My Brahea's

[Jubaea_James760]

Brahea's are great palms, especially in temperate climates! Brahea Edulis is one, despite where it comes from it's extremely cold hardy! I would rate it as hardy as Washingtonia Robusta if not a little more hardy in my area. These two been in the ground for almost 3 years now...

[Jubaea_James760]

Brahea Armata is another great one for my area, I planted 1 this year & I have no doubt it's gonna do fine!

Brahea Brandegeei, plant this year. I no this ones more sensitive to cold but I had to try.

[Jubaea_James760]

Brahea Decumbens planted out this year.

Brahea Dulcis (blue) also planted out this year.

[Jubaea_James760]

I messed up on Brahea Decumbens, here it is,

[Mauna Kea Cloudforest]

Nice! You might want to try the edulis x brandegei from the Huntington. Similar look as brandegei but faster and hardier.

[Stevetoad]

good stuff! i love braheas. you should try a super silver too

[Jubaea_James760]

I didn't see that palm at the Huntington but than again I didn't get to see a lot of stuff. I went for the first time this spring and it was great! Definitely need to spend some more time there to see everything. That sounds like a good x, I'll add that to my list!

Steve, I have a Super Silver but it's still to small to plant out yet. I was planing on waiting till it was a good 5 gal but I might get impatient & plant it out next year!? Will see...I also have a Brahea nitida but that's even smaller than my SS.

There's a few more I still need to get my hands on like; Brahea Pimo, Aculeata, & Clara.

[Mauna Kea Cloudforest]

One of the 2006 Palm Journals was dedicated to brahea, it's a must read if you love brahea. I devoured the issue and read every article, cover to cover.

I am going to say what I say to everyone about brahea: it's a big mistake to just get "one of each" and stop there. Brahea don't actually fit very nicely into the buckets we've created for them. The theory is that the ice ages are what insulated various populations of brahea from one another and got them to slowly diverge, but it's really more of a continuum. So for example brahea dulcis in its Northern range is quite distinct in form, inflorescence and hardiness when compared to the southern range form. The same is true for brahea armata. Even brahea edulis comes in a super stiff form and a form that is deeply costa-palmate like a sabal. I have the two edulis forms, very distinct.

Then there are a plethora of hybrids as a result of this genus being so prone to natural hybridization.

Here is a whole list of additional brahea to be on the lookout for:

brahea aculeata "blue"

brahea nuri

brahea san carlos

brahea bella

brahea berlianderli

brahea super silver "suckering" (For sale now at Cistus Nursery)

brahea dulcis blue (the one that's blue starting as a seedling, probably dulcis x decumbens)

brahea dulcis blue, the one that starts out green and turns blue

brahea elegans "blue" (a brahea elegans from the Sonora that is most likely aculeata x armata)

brahea elegans "franceschi" (a dwarf aculeata form)

brahea edulis x brandegeei, (see http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/showimage/325881/ for a photo.)

[Jubaea_James760]

Good stuff Axel! That is your name?

Thanks for list, I'll definetly be on the look out for them

[SailorBold]

How hardy are those Brahea edulis in a dry climate? If I could get a Washingtonia looking palm that wont 'zap' every winter this may be an option. Hmmm..

[Mauna Kea Cloudforest]

Not as hardy as washingtonia filifera, about as hardy as washingtonia robusta. Good to a dry USDA 9a.

[Sabal Steve]

Sabal species would thrive in your climate, but they would want water -

With the heat you get, they would probably take off. They give great shade too, with gigantic leaves.

[Alicehunter2000]

Aren't there plenty of other Brahea you can grow in New Mexico?

Brahea clara has done well so far through our hot and humid summer. Guess I might try some others. What is an unusual looking species that might work?

[_Keith]

Aren't there plenty of other Brahea you can grow in New Mexico?

Brahea clara has done well so far through our hot and humid summer. Guess I might try some others. What is an unusual looking species that might work?

If you find a source for some decent sized one, let me know.

