Since the other thread is discussing which one preforms better against cold, how about a thread for which color is more popular from a purely aesthetic point of view?

blue/silver.

I like the silver-blue Bismarkia the best, but I have noticed that Bismarkia's are more silver in certain parts of the world, and more silver-blue in others. Or at least they seem that way.. or maybe it is my imagination? For instance the Bismarkia that I saw in Vietnam seemed to be more of a silver color and the Bismarkia in Costa Rica seemed to have a little more blue to them.

With the hundreds of other green fan palms you could grow, why would one choose green over blue here?

I voted blue, but I woulda voted for Wal's purple (to see it.....click this -n- this).

Since the other thread is discussing which one preforms better against cold, how about a thread for which color is more popular from a purely aesthetic point of view?

No need to be sorry, this is a great idea. I vote blue. But you're also missing orange and purple.

Silver/blue for me. this is the most impressive silver fan palm I can grow in my 9b zone. I am also growing a huge green fan palm, borassus aethiopum, a bigger, more impressive fan palm than a green bizze. The borassus is still a small seedling, just starting to show divided leaves. In 10 years I hope to have my big green fan palm... Silver is nice to break up the green....

A green Bismarckia is a handsome palm, but doesn't catch your eye like a blue/silver one does. Here are some large green ones in Townsville...

With the hundreds of other green fan palms you could grow, why would one choose green over blue here?

well said.

Silver/blue for me. this is the most impressive silver fan palm I can grow in my 9b zone. I am also growing a huge green fan palm, borassus aethiopum, a bigger, more impressive fan palm than a green bizze. The borassus is still a small seedling, just starting to show divided leaves. In 10 years I hope to have my big green fan palm... Silver is nice to break up the green....

Personally I prefer B. flabellifer because of the more striking coloring of the petioles and non-bulging trunk. It's curious that B. aetheopum is so much more common. If only either of them grew with the speed of Bismarckia though, which is where I think the green version has it's merits, because it's like a fast Borassus (though not quite as massive).

Daryl, those are VERY handsome...wow!

Silver/blue for me. this is the most impressive silver fan palm I can grow in my 9b zone. I am also growing a huge green fan palm, borassus aethiopum, a bigger, more impressive fan palm than a green bizze. The borassus is still a small seedling, just starting to show divided leaves. In 10 years I hope to have my big green fan palm... Silver is nice to break up the green....

Personally I prefer B. flabellifer because of the more striking coloring of the petioles and non-bulging trunk. It's curious that B. aetheopum is so much more common. If only either of them grew with the speed of Bismarckia though, which is where I think the green version has it's merits, because it's like a fast Borassus (though not quite as massive).

I had a choice between the two and chose B. aethiopum because I observed it to be more cold hardy in phoenix AZ. Not sure the observation was representative, but the juveniles(6-8') were planted right next to each other and there was far more damage on the flabellifer,it was just about defoliated, though I understand it came back quickly from 23F. I will agree that the falbellifer's deeper green was more attractive than the grey green of aethiopum, though both had pretty petioles. As for speed, I have so many fast palms, I need some slower ones. I don't want to look up into a bunch of crowns with none to view into. Florida seems to have that issue, things grow maybe too fast.

Edited October 14, 201312 yr by sonoranfans

BLUE!

Like the color of her eyes, or the veins on, oh never mind

blue

Silver/blue for me. this is the most impressive silver fan palm I can grow in my 9b zone. I am also growing a huge green fan palm, borassus aethiopum, a bigger, more impressive fan palm than a green bizze. The borassus is still a small seedling, just starting to show divided leaves. In 10 years I hope to have my big green fan palm... Silver is nice to break up the green....

Personally I prefer B. flabellifer because of the more striking coloring of the petioles and non-bulging trunk. It's curious that B. aetheopum is so much more common. If only either of them grew with the speed of Bismarckia though, which is where I think the green version has it's merits, because it's like a fast Borassus (though not quite as massive).

