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Palm placement in yard Southern California


allpalm

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Hi all I'm new around here, posting from Southern California, and just starting my collection of rarer palms. I live in the south bay, four miles away from the ocean in 10b and am trying to figure out where in our north facing backyard to place some of these new palms. I've had a queen, bottle and pygmy dates and never had to think much about them. Throw them in the sun and off they go. However, now with some beautiful dypsis and chamaedorea, I want to give them the best shot I can. I recently grabbed a 7 gallon psammophila, 5 gallon baronii, 5 gallon onilahensis, 1 gallon ambositrae, and 5 gallon chamaedorea klotzschiana.

From my reading here, it seems the ambositrae and onilahensis will handle full sun quite well, but the baronii may need some cover? Does that sound right? As for the psammophila and klotzschiana, I haven't been able to find quite as much on them. Not sure what they are looking for in this area. Really appreciate any input for any of the palms, thanks!

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Welcome! Sounds like you got a great start on your collection!

 

D. baronii looks best with some protection, but not shade, IMHO. I’ve seen them in full sun and they’re less colorful. Most Chamedoreas like some protection, though C. plumosa can take full sun. Psammophila should acclimate to full sun too. Honestly, since you have a north facing yard and strong coastal influence I bet you aren’t going to have too much issue with sunburn. 
 

Send some photos for our enjoyment as you get planted. Hopefully when Covid ends you can come to a Palm Society meeting! I learn most from seeing other gardens in person. 
 

Have you looked at the Palms for California site? It has lots of information. 
 

http://www.palmpedia.net/palmsforcal/Category:Palm_Genera

 

 

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Welcome.

My experience is D. Onilahensis is a bit easier than D. Baronii. The latter can get sunburned easier. Yes, generally the D. Ambositrae can handle full sun. Mine did however get burned during one of our heat waves this last summer though. But that’s a rare occurrence I would say. As you probably know, most palms are more tender when young so usually give some protection and let them grow up into the sun.

What also works well IMO for a lot of palms is planting in a location that gets morning sun but gets afternoon shade.

Sometimes picking the right location can be tricky. On the north side of my house (the side yard) it is pretty much shaded all day long this time of year, but come summer it gets brutal afternoon sun. So deciding what to plant there has been tricky.

Good luck. Post pictures of your palms. We all love pictures here.

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I’d say the details matter in this case. I didn’t have luck with small Ambo in full sun but one I tried in shade will dense soil is very happy. My Oni is super nice easy in sun. My baronii is fussy in partial sun but I’ve seen happy specimens in SoCal. I gather that that they like loamy, aerated soil with plenty of micros. My Psammo is pretty resilient in a lot of sun and crappy soil.

Welcome!

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This is great, thanks for the input so far! It's really good knowing the psammophila can potentially take more sun than I was expecting. So it seems I should focus on giving protection to the baronii, klotzschiana, and ambo - at least while young. Seems I should also try placing those closer to the west wall to provide afternoon shade and/or place them near a queen or chamaedorea plumosa, both around 7' tall.

Yeah, so my backyard is especially tricky, as it's about 30 feet deep with a pool taking up a chunk of the middle. On top of that,  our home and the surrounding homes are two story and shade most of the yard during winter. I really am limited in options, but my initial thought was for these to be spread around the west and northwest sections where they get even a few hours of direct sunlight today.  Like The Gerg mentioned, that also means tons of sunlight during summer. However, warm afternoons almost always come with a cooler breeze that flows straight through our backyards. I'm hoping that may be enough to help these guys from getting fried. Would these palms benefit from misters on the hot days?

I'll be sure take some photos

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It sounds like these palms were all recent acquisitions.  I would assume that based on size all were growing either in protected areas or in greenhouses, so they will require some acclimation.  By acclimation, I'm referring to progressively more sun.  North facing backyards do pose some additional challenges as mentioned.  In my last 3 gardens the north sides have been side yards, so I'm quite familiar with the winter no sun, summer direct overhead exposure change.  It can be quite challenging finding the right things to grow in those areas.  If the Northeast side of your yard gets more exposure during summers, that is where you want to plant the Dypsis ambositrae and onilahensis.  If the Northwest side gets shade from your fence  during the afternoons, species that want to grow up into the sun might appreciate that more, such as the Dypsis baronii.  I posted one of my Dypsis ambositrae which has both south and west facing exposure below for reference.

