Bismarckia Palms

[Kevin S]

 Still very small but I do love my little Bismarckia Palm.  Show me your Bismarckias.

[Plantasexoticas]

Still a very small one but it is one of my favourite palms - an indoor Palm for me most of the year

Edited February 3, 2017 by Plantasexoticas

[steve99]

 

 

Here's mine.

 

 

 

[Plantasexoticas]

3 hours ago, steve99 said:

 

 

Here's mine.

 

 

 

Stunning palm. I'll be long gone before mine gets that big

[Jdiaz31089]

3 hours ago, steve99 said:

 

 

Here's mine.

 

 

 

Amazing! I still see too much empty space in this palm garden though... 

[Jdiaz31089]

Mine is a baby, but here is one at the Fairchild in Miami. I took this in October. 

[Jim in Los Altos]

Here's my shade grown one here in the SF Bay Area. These shots are from two years ago so it's bigger now of course.

[Jim in Los Altos]

IMG_1890.MOV

[steve99]

6 hours ago, Jdiaz31089 said:

Amazing! I still see too much empty space in this palm garden though... 

No worries mate, next garden I build I'll ask for your advice.   

 

 

 

[Jdiaz31089]

27 minutes ago, steve99 said:

No worries mate, next garden I build I'll ask for your advice.   

 

 

 

hah you'll end up with a jungle if you ask for my advice

[Plantasexoticas]

Where is the most borderline place anyone has successfully grown a bismarckia?

[Mohsen]

Mine sprouted from seeds , the parents are Steve99's Bizzys  

i have a bigger one in ground ...but still is a baby ...

[Pal Meir]

3 hours ago, Mohsen said:

Mine sprouted from seeds , the parents are Steve99's Bizzys  

i have a bigger one in ground ...but still is a baby ...

Oh, I like those violet-purple leaves!  Will your palm keep that colour for all future leaves? 

[topwater]

I have a Bismarckia disorder, this is the largest of five :)

[topwater]

Two babies I planted last spring. The smaller one looked healthy when planted but the first 3 spears it pushed were necrotic, it looked like they were eaten away by a black fungus. I treated it with a copper fungicide but it didn't open a healthy spear until August.  It still looks really stunted, I wish I had taken some pics for the pros to look at.  

[Tampa Scott]

My girl is all grown up with children of her own.

 

 

 

[Dave-Vero]

There's no doubt variability, but in Florida, this is a fast growing palm.  So much so that there's a bit of a problem with bizzies getting too tall, too fast. 

[Mohsen]

On 5 February 2017 at 5:17:44 AM, Pal Meir said:

Oh, I like those violet-purple leaves!  Will your palm keep that colour for all future leaves? 

I hope so Pal  

[foxtail]

[PalmTreeDude]

On 2/5/2017, 3:20:29, Tampa Scott said:

My girl is all grown up with children of her own.

 

 

 

Nice! A full head!

[Tampa Scott]

20 hours ago, PalmTreeDude said:

Nice! A full head!

No need to trim off the old leaves as it self cleans.

[PalmTreeDude]

On 2/7/2017, 3:36:18, Tampa Scott said:

No need to trim off the old leaves as it self cleans.

True, they also, in my opinion look better like that.

Edited February 9, 2017 by PalmTreeDude

[steve99]

 

Here's another pic of one of my Bizzy's.  It's been dropping seeds like crazy over the last 3-4 weeks and I've already collected four 20L buckets full.

 

 

Edited February 9, 2017 by steve99

[foxtail]

16 hours ago, steve99 said:

 

Here's another pic of one of my Bizzy's.  It's been dropping seeds like crazy over the last 3-4 weeks and I've already collected four 20L buckets full.

 

 

[Alan_Tampa]

I don't trim my bismarks. A: too tall, B: too lazy. 

 

They seem to fall in groups, slow to fall in winter, faster to fall in the summer. My palms seem to grow year round. 

[Peter Pacific]

Here´s mine from over the perimeter wall, about ten years old and 25 feet high.  Really beautiful palms.

[Reeverse]

This one's in Daytona. Over trimmed but still nice and tall. 

[Umbrae]

my unkempt beast

[jreich85]

On 2/4/2017, 5:14:32, Plantasexoticas said:

Where is the most borderline place anyone has successfully grown a bismarckia?

I've seen a quite a few now in coastal Jacksonville, FL. I would say our climate is a warm 9a/ cool 9b. We're at latitude 30 N. I'm sure some of these Bizzies lived through the winter of 2010 when temps probably got down into the upper 20s for multiple nights and the area broke records for successive nights with freezing temperatures.

[Umbrae]

I tried to get a better shot but the traffic on this road is horrible, and it's under construction,some of these have seed, and I am sooo tempted, I have looked for the owner and left a note in the mail box,  but I never see the gates open.

Edited February 18, 2017 by Umbrae

[Hillizard]

Looks like my small Bismarckia nobilis (from Jungle Music) survived another winter (sigh of relief)! I've got it planted on a raised berm with a southern exposure in my backyard NorCal (Sacramento). I threw frost cloth over it a few times during winter nights that had the lowest temps. I expect it to enjoy our blazing summers here. 

[NorCalKing]

30 minutes ago, Hillizard said:

Looks like my small Bismarckia nobilis (from Jungle Music) survived another winter (sigh of relief)! I've got it planted on a raised berm with a southern exposure in my backyard NorCal (Sacramento). I threw frost cloth over it a few times during winter nights that had the lowest temps. I expect it to enjoy our blazing summers here. 

