Dypsis saintelucei Flowering in SoCal

[LJG]

Today while walking around the garden I noticed a flower spike on my Dypsis saintelucei. I am not sure if this is a first in SoCal, but I have not heard of a Saintelucei flowering here before. Should be fun to try and do some crosses with. There are currently 13 different Dypsis flowering in the yard. So lots to choose from.

The first pic shows the flower spike.

The second pic shows the large, drooping Basal leaflets.

The third pic shows the whole plant. This was planted in full sun as a small 15 gallon plant in spring of 2007. It suffered for 4-5 years in the full sun. I lost the other two I planted next to it in full sun. So full sun as a small plant is not recommended.

[BS Man about Palms]

Congrats and looking great Len!!

[quaman58]

Very nice Len; my of the few palms I could have 10 of & not get tired of them. Looks awesome!

[DoomsDave]

Very nice.

Much more robust than my own. Either, better husbandry (spousery?) or maybe a different species?

Looks like the orgy of Madagascar is coming to Cali.

[Firepalm]

Nice work Len! Definitely one of the best specimens anywhere in SoCal. Keep us posted on the hybrid experiments!

[MattyB]

Wow! I didn't think these would take full sun, but that thing looks perfect!

[Gtlevine]

I just saw that plant last weekend and its a real stunner. Great to see it flowering. Mardy has one twenty feet tall but i dont think it has flowered yet, so you may be the first.

[Pedro 65]

Exciting stuff Len, thats a very Shmick Saintlucei you have/are growing, stand proud

Pete

[Shon]

I was wondering if Mardys did also. That is a chunky mother. Nice job Len.

[LJG]

Thanks Bill.

Brett, have you tried the Dwarf Saintlucei? I finally got one through the winter

Dave, it only the last few years started to fatten up. It was skinny before.

Thanks Blake. I will keep you posted. You can have some seed.

Matt, I lost two others that were planted with it. They hate full sun when small.

Thanks Pete. Means a lot coming from you.

Thanks Gary. Look forward to doing some hybrids with you and Steve.

Shon, Mardy's has never flowered. It is in a lot of shade and he does not fertilize anymore. Man, I have not seen you one here in a long time.

[palmsnbananas]

Wow that looks perfectly grown

[Kennybenjamin]

Awesome plant Len!! I agree with Brett, I love this sp. and wouldn't mind a few nice specimens in the garden!!

I find them to be a fussy palm, they grow great in pots but once they hit the ground they seem to hate it? I have killed about 8 of them. Interesting comments about their sun exposure when young, I had previously planted small ones in half sun and none survived. I was about to give up on them but decided to give them one more shot and plant 3 that were about 1.5 m tall. 1 of them has perished, 1 is struggling but seems to be growing and the largest looks fine but doesn't appear to be growing?

Len ( or anyone else ), with the ones you lost did you find them to get all loose and floppy around where the spear emerges from? This appears to be a regular phenomenon with this sp. and seems to signal the end for them??

Anyone in Australia growing this successfully? I have yet to see any growing well here??

[Tyrone]

Anyone in Australia growing this successfully? I have yet to see any growing well here??

Yes, I've got a good one growing in my Perth garden. It seems an easy grow. It gets a lot of sun and warmth near my coconut.

[JD in the OC]

Congrats Len!! I'm sure yours is the first. Ours at the nursery is not even flowering yet! Try some triangle pollen on it! Or teddy bear..

[JD in the OC]

Here's what you have to look forward to Len (at Ho'omalahea)

[LJG]

Thanks Qasim!

Kenny, I have lost three total planting in full sun - and I do mean full sun. This is the reason I planted that Alexander (Beatrice) you see in the photo. I was giving up. The leaves would just burn all year. Each new spear would open and weeks later be yellow and months later brown. Once winter comes around they would be so weak pink rot would nuke them. Also, yes, they would be lose in the soil. I would mound up a think mulch around the base and eventually it shot out a bunch of stabilizing roots. About 4-5 years later it started sending out these small, stunted leaves. Each new leaf would get bigger. However each stunt leaf was sun hardy! It was almost like it put out a large enough root system that it had what it needed to handle full sun. After that it was on its way. I have found they love water. I can't over water in my DG.

JD, this is exactly the first attempt. . I have someone coming to cut the flower when ready and bake off the pollen. I will then hit my Triangle that is always in flower this time of year. If they take, I'll send you some.

[Jim in Los Altos]

Great to see this in CA, Len. Are these cool tolerant. Mine is in dappled shade in the ground and about four feet tall with a skinny stem and, although very green, struggles to put out a leaf every five months or so. The ones I've tried in full sun never made it through summer without spear pull and burned leaves but the two I have had in mostly shade look great but are painfully slow. Wadya think?

[LJG]

Jim, wish I could help on cool tolerance. I would just be guessing. These are slow for me, so I am sure in your area even slower. But I would leave in part shade. I have been told these are emerging canopy palms anyway in the wild.

[Jim in Los Altos]

Jim, wish I could help on cool tolerance. I would just be guessing. These are slow for me, so I am sure in your area even slower. But I would leave in part shade. I have been told these are emerging canopy palms anyway in the wild.

Len, I should have mentioned that my summer average highs are low 80s with low 60s for minimums. Even during heat waves in the 90s, these saintlucei are slow! I deep water them three times per week and soil never dries out.

[Gtlevine]

I have a really nice one Jim, but i agree its painfully slow.

[BS Man about Palms]

Interesting reading the struggles and that Len says he waters heavily. Maybe its a heat thing. I have found that the more water I gave mine in pots they would rot away.. the ones I ignored did fine... (Until they got TOO dry) but thats my Modus operandi.

