Green and blue beauties go well together

[Mauna Kea Cloudforest]

Parajubaea cocoides and brahea clara hanging out on a nice Fall Morning. This is like Yin and Yang, pinnate with palmate, green with blue, wet tropical highland meets dry desert lowland. So who's the boy and who's the girl?

No time to waste, parajubea cocoides are temporary and ephemeral in California, better enjoy it while it's here. The bliss is temporary, but boy, it just doesn't get any better than this. This palm is truly at it's prime right now, it just screams coconut!

[KennyRE317]

beautiful shot ... have you ever done a photo tour of your garden? from random posts it seems as if you have a very large yard and would love to see how you've done your plantings and what you've planted

[Kostas]

Very nice Axel!

Why are P. cocoides temporary in California? If they hate the strong summer sun as trunking palms,why not grow them under tall canopy?

[Mauna Kea Cloudforest]

Very nice Axel!

Why are P. cocoides temporary in California? If they hate the strong summer sun as trunking palms,why not grow them under tall canopy?

P. cocoides first showed sudden death syndrome in New Zealand. We thought we were immune to it in California, but Darold Petty's landmark p. cocoides is dying as well. Others in Southern California have had poor experiences with p. cocoides as well. The size of mine is when they are at their peak. Once they take off for the sky putting on several trunk feet a year, they seem to become vulnerable to sudden death syndrome.

[John Case]

FWIW, lack of humidity in the atmosphere might be a contributing cause....lots of growth in the summer, then cold dry winds in the winter.....death sentence. Just my opinion....

[DoomsDave]

Nice shots Axel.

Hmm, that is a weird one, that Sudden Death Syndrome. I suspect it has something to do with the fact that we're not on the equator, which is where the palms are native. Or at least very near to it.

[Mauna Kea Cloudforest]

FWIW, lack of humidity in the atmosphere might be a contributing cause....lots of growth in the summer, then cold dry winds in the winter.....death sentence. Just my opinion....

Mine grows in the Winter, in fact, the peak growth phase is February through July when the soil is still ample wet. It does slow down when the days get too short, basically from about thanksgiving through late January.

Nice shots Axel.

Hmm, that is a weird one, that Sudden Death Syndrome. I suspect it has something to do with the fact that we're not on the equator, which is where the palms are native. Or at least very near to it.

Ben from NZ suggests it's photo-period related, he thinks they may bloom themselves to death here. I suspect that it's one of the usual culprits that kills other palms: phytophtera and/or pink rot.

[Bennz]

FWIW, lack of humidity in the atmosphere might be a contributing cause....lots of growth in the summer, then cold dry winds in the winter.....death sentence. Just my opinion....

Mine grows in the Winter, in fact, the peak growth phase is February through July when the soil is still ample wet. It does slow down when the days get too short, basically from about thanksgiving through late January.

Nice shots Axel.

Hmm, that is a weird one, that Sudden Death Syndrome. I suspect it has something to do with the fact that we're not on the equator, which is where the palms are native. Or at least very near to it.

Ben from NZ suggests it's photo-period related, he thinks they may bloom themselves to death here. I suspect that it's one of the usual culprits that kills other palms: phytophtera and/or pink rot.

I'm going to get a rep. for eccentricity! Seriously, I just speculate this based on the fact the symptoms seem to start after flowering, and get worse over several years until there seems to be more flowers than leaves being produced, then death. They also die of phytophora, but that can happen at any age and has different symptoms. P. cocoides (from the equator) dies of this problem, while the tropical species (with more photoperiod variation) don't seem to. Just a thought. I had written off this as a potential cause due to the existence of a large healthy fruiting higher-latitude specimen in Darolds garden....

Cocoides dies very happily in high humidity areas of N NZ, so lack of humidity is not the problem.

[avanza]

Awesome

[Tassie_Troy1971]

Very nice Cocoides Axel -BTW mine is thriving but at latitude 42 deg south i bet mine croaks just like Darold's did !

[Rafael]

Very beautifull!

Very nice Cocoides Axel -BTW mine is thriving but at latitude 42 deg south i bet mine croaks just like Darold's did !

Why would yours croak Troy?

I was about to plant mine and now i am thinking twice...

[sonoranfans]

Great contrast there Axel! That clara has a perfect form, nice long drooping leaf tips!

[Mauna Kea Cloudforest]

Very beautifull!

Very nice Cocoides Axel -BTW mine is thriving but at latitude 42 deg south i bet mine croaks just like Darold's did !

Why would yours croak Troy?

I was about to plant mine and now i am thinking twice...

You should plant it. I don't think the sudden death is a guarantee. We have happy p. cocoides specimens in Norcal that are quite a bit older. it's just that p. cocoides is probably susceptible to pink rot and phytophtera. Treat it like a canary date palm in terms of susceptibility to disease.

Here's a specimen in Oakland that is still quite happy:

[dalmatiansoap]

No offence but that Brahea is a real winner in this story!!!

So eye candy syndrome

[Rafael]

Very beautifull!

Very nice Cocoides Axel -BTW mine is thriving but at latitude 42 deg south i bet mine croaks just like Darold's did !

Why would yours croak Troy?

I was about to plant mine and now i am thinking twice...

You should plant it. I don't think the sudden death is a guarantee. We have happy p. cocoides specimens in Norcal that are quite a bit older. it's just that p. cocoides is probably susceptible to pink rot and phytophtera. Treat it like a canary date palm in terms of susceptibility to disease.

Here's a specimen in Oakland that is still quite happy:

Axel, i read this thread after reading your posts here - http://www.palmtalk.org/forum/index.php?/topic/3175-parajubaea-cocoides/.

Thats why i said i was thinking twice about planting my cocoides. That would be in my 9b yard, not in my 10a,

[Tassie_Troy1971]

Very beautifull!

Very nice Cocoides Axel -BTW mine is thriving but at latitude 42 deg south i bet mine croaks just like Darold's did !

Why would yours croak Troy?

I was about to plant mine and now i am thinking twice...

You should plant it. I don't think the sudden death is a guarantee. We have happy p. cocoides specimens in Norcal that are quite a bit older. it's just that p. cocoides is probably susceptible to pink rot and phytophtera. Treat it like a canary date palm in terms of susceptibility to disease.

Here's a specimen in Oakland that is still quite happy:

That looks really Axel and the fibrous husk is shedding from the trunk making it look even more coconut like in appearance

[Phoenikakias]

Is that power ot telephone lines above or beside the crown and how repective companies react to this?

[Mauna Kea Cloudforest]

Very beautifull!

Very nice Cocoides Axel -BTW mine is thriving but at latitude 42 deg south i bet mine croaks just like Darold's did !

Why would yours croak Troy?

I was about to plant mine and now i am thinking twice...

You should plant it. I don't think the sudden death is a guarantee. We have happy p. cocoides specimens in Norcal that are quite a bit older. it's just that p. cocoides is probably susceptible to pink rot and phytophtera. Treat it like a canary date palm in terms of susceptibility to disease.

Here's a specimen in Oakland that is still quite happy:

Axel, i read this thread after reading your posts here - http://www.palmtalk.org/forum/index.php?/topic/3175-parajubaea-cocoides/.

Thats why i said i was thinking twice about planting my cocoides. That would be in my 9b yard, not in my 10a,

I think they're ok in a warm 9b as long as your extreme average is 28F. Mine is 31F so i get occasional cosmetic damage every 10 years or so. They all have different degrees of hardiness, the one that has gotten burn at 30F is more droopy and coconutty than usual.

[Rafael]

Thanks for your info, Axel.

Later i will share how it behaved.