I was under the impression that Bizzy's were a pretty solid palm in our zone (9B)?

[Hillizard]

50 minutes ago, NorCalKing said:

I was under the impression that Bizzy's were a pretty solid palm in our zone (9B)?

I wish that was the case, but unless they're hidden away in private backyards or I just need to travel more locally, I've not seen a really large Bismarckia in the Bay Area like I've seen in SoCal. I suspect they enjoy the heat (and will grow faster) in central California more than in the temperate weather closer to the Bay. In time, in my own garden microclimate, I may learn the answer to that. 

[Jdiaz31089]

9 minutes ago, Hillizard said:

I wish that was the case, but unless they're hidden away in private backyards or I just need to travel more locally, I've not seen a really large Bismarckia in the Bay Area like I've seen in SoCal. I suspect they enjoy the heat (and will grow faster) in central California more than in the temperate weather closer to the Bay. In time, in my own garden microclimate, I may learn the answer to that. 

 

1 hour ago, NorCalKing said:

I was under the impression that Bizzy's were a pretty solid palm in our zone (9B)?

I've seen them in the southern part of the central valley - Bakersfield, Shafter, some in Fresno also. There's a large nursery on 99 just outside of Stockton that has quite a few large bismarckias on their lot. I've seen large, boxed dypsis decaryi there as well and they seem to handle winters there alright. Lowes has started carrying some in the past few years so I suspect they'll start showing up in people's yards. A local grower (in Fresno) said that they do really well in our heat, but struggle during particularly wet and foggy winters like the one we just had. 

Hillizard, I have one about the same size as yours there. 

[Hillizard]

11 minutes ago, Jdiaz31089 said:

 

I've seen them in the southern part of the central valley - Bakersfield, Shafter, some in Fresno also. There's a large nursery on 99 just outside of Stockton that has quite a few large bismarckias on their lot. I've seen large, boxed dypsis decaryi there as well and they seem to handle winters there alright. Lowes has started carrying some in the past few years so I suspect they'll start showing up in people's yards. A local grower (in Fresno) said that they do really well in our heat, but struggle during particularly wet and foggy winters like the one we just had. 

Hillizard, I have one about the same size as yours there. 

Good to know about those sources Jdiaz. I guess you and I are two of the participants in an unofficial north-central Cal Bismarckia growathon. May we all win! 

[Tracy]

2 hours ago, Hillizard said:

I've not seen a really large Bismarckia in the Bay Area like I've seen in SoCal. I suspect they enjoy the heat (and will grow faster) in central California more than in the temperate weather closer to the Bay.

When I bought my first one, people warned me that they might be very slow in my climate about .6 miles from the beach in South Carlsbad.  While I killed the first one, probably with sloppy handling when removing it from the pot, I tried again a few years later.  Unless you are in San Francisco, or across the bay in the Berkeley hills/Oakland hills, you probably have enough summer/early autumn heat.  My guess is that the prolonged periods of cooler and wet periods would be your likely challenge. 

Bottom line, my second planting effort went without any problems and it has flourished.  It slows a little during the winter months, but definitely doesn't stop growing.  So don't let fear of lack of summer heat make you hesitate on trying... try proving any naysayer wrong instead!

[Jim in Los Altos]

3 hours ago, Hillizard said:

I wish that was the case, but unless they're hidden away in private backyards or I just need to travel more locally, I've not seen a really large Bismarckia in the Bay Area like I've seen in SoCal. I suspect they enjoy the heat (and will grow faster) in central California more than in the temperate weather closer to the Bay. In time, in my own garden microclimate, I may learn the answer to that. 

Bismarckia do very well here in the Bay Area. Mine put out three new leaves between January and March and often up to six in summer/fall so even in full shade it does well and grows whether it's hot out or chilly. These pictures are two years old. I need to update.

[Hillizard]

29 minutes ago, Jim in Los Altos said:

Bismarckia do very well here in the Bay Area. Mine put out three new leaves between January and March and often up to six in summer/fall so even in full shade it does well and grows whether it's hot out or chilly. These pictures are two years old. I need to update.

Beautiful palm in your picture! Would love to see an updated image later this year. I imagine the fact that you're growing it in USDA zones 10a/9b |Sunset zone 16 has several advantages, especially in the winter! I'm solidly in USDA zone 9b/Sunset zone 14, and my palm has no canopy protection, so it's got several disadvantages from the start. I'll just have to wait patiently and see what happens... 

[Hillizard]

43 minutes ago, Tracy said:

When I bought my first one, people warned me that they might be very slow in my climate about .6 miles from the beach in South Carlsbad.  While I killed the first one, probably with sloppy handling when removing it from the pot, I tried again a few years later.  Unless you are in San Francisco, or across the bay in the Berkeley hills/Oakland hills, you probably have enough summer/early autumn heat.  My guess is that the prolonged periods of cooler and wet periods would be your likely challenge. 

Bottom line, my second planting effort went without any problems and it has flourished.  It slows a little during the winter months, but definitely doesn't stop growing.  So don't let fear of lack of summer heat make you hesitate on trying... try proving any naysayer wrong instead!

Thanks for posting that picture of the palm (and others) in your garden. Very nice!! I actually don't have a heat issue in the summer where I live in inland NorCal; it's soggy soil in the winter that's the issue. It's why I planted my Bismarckia on a raised bed to ensure drainage. That may have helped during our recent winter deluge!

[Jdiaz31089]

1 hour ago, Tracy said:

... try proving any naysayer wrong instead!

I love this Tracy! Good philosophy to live [plant] by!