Anywho, after seeing Lens burnt ones I planted a giant 3 gal one in part shade and it has done fine. I have another that should be planted soon.. (Like 90% of what I have)

[BS Man about Palms]

Oh yeah, these are rockets compared to the highland mealybug/ now D. nauseosa palms..

[LJG]

Bill I have found that an indication of watering tolerance in pots doesn't necessarily equate to what you will find in the ground. Many potting soils breakdown fast and because mucky and hold water low but can be dry on top. When you read about where these grow in Mad, you know they like water.

[LJG]

This crazy few years of weather has really been great for the palms. I just saw this today too. My Zombia antillarum is flowering! This palm is not easy to grow here. It really needs heat.

[MattyB]

OK, now you're just bragging. I like it.

[Kennybenjamin]

I have also found that these are happy to be dry in pots. As I said earlier a simple grow in pots but very difficult in ground. Hopefully planting larger palnts makes all the difference?

[Dave-Vero]

Pretty D. saintelucei. I'm trying two of them under a laurel oak canopy, having failed once before.

[Hilo Jason]

Looking great Len!

[Mandrew968]

This crazy few years of weather has really been great for the palms. I just saw this today too. My Zombia antillarum is flowering! This palm is not easy to grow here. It really needs heat.

The way you have that palm as a single, makes it look sooo WEIRD. I see Zombies all the time and have thousands of seeds--a solitary one like that is just weird.

[realarch]

Len,

So, has your D.saintelucei flowered yet? A few months back mine started to set seed and looked to be doing fine. A couple of weeks later I noticed the seed branch had broken off and was just hanging by a few threads. I think it just got too heavy. I was at Jeff's recently and noticed he ties the stalk to the trunk for support because they often have too much mass. Just FYI. (since I'm not trying to propagate, for me, it's no big deal)

Here are a few pics of the fallen stalk.

BTW, I think your zombie looks just fine as a single. Tucked away in the corner provides protection, not only for the palm, but for people.

[KennyRE317]

i haven't had much luck with these guys either but some of it was my fault since i forgot about them and left them in full blasting sun for a bit while in 1gal buckets. i have one left and it's been sitting in the bromeliad corner and gets water once a week with the bromeliads and has been doing fine. i'm probably going to start moving it toward a bit more sun and plant in the spring

[Mandrew968]

It doesn't look sick-just weird.

[LJG]

Len,

So, has your D.saintelucei flowered yet? A few months back mine started to set seed and looked to be doing fine. A couple of weeks later I noticed the seed branch had broken off and was just hanging by a few threads. I think it just got too heavy. I was at Jeff's recently and noticed he ties the stalk to the trunk for support because they often have too much mass. Just FYI. (since I'm not trying to propagate, for me, it's no big deal)

Here are a few pics of the fallen stalk.

BTW, I think your zombie looks just fine as a single. Tucked away in the corner provides protection, not only for the palm, but for people.

IMG_0665.jpg IMG_0666.jpg

Tim, funny you mention an update as Bob De Jong was just over and said I should add one too. So I had pictures ready I would imagine looking at the size of the flowers and the length of the peduncle, that in places like Hawaii where they grow so much faster and shed old leafbases so quickly that they would have issue staying on the tree without support. I have found that many of the interfoliar flowering Dypsis will drop the flower from too much weigh if the old leafbases are not on the palm to help support the weight. It is hard to tell from the pic as there is no scale, but the flower is massive for a palm its size.

Oh, and I like the single Zombie too. I bought it that way on purpose. The appeal to me is the unique trunk so that is what I see everytime I walk in my front door.

[quaman58]

Wow, that is carrying a lot of fruit...

[realarch]

Oh yeah, LOTS of flowers.

It's the first time mine has flowered and set seed, and from what I've observed in my garden, the couple of first go-arounds usually aren't viable anyway. We'll see how subsequent flowering/seeding goes, I've got three of these guys to work with.

These really are exceptional palms, shape ,color, and size.

I can't believe this looks as good as it does in SoCal, makes me want to move back.......well, maybe not.

Tim

[Bismark]

I have been warned away from the saintelucei in South East Qld but after seeing yours Len I think I need to give them a go.

Any tips for SEQ would be welcome.

[Dave-Vero]

D. saintelucei also seems questionable in Florida, apparently not very tolerant of freezes or frost, and seems to have high mortality when young. I have two little ones, one not thriving but putting out a promising new leaf and this one, purchased 12 months ago and finally planted around March. It seemed to thrive on heavy summer rains, especially in September.

The bed is overstuffed with bromeliads, which essentially all need to be pulled out, the area weeded, then (mostly) replanted. Fan leaves in the background are a thriving Coccothrinax. The bed is under the canopye of a laurel oak, a measure to provide some protection against frost.

[neoflora]

I got to see Len's St. Luce today. Flawless looking. Also would like to mention it was from me! It was a seedling from Madagascar. Not Hawaii.

[LJG]

I got to see Len's St. Luce today. Flawless looking. Also would like to mention it was from me! It was a seedling from Madagascar. Not Hawaii.

Thanks Ron, good catching up. Thanks for the update that it was wild collected. And yes, this plant originally came from Ron in 2007

[Mandrew968]

I am just used to seeing these like this, Len. Seeing a trimmed single like yours throws me off, at first glance...

Dave in Vero, Saintelucei grows fine in South Florida--they like the sun. Maybe cold is an issue for you, but you can grow lutescens, no? Should be an easy grow...