Could These Be The Three Most Forgiving Madagacar Palms?

[Mauna Kea Cloudforest]

I am relatively new to the cultivation of Madagascar palms. Since very few of them have been tried here, it's sorta like throwing spaguetti at a fridge to see what will stick. Here in Norcal we have cold water for the tough surfers and cold nights for the tough palms. Well, I seem to have found three real sticky tough Madagascar palms that just seem to thrive here. Ravena glauca, dypsis ambositrae and beccariophoenix alredii. They've not met old man Winter yet, so I don't know if they are truly the most forgiving Madagascar palms, but perhaps...

All three of these palms have been by far some of the most carefree palms I've planted so far, tolerating what seem to be a wide range of conditions, and thriving in our crazy daily temperature swings, which on some days can easily cover almost 50 degrees. The worst swing was a Morning start of 47F in late August followed by a high of 96F. FYI, 44F Summer Morning lows are not unheard of here, yeah brah, trust me, Florida and Socal people, you no wanna ever move here even if da surf is killer.

Ravena glauca seems to have fallen back into obscurity now that it's lost the shine of its novelty, I don't hear too many people talking about this specie, but I love the looks of it, and I enjoy the fact that I can plant them anywhere from full sun to shade and they don't miss a beat. I planted mine last February when lows in the upper 30's were still relatively common, and they grew unimpeded. They're one of my fastest palms so far.

Dypsis ambositrae, (the fast one sold by Jeff Marcus, not plumosa or the new "real one" that takes 9 years to grow 5 inches) is an amazing palm. I also planted my first one last February and it didn't miss a beat going from a shady greenhouse into full sun with chilly soil . It grew so well that I didn't hesitate to order five more from Jeff. Sure enough, all of them didn't miss a beat as well, growing as fast as my rhopies. They seem to laugh at our chilly nights. This is hands down one of my fastest dypsis along with d. baronii. Just as a reference point, I also tried d. plumosa, that one barely grows for me.

Beccariophoenix alfredii scared me at first because of all the mixed reports. Darold has given up on these before even trying to plant one outside based on suggestions from Jason at Floragrubb that it is not a cool grower. I was worried it would stall or linger in our cold Summer nights. But nope, grows like a weed in both full sun and shade. Doesn't seem to care about cold nights at all. I have five of these things in the ground, and if they do well this Winter I am tempted to plant a whole forest of them. They don't miss a beat. I was surprised to see how quicky the base sends out roots higher up. This palm isn't affraid of deeper soil and I doubt it has any sensitivity to base rot.

I don't know how cold hardy these palms are, no data exists for the fast ambositrae, but I would expect it to be about the same as r. glauca, somehwere around 27F for short periods under exposed night skies during a dry radiative freeze and maybe 24-25F given some overhead protection from radiational losses. Matty's got some big ones that obviously sailed through 2007, but he no post no freeze report. I am not even going to attempt to write down a figure for the hardiness of b. alfredii given all the hot debates on the subject. For those far Northern growers, I am talking about short duration CA-style freezes, I doubt if any of these could handle any convective freeze or full 24h periods below freezing.

mahalos yeah fo checking out dis thread. Go post on da box below fo go to post response.

[Mandrew968]

Not in my climate.

[Phoenikakias]

Neither in mine.

[cfkingfish]

I think it is climate dependent but yes all of those palms are pretty forgiving. You don't see much R. glauca here, that is more popular in Mediterranean climates where Cocos won't grow.

[Mandrew968]

I think it is climate dependent but yes all of those palms are pretty forgiving. You don't see much R. glauca here, that is more popular in Mediterranean climates where Cocos won't grow.

And you will probably never see a real ambositrae established in the ground in South Florida.

[waykoolplantz]

I think it is climate dependent but yes all of those palms are pretty forgiving. You don't see much R. glauca here, that is more popular in Mediterranean climates where Cocos won't grow.

And you will probably never see a real ambositrae established in the ground in South Florida.

Don't be so sure about that

[Mandrew968]

I think it is climate dependent but yes all of those palms are pretty forgiving. You don't see much R. glauca here, that is more popular in Mediterranean climates where Cocos won't grow.

And you will probably never see a real ambositrae established in the ground in South Florida.

Don't be so sure about that

Mike--your place is not natural! You have huge Euterpees and I think I saw a real Dinosaur last time I was there! Unreal!!!! Hope all is well

[Mauna Kea Cloudforest]

OK, my climate is probably the antithesis of South Florida - cool nights year round, dry Summer wet Winter. But Why Konstantinos isn't able to grow these is mind boggling. Too hot in the Summer in Greece?

The ambositrae is from a climate similar to decipiens, but I don't see why it would not grow in Florida. I also don't see why ravena won't grow in Florida since it tolerates wet soil and dry soil. And I thought bec. alfredii was easy in Florida?

[Zeeth]

OK, my climate is probably the antithesis of South Florida - cool nights year round, dry Summer wet Winter. But Why Konstantinos isn't able to grow these is mind boggling. Too hot in the Summer in Greece?

