The impact of climate change has prompted the Queen to rethink some of the plants in the Buckingham Palace garden.

She took delivery yesterday of five exotic palm trees which have silvery blue-green, fan-shaped leaves. They are now destined to be the showpiece at this year's Palace garden parties.

The Queen had hoped to have them on display last summer after spotting some specimens during her visit to the Royal Horticutural Society's Chelsea Flower Show but an inquiry came too late for delivery then.

She was apparently so enthused by the sight of the Bismark Fan Palms (Bismarkia nobilis) she asked her head gardener to trace the supplier and order some.

Her Majesty may have also been taken by the name of the tree which means noble and stately. The inquiry came too late for a delivery last year but the nursery owner was so proud that his trees were admired by the Queen he promised the palms this spring.

Simon Gridley, who runs Amulree Exotics, near Norwich, told The Times he was so keen to supply the right trees he even flew to Alemeria, southern Spain, to select the best for his first British royal client.

The tallest of the five palms is 3.5 metres (11.48ft), two are 1.75 metres (5.74ft) and two a metre (3ft). But they can grow to seven or eight metres (21 to 24ft) in a lifespan of 50 to 100 years.

Mr Gridley admitted however that he was not convinced the climate even in the palace garden in central London was sufficiently tropical to allow the trees out in the winter.

The trees are now to be protected indoors until the end of the month and then planted as a centrepiece for the summer garden parties, a Buckingham Palace spokesman said.

Mr Gridley said: "They are going to be quite a show and surrounded with ground cover and bedding plants to create colourful area where they will stand out. They are going to be the big wow factor of the garden.”

The trees are native to Madagascar but are commonly grown in the Mediterranean and in Florida.

Mr Gridley sells about 20 or 30 a year and thinks most British buyers acquire them to keep in conservatories.

The five Buckingham Palace palms are understood to have cost less than £800 - though a fully matured tree alone could fetch more than £1,000. Small potted Bismark Fan Palms are on sale for £40.

There may be even more orders on the way for Mr Gridley. The Palace's head gardener is to visit in August in search of more tropical, weird and wonderful plants.

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