I had a choice between the two and chose B. aethiopum because I observed it to be more cold hardy in phoenix AZ. Not sure the observation was representative, but the juveniles(6-8') were planted right next to each other and there was far more damage on the flabellifer,it was just about defoliated, though I understand it came back quickly from 23F. I will agree that the falbellifer's deeper green was more attractive than the grey green of aethiopum, though both had pretty petioles. As for speed, I have so many fast palms, I need some slower ones. I don't want to look up into a bunch of crowns with none to view into. Florida seems to have that issue, things grow maybe too fast.

There's a B. flabellifer in Brevard country that's been there for 31 years and their climate is on par with Manatee county, maybe a little colder on average. As for growth speed, I've grown all of my palms either from seed or small (1 gallon) palms, so I never had the benefit of "instant" mature palms like many here have, so speed of growth is one thing that I really like. My tallest palm is a Veitchia with about 3 feet of trunk (not counting the queen palm with 30 feet of wood growing as a volunteer from a neighbors tree that was there when we moved in)

Keith,

now see what

Silver/blue for me. this is the most impressive silver fan palm I can grow in my 9b zone. I am also growing a huge green fan palm, borassus aethiopum, a bigger, more impressive fan palm than a green bizze. The borassus is still a small seedling, just starting to show divided leaves. In 10 years I hope to have my big green fan palm... Silver is nice to break up the green....

Personally I prefer B. flabellifer because of the more striking coloring of the petioles and non-bulging trunk. It's curious that B. aetheopum is so much more common. If only either of them grew with the speed of Bismarckia though, which is where I think the green version has it's merits, because it's like a fast Borassus (though not quite as massive).

I had a choice between the two and chose B. aethiopum because I observed it to be more cold hardy in phoenix AZ. Not sure the observation was representative, but the juveniles(6-8') were planted right next to each other and there was far more damage on the flabellifer,it was just about defoliated, though I understand it came back quickly from 23F. I will agree that the falbellifer's deeper green was more attractive than the grey green of aethiopum, though both had pretty petioles. As for speed, I have so many fast palms, I need some slower ones. I don't want to look up into a bunch of crowns with none to view into. Florida seems to have that issue, things grow maybe too fast.

There's a B. flabellifer in Brevard country that's been there for 31 years and their climate is on par with Manatee county, maybe a little colder on average. As for growth speed, I've grown all of my palms either from seed or small (1 gallon) palms, so I never had the benefit of "instant" mature palms like many here have, so speed of growth is one thing that I really like. My tallest palm is a Veitchia with about 3 feet of trunk (not counting the queen palm with 30 feet of wood growing as a volunteer from a neighbors tree that was there when we moved in)

Big palm disease is setting in, I want a flabellifer....

I voted blue, but I woulda voted for Wal's purple (to see it.....click this -n- this).

I have a very purple one too

I didn't realise that Wal had a purple one. I've never actually seen it personally. I guess it will eventually turn blue? Better than a green one though!

Here's a couple of nice silver ones...FM AndyG for scale

Kenny, I think I musta missed seeing your purple, and couldn't find it in search. I remember seeing this one. Where's your purple so I can vote for it?

Kenny, I think I musta missed seeing your purple, and couldn't find it in search. I remember seeing this one. Where's your purple so I can vote for it?

i had one that was super purple, but i just checked and it's starting to lose that purple color

Kenny, I think I musta missed seeing your purple, and couldn't find it in search. I remember seeing this one. Where's your purple so I can vote for it?

i had one that was super purple, but i just checked and it's starting to lose that purple color

I thought you guys were joking about the purple. There is no such thing of course. It is just a sign of a stressed and/or poorly grown Bizzie.

blue-

hands down

Ooh hey, thanks for saying that, Len. I sure didn't know it, and pretty much fooled myself into thinking purple was good! lol.

Ooh hey, thanks for saying that, Len. I sure didn't know it, and pretty much fooled myself into thinking purple was good! lol.

I was told the first time I bought a bizzie at a nursery that if it is purple it will be more blue later.

Bizzies are such solid plants that eventually even the 'purple" ones get well established and go blue. Here in SoCal it seems the purple shows up mostly in winter - especially in potted plants or newly planted ones.