The ambositrae is from a climate similar to decipiens, but I don't see why it would not grow in Florida. I also don't see why ravena won't grow in Florida since it tolerates wet soil and dry soil. And I thought bec. alfredii was easy in Florida?

D. decipiens won't grow in Florida for the most part. I got a small one from Christian that's in a pot and seems to be doing fine, so I think it might have to do with the soil, maybe nematodes or the water table. It's probably a do-able plant though if you know what you're doing and let it develop a heel before planting so it doesn't bury itself down too deeply. There's one in St. Augustine that has a very thin trunk, so they grow here, just not nearly as well as in Cali. D. ambositrae grow in Florida in some places, but I don't think they're very easy. Ray in Brandon has one as well as edric, but they're small plants. R. rivularis is a poor performer in much of Florida, and I only know of a few specimens that haven't turned into looking like giant pencils, and I haven't actually seen any of those personally, so I can see why the other species are troublesome.

B. alfredii is easy here though, and Bismarckia is on par with a native palm on how it handles Florida.

[sonoranfans]

Bismarckia is the easiest Madagascan palm by a good margin. Planted as a public landscaping tree in florida with little or no care. No supplemental water needed as an adult, no fertilizer needed. Alfredii is also easy but is more frost/cold sensitive.

[Phoenikakias]

OK, my climate is probably the antithesis of South Florida - cool nights year round, dry Summer wet Winter. But Why Konstantinos isn't able to grow these is mind boggling. Too hot in the Summer in Greece?

The ambositrae is from a climate similar to decipiens, but I don't see why it would not grow in Florida. I also don't see why ravena won't grow in Florida since it tolerates wet soil and dry soil. And I thought bec. alfredii was easy in Florida?

Unbelievably hot, that creates great discomfort despite the low humidity (another obstacle). If a palm suffers and gets stunted at least during winter, during summer and most of the spring, then remain only two months for active growth and during that short time a growth compensation for previous mistakes is out of question.

[Mauna Kea Cloudforest]

OK, my climate is probably the antithesis of South Florida - cool nights year round, dry Summer wet Winter. But Why Konstantinos isn't able to grow these is mind boggling. Too hot in the Summer in Greece?

The ambositrae is from a climate similar to decipiens, but I don't see why it would not grow in Florida. I also don't see why ravena won't grow in Florida since it tolerates wet soil and dry soil. And I thought bec. alfredii was easy in Florida?

Unbelievably hot, that creates great discomfort despite the low humidity (another obstacle). If a palm suffers and gets stunted at least during winter, during summer and most of the spring, then remain only two months for active growth and during that short time a growth compensation for previous mistakes is out of question.

Well, if anything, this confirms I found the three most forgiving Madagascar palms - that are forgiving for being planted in a cool Northern California climate.

[Mandrew968]

Axel, your list should be Bizzy, lutescens and of your 3, alfredii is the easiest, but it's not so easy in a container... Mine is in the ground and doing well. Raveneas tend to not like our soils--something within that they don't like... The two Dypsis(ambo and decipiens) like cooler nights and to be on the dry side which both likes are hard to appease in South Florida.

[gyuseppe]

Ravena glauca: I had 2 small, the last, I died this summer, perhaps because of the heat?

[gyuseppe]

Dypsis decipiens: these tried many times, always dead in summer

[sonoranfans]

OK, my climate is probably the antithesis of South Florida - cool nights year round, dry Summer wet Winter. But Why Konstantinos isn't able to grow these is mind boggling. Too hot in the Summer in Greece?

The ambositrae is from a climate similar to decipiens, but I don't see why it would not grow in Florida. I also don't see why ravena won't grow in Florida since it tolerates wet soil and dry soil. And I thought bec. alfredii was easy in Florida?

Unbelievably hot, that creates great discomfort despite the low humidity (another obstacle). If a palm suffers and gets stunted at least during winter, during summer and most of the spring, then remain only two months for active growth and during that short time a growth compensation for previous mistakes is out of question.

Well, if anything, this confirms I found the three most forgiving Madagascar palms - that are forgiving for being planted in a cool Northern California climate.

should have had the title "most forgiving for my yard in northern California" this would be correct and not misleading to people who do not live there.

[Alicehunter2000]

Don't count all of Florida out (like they did in a Presidential election before)...I plan on giving some of these a try. My nights currently are in the 40's with daytimes in the low 80's. It will stay this way and get colder nights until around April. I've got the coastal influence thing going on which keeps temps warmer/cooler than areas inland which can have more extremes.

[Halekuma]

Well I have killed 5/5 decipiens while all my ambositrae looks like tolerate all range of temps and watering... Glauca is bulletproof here and same for Alfredii. I will not try decipiens again in some years, there are a lot of similar looking palms that perform fine here without that "sudden death syndrome", for example D.prestoniana.

I cant see why keep ambositrae in the dry side If they pretty much perform and have cultural requirements like heteromorpha, onilahensis, baronii, lutescens... At least for me.( obviously reducing water in cool winter but not in summer)

Edited October 24, 2013 by Halekuma