The One Plant You'd Like To Have, But.....

[Walter John]

lippie, so I grow it further north instead, "up there for thinkin', down there for dancin'"

[cagary]

Eric,

You asked for input from growers in Hawaii. The reason I didn't add anything in my previous post is for the simple reason that this is actually a very hard question for me to answer. With about 625 species currently in our garden, there's really nothing that I desperately want to add that I don't already have. Sure, I'll be adding a few more every now and then, as new species may become available, but at this time I don't know what those species are. And the bottom line is that, if I get them fine, if not, no big deal. I guess, in a warped sense, that's the drawback of having a garden in Hawaii! At some point, you run out of dreams of what to plant. Sure, there are a dozen or so palm species that, for whatever reason, just won't grow here, but for every single species that falls in that category, there are probably a hundred species that will thrive beyond belief, so not losing any sleep over that! I guess this is the ultimate good news-bad news scenario in the palm growing world. You have pretty much everything you want, so nothing new to dream about! OK, maybe a few more currently undiscovered big Dypsis! That's my best shot!

Bo-Göran

Bo,

Do you have Actinokentia huerlimannii hidden somewhere in your garden? Or is it just not in cultivation any where?

[Ryland]

Kris, I have to say there are very few palms as impressive as the corypha in your photo simply in terms of leaf size! Have you ever seen a bigger frond? I couldn't think of one off the top of my head.

As for my choice... all of them I actually have no land so I can't grow any palms at all.

BUT, if I could have that one palm to put in my window, I would get a nice Beccariophoenix alfredii. This would be totally possible, but I don't know where to look to find one.

[Tyrone]

Lemurophoenix!!!!!!!!!!

Tyrone

[bgl]

Gary,

Sorry to disappoint, but I don't have that particular Actinokentia. It would surprise me if it is in cultivation.

Bo-Göran

[AggiePalms]

C. nucifera... because it was my first palm love as a little kid, and I have never lived anywhere I can grow one. I know, dull and boring, but exuded tropics to a kid in zone 7.

[JASON M]

Oh God... where do I begin. Wisconsin is too much for all the palms out there. Let me name some off the top of my head.

Roystonea

Washingtonia (I have seeds... but not plants yet)

Cocos

Priticharda

Sabal Palmetto

Bottle Palm

Banana trees

Phoenix

Yes... I want those!

[realarch]

I'm really liking the yellow crown shaft Areca catechu. If they have any size to them they are $$$$$, and of course

you'd need a minimum of three.

Tim

[Alicehunter2000]

Roystonea regia.............a landscape using these as canopy.

[garrin]

Hey Palmers! Just throwing this hypo out there! What's the One Palm you can't have, for whatever reason... cold, heat, size, speed of growth, whatever, that prevents you from having in your garden.

Without any question, for me, in southern California, I'd like to have a grove of Cocos Nuciferas around the perimeter of my garden, eventually around a pool. How about you?

Without a doubt, my great love in the palm world to which I was so devoted in N.CA is one which I cannot grow here --the magnificent Ceroxylon quindiuense. However Hawai'i island with its great altitudinal differences and wet/dry sides certainly offers opportunities within a 30 min. drive from my home. So--about two years before I moved here, or about 25 years ago, I sneaked three C. quindiuense seedlings into a mountain wet forest preserve and planted them at the two leaf stage. I went back many times but could never find them again. I figured wild pigs had eaten them. That area now has the pigs fenced out and a few weeks ago a good friend from CA happened to hike into the forest there and excitedly told me he found the ceroxylons growing tall and vigorous! In the upland wet forests it easy to get lost even ten feet off the trails -- everything in all directions looks just the same; that explains my lack of finding them again.

Now everyone keep this secret lest the Native Plant Nazis move in to destroy them.

[realarch]

OK Garrin, a field trip is in order.

Tim

[Zeeth]

Hey Palmers! Just throwing this hypo out there! What's the One Palm you can't have, for whatever reason... cold, heat, size, speed of growth, whatever, that prevents you from having in your garden.

Without any question, for me, in southern California, I'd like to have a grove of Cocos Nuciferas around the perimeter of my garden, eventually around a pool. How about you?

Without a doubt, my great love in the palm world to which I was so devoted in N.CA is one which I cannot grow here --the magnificent Ceroxylon quindiuense. However Hawai'i island with its great altitudinal differences and wet/dry sides certainly offers opportunities within a 30 min. drive from my home. So--about two years before I moved here, or about 25 years ago, I sneaked three C. quindiuense seedlings into a mountain wet forest preserve and planted them at the two leaf stage. I went back many times but could never find them again. I figured wild pigs had eaten them. That area now has the pigs fenced out and a few weeks ago a good friend from CA happened to hike into the forest there and excitedly told me he found the ceroxylons growing tall and vigorous! In the upland wet forests it easy to get lost even ten feet off the trails -- everything in all directions looks just the same; that explains my lack of finding them again.

Now everyone keep this secret lest the Native Plant Nazis move in to destroy them.

PICTURES!!!!! :drool:

[palmsOrl]

Garrin, that's amazing that your friend happened to find them again, what a great idea. I've thought about doing this with Roystonea regia in some of our area's "hydric hammock" forests, especially since historical records indicate that the royal once grew naturally at least this far north. Alicehunter, I know that if I lived in Panama City, I would be trying a royal, especially if I lived within a mile or two of the coast (though it would be a long shot at best).

-Michael

[basilios]

Mauritia flexuosa, iriartea, cocos and all kinds of euterpe would do for me.

[garrin]

Garrin, that's amazing that your friend happened to find them again, what a great idea. I've thought about doing this with Roystonea regia in some of our area's "hydric hammock" forests, especially since historical records indicate that the royal once grew naturally at least this far north. Alicehunter, I know that if I lived in Panama City, I would be trying a royal, especially if I lived within a mile or two of the coast (though it would be a long shot at best).

-Michael

Hey Michael,

Half of my family lived in and around Bartow, Tampa, Orlando when I was a kid (already interested in palms) and on trips to stay with cousins in the summer I would walk for miles around the central FL towns looking for tropical palms. There were back then large royals used around shopping center parking lots, as street trees, and as private garden plants. And great thrills would come when I even came upon fully mature 50 ft coconuts hanging full of nuts--quite a few around Lakeland and out in the country near the larger lakes. Sometime around 1960 there came a freeze that brought pretty much an end to all that, and I have never found it the same since.

So I say go for it! Those wet forest areas are bound to trap enough heat to pull roystoneas through even most very cold winters.

Garrin

[CoconutFreak]

Lodoicea maldivica

Voanioala gerardii

Lipstick Palm

Coconuts!

[Trópico]

Areca macrocalyx

like this ?