[Justin]

I've yanked out a bunch of bananas along a west and south facing wall in my front yard, and want to replace them with palms. If there was nothing else in the way, they'd get a lot of sun and be quite warm due to the reflected heat from the wall (which is 5' tall). But there a lot of other palms nearby, so there is a mix of sun and shade depending on the location of the sun. The planting area is only a couple feet wide - hemmed in by the wall on one side and a concrete mow strip on the other - but the roots can go under the mow strip and would essentially be unbounded on 3 sides.

I was thinking Dypsis ambositrae (especially after seeing Matty B's post), Euterpe Edulis, or Dypsis baronii, but I figured you all would have much better suggestions.

Thanks in advance.

[Dave from So-Cal]

D. baronii, and onilahensis would certainly be tops on my list. They're easy where you are, and variable enough to be interesting. They will eventually get to be tall bamboo-like stems about 20 feet tall, so you might want to leave room to plant other, shorter things nearby. D. psammophila would also work, as would D. lutescens. All are clumpers.

Euterpe's a little tender for the full sun. They're better, in my experience, in semi-shade. Plus, it's a single-trunker and I think you'd be better off with clumpers.

[Justin]

Thanks Dave. I should mention that one wall is 22' feet long, and the other wall is 16' long, so I should be able to plant 4-5 palms along the longer wall and 3-4 palms along the shorter wall. I suppose all the palms don't need to be the same species. This weekend I'll try to take some pictures of the area, if that will help.

[MattyB]

If you're gonna do a hedge I'd recommend sticking with the same species. The repitition is pleasing to the eye. Of course the standard D. lutescens is readily available and makes the finest hedge around due to the moderate growth rate and prolific clumping habit. And since you've got a mix of sun and shade that's perfect for D. lut in CA. You can prune and shape as needed. Others that would work would be:

Dypsis plumosa, planted about 2' on centers.

Chamaedorea radicalis trunking, planted about 1' on centers.

Pritchardia, planted about 4' on centers would make a fan leaved visual barrier. Maybe alternate planting a quick grower then slow, quick, slow. So as they grow you get a staggered look. ie. P. beccariana, P. martii.

Pinanga coronata, this would have to be for shadey spots

Chamaedorea costaricana, or seifrizii, or one of those clumpers. Some can take sun or shade.

Rhapis sp., some can take sun.

Good luck.

[palmpuppy]

You guys are great! Wish I would have asked a similar question here ten years ago!

Jackie

[Justin]

Matty B, what would it look like, in your opinion, to mix and match some of the clumping Dypsis, like baronii, onilahensis, lutescens, ambositrae, etc.?

[MattyB]

I think it would look awesome! You can go informal and just mix them up. Or make it more formal and do an alternating planting or 3 in a row then switch species. I'd go with the more formal style since it's a hedge. Maybe a clumper then D. ambo alternating back and forth. The D. ambositrae is either solitary or might be a double.

[BigFrond]

D. baronii or onilahensis would look the best. I do not have access multiple clumping D. baronii or onilahensis so I had to settle for D. Lutescens. I used D. Lutescens to block out my fence and neighbors and it is great. The good thing about D. lutescens is that it will continue to send up more suckers faster than the other two.

[Dave from So-Cal]

The big trouble with most clumping palms is that they usually stop sending up new stems at some point, leaving you with Legz and leaves on top, a great look, but no sub for a hedge, like say, privet.

Rhapis can also make a great hedge, and watered well, take a lot of sun.

[Matt in SD]

Chamaedorea glaucifolia makes a great hedge palm, and it grows faster than a lot of the other suggestions. Plus once they get going you'll get seedlings germinating under the mother plants which you could selectively thin out as a second generation hedge in case the first round ever gets too tall. I can give you all the C glaucifolia seed you want, even have a community pot with 20-30 1g sized plants...FREE!!!!.

Something else that might look really cool, would be to put the non-trunking C radicalis in front of, or interspersed with a row of C glaucifolia, the differential leaf color would really stand out, and the radicalis would always keep the low areas covered...hmmm...maybe I'll try this.

Matt

[Wal]

Rhapis

[Tyrone]

Wal, on 31 July 2010 - 07:04 AM, said:

Rhapis

Exactly my thoughts too. They'll never stop sending up new stems.

[Justin]

Here are some photos of the area, to give an idea of context. Since there are lots of other palms around, it's not the bottom that matters so much as the top.

[Tyrone]

Looking at your pics I'd say multi planted Ptychosperma elegans or if you can get away with it some P macarthurii or P microcarpum.

Best regards

Tyrone

[Jim in Los Altos]

Rhapis makes a great hedge. For a much fatter leafed hedge, I love the look of Livistona chinensis en masse. They stay trunkless for a long time too.

[Kim]

Looking at your photos, I wonder if you really want to block the view of the palm tops with a hedge? D. lutescens would be fast and dense, but would also eventually engulf the entire view. I like Matt in SD's Cham. glaucifolia suggestion -- they would grow quickly, offer a graceful, less dense look, and have better color, IMO.

[Wal]

Well I'm convinced it should take the form of two or even three different species. Not sure which 3 just yet.

[Justin]

I planted two 1 gallon Dypsis onilahensis (which may or may not actually be onilahensis) the other day. In about 5 years they'll probably be peeking out above the wall.

Still got room for about 7-10 more plants.

[Tampa Scott]

I planted Rhapis excelsa to hide my 6' wood fence. Works well in the shade of other palms.