    • Photographs by Nicholas JR White

    From the slopes behind the village of Ernen, it is possible to see the gouge where the Fiesch glacier once tumbled towards the valley in the Bernese Alps. The curved finger of ice, rumpled like tissue, cuts between high buttresses of granite and gneiss. Now it has melted out of sight.

    People here once feared the monstrous ice streams, describing them as devils, but now they dread their disappearance. Like other glaciers in the Alps and globally, the Fiesch is melting at ever-increasing rates. More than ice is lost when the giants disappear: cultures, societies and entire ecosystems are braided around the glaciers.

    The Aletsch glacier viewed from Moosfluh, looking towards the Olmenhorn and Eggishorn peaks

    Continue reading...

  • Preserving the Amazonian rainforest keeps communities safe from the health risks of wildfires and deforestation, research has found

    For Bolivian park ranger Marcos Uzquiano, the fallout from wildfires in the Amazon goes far beyond the damage they do to wildlife and biodiversity. “It’s devastating – it undermines all the functions and benefits that forests provide to Indigenous communities. They affect the air we breathe and cause respiratory infections, eye irritation and throat inflammation,” he says.

    Uzquiano’s experience at Beni Biosphere Reserve is reflected in new research which suggests that preserving Amazonian forests helps to protect millions from disease. Analysing 20 years of data on 27 diseases – including malaria, Chagas disease and hantavirus – researchers found that municipalities in the Amazon biome near healthy forests on Indigenous lands across eight countries faced a lower risk of disease.

    Continue reading...

  • Blackstone founder Stephen Schwarzman acted legally, but residents complained to Southern Water

    A Donald Trump-backing billionaire has been stopped from transporting water in tankers to fill a lake on his Wiltshire estate during a drought.

    Southern Water has told tanker companies to cease delivering water to Stephen Schwarzman’s 2,500-acre estate after local residents filmed vehicles going day and night to its grounds.

    Continue reading...

  • Phil Bellamy’s daughters refuse to ride in his electric car without travel sickness tablets. Are there other solutions?

    It was a year in to driving his daughter to school in his new electric vehicle that Phil Bellamy discovered she dreaded the 10-minute daily ride – it made her feel sick in a way no other car did.

    As the driver, Bellamy had no problems with the car but his teenage daughters struggled with sickness every time they entered the vehicle. Research has shown this is an issue – people who did not usually have motion sickness in a conventional car found that they did in EVs.

    Continue reading...

  • Drakes Broughton, Worcestershire: The scourge of rural litter is enough to bring anyone together, even a farmer and us, trying to camp for the night in his field

    In deepest rural Worcestershire – unfamiliar country for a mountaineer and a Welshman – we need a place to sleep. Our hedged lane skirts a little copse, and tired eyes pick out a gap; a couple of big steps over the brambles and we’re in. We haul the bike trailer (heavy with cans and bottles, picked up over some 300 miles on England’s dirty roads) into the woods. Damien Gabet, with whom I’m here to wild camp, is on a 1,000-mile journey in the shape of a Lucozade bottle as part of an anti-litter campaign, all the while removing as many plastic bottles as he can fit in his small orange trailer.

    Beyond the wood is a field where the corn has been cut: a perfect spot, hidden from view, disturbing no one. Stars start to blink awake as we make our home for the night. Suddenly, the rumble of an engine – a silver Range Rover turns the corner. A familiar weariness grip me: I’m already resigned to being moved on, to take some stick for our trespass.

    Continue reading...

  • The corporate-financed backlash to calls for global climate progress has been greatly empowered by the Trump administration. It’s never been more critical to challenge the misinformation that could turn a crisis into a catastrophe

    Support the Guardian’s independent, fact-based journalism today

    A little over a decade ago I published a book, This Changes Everything, which explored the reality of the climate crisis as a confrontation between capitalism and the planet. For a few years after the book came out, it seemed like we might just win a breakthrough. A cascade of large and militant mobilisations pressed the case for keeping warming below 1.5C as global calls for a green new deal grew louder and louder. Countries across the world announced long-term plans to reduce emissions and to hit net-zero targets; so did some of the largest corporations on the planet.

    And then … well, we all know what happened. A corporate-financed backlash on all fronts. In the first 100 days of Trump’s second term, his administration took more than 140 actions to roll back environmental rules and push for greater use of fossil fuels. He signed executive orders to ease restrictions on their extraction and export, filled his cabinet with oil industry supporters, gutted federal agencies on the forefront of the climate crisis, and cancelled life-saving environmental justice projects.

    Join George Monbiot and special guests on 16 September for a special climate assembly to discuss the growing and dramatic political and corporate threats to the planet. Book tickets – in person or livestream

    Continue reading...

  • In the remote state of Meghalaya, foraged foods are helping to diversify state-provided menus – and tackle chronic malnutrition

    Excited chatter and the clattering of steel plates drown out the din of the monsoon rains: it is lunchtime in Laitsohpliah government school in the north-east Indian state of Meghalaya. The food has been cooked on-site and is free for everyone, part of India’s ambitious “midday meal” – PM Poshan – programme to incentivise school enrolment.

    The scheme covers more than 1m state-run schools across the country, but the menu at Laitsohpliah is hyperlocal, thanks to a recent charity initiative in the state.

    A lunch of rice, dal, potatoes with east Himalayan chives, cured dry fish and sohryngkham, a wild berry pickle

    Continue reading...

  • Heroic firefighting and a lucky turn in weather helped avert disaster once, but ‘a perfect storm of conditions’ remains

    During a 2024 wildfire season described as “unprecedented”, the tiny central Idaho town of Stanley and nearby Redfish Lake Lodge narrowly missed incineration by two fires: the Bench Lake and then the Wapiti blazes.

    It took heroic firefighting efforts and favorable turns in weather conditions for the town – a mountain mecca for tourists from around the world – to survive without the loss of a single life or home.

    Continue reading...

  • We want to hear which Australian birds you think should be shortlisted for the Guardian/Birdlife Australia bird of the year poll next month

    Which of the 830 bird species that call Australia home (or at least one of their homes) should make it into the 2025 Australian bird of the year poll?

    Australia has the greatest diversity of avian life in the world, home to nearly one in 10 of the world’s 10,000 living bird species. And we love to celebrate it. Australians are renowned for admiring our beautiful, bountiful and boisterous birds. And nothing highlights that more than the Guardian/Birdlife Australia bird of the year poll, held every two years, when birdlovers around the country battle it out to see their favourite feathered friend take the crown as best bird.

    Continue reading...

Eco Health News feeds

Eco Nature News feeds