[Shirleypalmpaws]

David, both Michael and I are very novice so take that into consideration ….but so far all these have survived the summer humidity here in Florida, with sources for Keith:

Brahea super silver (ebay---can't remember name, but Phil, Jungle Music, has them, too), two summers so far; not yet planted.

Brahea icy blue clara (Tejas--whom I wish were still available for us! Phil has clara tho IDK if it's icy blue), two summers; one summer in ground.

Brahea decumbens (Phil, Jungle Music), one summer here; newly planted.

Brahea dulcis blue form (Phil, Jungle Music), one summer here; newly planted.

Every post at PT (and elsewhere) on these Brahea selections, especially Hawaii posts, I think Kona Al (?) and Florida, I think PalmiteerMeg, and Tank ------and other high humidity PT'ers deserve mention but cannot recall at this moment, I've read till my head imploded ---which is normal for a newbie, I hope! lol. And also thru CFPACS, we went to Orlando Leu Gardens with a side trip to Eric's xeriscape and glean knowledge. Eric is atruly truly marvelous person!

We purchased the biggest available shippable we could afford. Phil has been wonderful helping us figure out the ones that can most likely take our humidity, and weird garden zone (high 9b low 10a <---which is probably not so weird to others). So far sooooo good with the Brahea! lol. But my head is still imploded.

[SailorBold]

Alicehunter- I honestly don't know...I haven't seen any.. nor have I seen any offered here anywhere. Armata is supposed to be good to go here.. but again never seen any offered even at appreciable size. I have a seedling armata here 8 years that survives all of our cold and has never been protected. Nothing to shake a stick at... its surviving while growing slow without irrigation and neglect. The more I think it- I should try to move it and put it in a better location. Any other Brahea is unheard of.

I like the idea of clara because of the faster growth rate... and I might try a few others. We will see.

Sabal Steve- I like the idea of Sabal.. just choosing one is a problem. I plan on adding minors for fill in.. but want to try something a little bigger. Palmetto is listed as hardy here.. again.. I don't think I have ever seen one and I sort of don't like the way they look.. Planting area is another issue.. as I only have one spot for a large Sabal.. which makes my choosing all the more difficult. The area is great.. and will have enough heat and water to fulfill its needs.

[Alicehunter2000]

Got these clara's from Yucca Do Nursery .... they still have some as of yesterday.

The last one is in a race with the A. wrightii that got cut to the ground by the vortex. If it ever gets cut down by cold again....at least the Brahea will fill in the spot.

Thanks Shirley ....gonna check those out....sounds like you did more research than me.

SB .... I'm pretty sure most Brahea species would work for you. Axel has done a lot of research on this genera and he might have some sources to purchase from.

Oh and I don't think Brahea transplant well....you might want to leave the armata in place.

[Mauna Kea Cloudforest]

I've spent a lot of time researching brahea, and I have a collection of about 50 different kinds. Our botanical district has several native brahea, so the genus is quite at home in our climate. I don't have any direct experience with hot humid climates, but so far, I've only heard about issues with brahea armata and brahea edulis. Brahea edulis tends to rot in hot humid climates, and brahea armata seems to decline in vigor the closer you get to the equator. In Hawaii it seems to barely grow. Not sure why.

I have gotten most of my brahea locally, it's easy to find rare and unusual brahea all over California. The best mail order source was Tejas, but they're out of the nursery business and only do livestock now. Yucca Do Nursery may be able to fill in the void left by Tejas but so far they only carry brahea clara. If you are going to order a brahea clara from them, make sure to buy one of the blue sabal tamalpais as well. Those are wonderful and a must-have anywhere in the South. Phil of Jungle music can get you brahea elegans, brahea dulcis, brahea decumbens and brahea super silver. Cistus nursery has a very rare brahea in their catalogue right now, it's some sort of blue suckering dulcis/decumbens cross that they are calling "super silver" but it's not at all related to super silver. They write this description in their catalogue:

A clumping creature, to 10 ft tall, looking much like Brahea decumbens but with larger leaves and a more extended trunk. These are from a mid-elevation collection from central Mexico at the edges of thorn scrub where it meets oak country. Dappled shade to full sun and generous summer fertilizing with water to speed its slow growth. We know it makes a beautiful container specimen but don't yet know its potential frost hardiness. So we can only guess at 20F, the bottom of USDA zone 9.