Kenny, I think I musta missed seeing your purple, and couldn't find it in search. I remember seeing this one. Where's your purple so I can vote for it?

i had one that was super purple, but i just checked and it's starting to lose that purple color

I thought you guys were joking about the purple. There is no such thing of course. It is just a sign of a stressed and/or poorly grown Bizzie.

Most juveniles are naturally purple. The more purple, the hardier and more silver the specimen will be when it gets larger. Or I am just repeating bullshit. The Florida guys should chime in. The color of a cold stressed bizzie is actually orange-ish.

Edit: my smaller bizzies are not purple but green with the start of some waxiness. One of them has dark red petioles like a Latania. When the green combines with the start of the waxiness, it almost looks purple. I do think the stress color isn't purple, but is orange. I've got one of those, I bought it last Spring and it had clearly been exposed to frost. The sky-side of the leaves are orangish, the sides of the leaves facing the ground are blue.

My Bizzie was blue from the start and is about as blue as you can get now. I don't buy the old wives tale about the more purple, the more blue later. But that's just me. Axel, you will find when you grow these longer they can actually switch between orange or purple to blue and back again through the season. You might find yours turns a nice blue next summer and back to purple or orange in winter again.

Orange is extreme stress .

I have both types but do prefer the blue.

Looking at the pics here I think that the appreciation of the colour is about the palms contrast in its location.

I mean that a blue specimen with a blue sky background does not stand out like it would with green surroundings.

These pics of our bizis were taken from the house so not the best aspect but will indicate what I mean about the contrasting or blending of background being the factor in appearance.

Of course it is al in the eyes of the beholder.

About the purple colour - I have often seen that on seedlings of bizi. More so on the green form. Also seedlings of blue form that were left in the shade for some months; went green. Then when returned to the sun, after some time, morphed back to blue.

Whatever, they are all great palms.

hi jim,

thanks for the visuals..There was a element of doubt in my mind created by our friend Axel.

but jim after seeing those stills I have put my mind to rest,fully satisfied with my silvery looking blue bizzy lady.

the green form looks simply ordinary like a sabal and should never be compared or confused with the looks of Borassus.since Borassus versions all have spines in there fronds.

so if one is growing non edible palms then what's the point of growing green.and most importantly my neighbours don't have it !

lots of love,

kris.

Kenny, I think I musta missed seeing your purple, and couldn't find it in search. I remember seeing this one. Where's your purple so I can vote for it?

i had one that was super purple, but i just checked and it's starting to lose that purple color

I thought you guys were joking about the purple. There is no such thing of course. It is just a sign of a stressed and/or poorly grown Bizzie.

Yep my little one turned purple after the freeze/frost event in 2010. Here it is in February 2011, 3 months after it was frosted 2 nights in a row in dec 2010. It rapidly changed back to silver by may. I got this one really suffering from a big box sore, it had red petioles so perhaps Len is right about the color being stress induced.

Yep my little one turned purple after the freeze/frost event in 2010. Here it is in February 2011, 3 months after it was frosted 2 nights in a row in dec 2010. It rapidly changed back to silver by may. I got this one really suffering from a big box sore, it had red petioles so perhaps Len is right about the color being stress induced.

Maybe the reason people say to pick the purple ones is because perhaps the hardier ones turn purple whereas the tender ones go from silver to being fried. A Socal nursery had about 50 small 5 gallons that were all exposed to 25F. Most of them were fried to a crisp. I cherry picked a couple of survivors that had intact leaves. The petioles on one of them are distinctively red. They were purple when I got them, then they turned green.

Here's a photo. Maybe the red on the petioles is stress related, but it looks pretty natural to me.

You are looking at petioles. We are talking about the leaf. Look at Tom's photo closely.

I agree fully with Len about purple bizzies. Axel I think you invert the causality. It's not the purple exemplaries that are cold hardier but the blue ones that survived with minor damage and stress. Practical conclusion: If I had to choose among survivors after a severe cold spell, I would not pick up a purple exemplary but rather the most bluish one, because under similiar conditions latter has undergone the least stress.