I was quite surprised to hear others say grow the Dypsis psammophilia in full sun.  My experience 500 meters from the beach is that they appreciate some shade and will retain their colorful trunks better in shade.  Most Chamaedoreas are understory palms, although there are some that can handle full sun.  While I'm not growing Chamaedorea klotzschiana, I believe it is not one of the full sun species to look its best; am sun or filtered sun might be ok, but avoid late afternoon full sun exposure during summer.

I would probably wait another month or so to let the plants acclimate and put the pots where you want to plant them.  Depending on the winter we are having, if mild you could plant them in February.  The advantage of planting that time of year on the northerly exposure is they will progressively get more sun as the arc of the sun allows more exposure over your house's shadow.  Welcome to Palmtalk too!

20210104-BH3I2179.jpg

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33.0782 North -117.305 West  at 72 feet elevation

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17 hours ago, Tracy said:

It sounds like these palms were all recent acquisitions.  I would assume that based on size all were growing either in protected areas or in greenhouses, so they will require some acclimation.  By acclimation, I'm referring to progressively more sun.  North facing backyards do pose some additional challenges as mentioned.  In my last 3 gardens the north sides have been side yards, so I'm quite familiar with the winter no sun, summer direct overhead exposure change.  It can be quite challenging finding the right things to grow in those areas.  If the Northeast side of your yard gets more exposure during summers, that is where you want to plant the Dypsis ambositrae and onilahensis.  If the Northwest side gets shade from your fence  during the afternoons, species that want to grow up into the sun might appreciate that more, such as the Dypsis baronii.  I posted one of my Dypsis ambositrae which has both south and west facing exposure below for reference.

I was quite surprised to hear others say grow the Dypsis psammophilia in full sun.  My experience 500 meters from the beach is that they appreciate some shade and will retain their colorful trunks better in shade.  Most Chamaedoreas are understory palms, although there are some that can handle full sun.  While I'm not growing Chamaedorea klotzschiana, I believe it is not one of the full sun species to look its best; am sun or filtered sun might be ok, but avoid late afternoon full sun exposure during summer.

I would probably wait another month or so to let the plants acclimate and put the pots where you want to plant them.  Depending on the winter we are having, if mild you could plant them in February.  The advantage of planting that time of year on the northerly exposure is they will progressively get more sun as the arc of the sun allows more exposure over your house's shadow.  Welcome to Palmtalk too!

20210104-BH3I2179.jpg

Awesome, thank you Tracy! That ambositrae looks amazing! You are correct in that I recently picked them up from a collector in San Marcos, where they were growing outdoors under a shade cloth.  I really like your idea in placing the ambositrae and onilahensis in the northeast and the others in west/northwest.  Your comment on planting in late winter, early spring was my thought as well in that hopefully the slow exposure to more sun will help them along.  The one encouraging point I hold to is that a neighbor has a ~12' pembana in their front yard, completely exposed to full sun all day, every day and has been doing perfectly fine over the years. In fact, that dang palm tree is what started me down this path haha

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  • 3 months later...
On 1/5/2021 at 10:20 AM, allpalm said:

Hi all I'm new around here, posting from Southern California, and just starting my collection of rarer palms. I live in the south bay, four miles away from the ocean in 10b and am trying to figure out where in our north facing backyard to place some of these new palms. I've had a queen, bottle and pygmy dates and never had to think much about them. Throw them in the sun and off they go. However, now with some beautiful dypsis and chamaedorea, I want to give them the best shot I can. I recently grabbed a 7 gallon psammophila, 5 gallon baronii, 5 gallon onilahensis, 1 gallon ambositrae, and 5 gallon chamaedorea klotzschiana.

From my reading here, it seems the ambositrae and onilahensis will handle full sun quite well, but the baronii may need some cover? Does that sound right? As for the psammophila and klotzschiana, I haven't been able to find quite as much on them. Not sure what they are looking for in this area. Really appreciate any input for any of the palms, thanks!

Come visit and I can show you things in the ground, at maturity as well as how not to place things . . . .

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