[SailorBold]

BraheaAxel-Alicehunter- Wow I didn't think there were that many different species or ecotypes. Impressive. I left the hobby for quite some time and I am recently getting back into it. I will have to do further reading.

Indeed... I agree to choose Sabal tamalpais over minor... do you think YuccaDo is the best source for those? I will most likely plan for spring on those. I saw the 'clara' they offered but think I would like to try a larger size(larger than 3g). Others I will look into and heed guidance.

I cant add as to why some Brahea decline in hot-humid climates.. My experience with my newly planted armata is limited and my palm is in its establishment period. I was especially careful about root disturbance and the palm is actually growing pretty fast. The center spear has grown out.. and its next leaf is opening right now (which I don't remember seeing ahead of the previous one... and there is an additional new spear emerging. I watered sparingly throughout summer.. I noticed if I watered it more frequently the leaves would close up just a little.. and then relax again over a period of days. So my only guess is it doesn't like frequent water. Perhaps monsoonal moisture is what it prefers.???

Edited September 9, 2014 by SailorBold

[Mauna Kea Cloudforest]

Jimmy, brahea delay opening their spears when the roots are dry, not when they are wet. I almost killed a brahea armata because I let it dry out before it had a chance to send roots down to harvest water from the depths.

Your brahea looks rather green to be a pure armata, especially for growing in your New Mexico inferno.

Here are some more photos:

[SailorBold]

Do you think it is a cross of some kind? I was looking at the leaf petiole and it looks to be nearly void of armor.. would this be a defining characteristic?

Also... The leaflets are splitting on the first leaf to open since it was planted similar to your 2nd and 4th pics; is that common in armata?

[Mauna Kea Cloudforest]

You will just have to grow it out to see what it really is. There is a lot of variation in armata, some are not as blue, but my guess is that often there's something else influencing the genetics to make them veer towards olive green. Maybe it's just the lighting of the photo.

[Meangreen94z]

On 8/10/2014 at 10:42 PM, James760 said:

Brahea Armata is another great one for my area, I planted 1 this year & I have no doubt it's gonna do fine!

 

 

Brahea Brandegeei, plant this year. I no this ones more sensitive to cold but I had to try.

 

Hey James, how has your Brandegeei done out there in an 8B climate? Thanks

[Jubaea_James760]

It died its first winter I believe. I didn't protect it very well like I should have. I have some seedlings I grew from seeds that I want to try in a few years.

[SailorBold]

Heres an update on my Brahea armata and what I've learned..  this palm is only now starting to pick up growth speed...so at least for me.. the establishment period is about 10 years.. !!!

This palm prefers rainwater only (my observation).. and I suspect it would grow faster if it had more.  I haven't protected it in over 8 years..which I don't think it needed it to begin with.  Pretty decent palm for albuquerque which requires patience..and perhaps quick protections during the coldest winters. The leaves are harder than filifera by about 2-3 degrees before showing damage...so that's a plus as well..  just really slow to get itself situated..  It's being partially shaded now by my filiferas..but this imo is a full sun only palm as well..

[SeanK]

1 hour ago, SailorBold said:

Heres an update on my Brahea armata and what I've learned..  this palm is only now starting to pick up growth speed...so at least for me.. the establishment period is about 10 years.. !!!

This palm prefers rainwater only (my observation).. and I suspect it would grow faster if it had more.  I haven't protected it in over 8 years..which I don't think it needed it to begin with.  Pretty decent palm for albuquerque which requires patience..and perhaps quick protections during the coldest winters. The leaves are harder than filifera by about 2-3 degrees before showing damage...so that's a plus as well..  just really slow to get itself situated..  It's being partially shaded now by my filiferas..but this imo is a full sun only palm as well..

Seems 1/2 the rate it should be. Somethings lacking.

[Axel Amsterdam]

Hi Jimmy, a while back, i posted something similar about the slow growth of small armata’s in the south of Europe

 

 

[Axel Amsterdam]

My own in 2018 and now