Best King Palms for SoCal?

[Ashton]

I'd like to complement the front of my home with a few multi-trunk king palms. The most readily available are the cunninghamiana, however they always get damaged by the winds.

Do any of the others (purpurea, maxima, tuckeri, myolaensis) retain their frond shape better in wind?

I realize that other genus are better at this than Kings, but we have a street tree ordinance and for my street, the  city chose Kings. Outside of the setback, I can do as I please.

Ashton

Palos Verdes CA, zone 10b

[Bennz]

Ahton, are you saying you have to plant kings?

Purpurea is a lot better in the wind, as are some of the alexandrae forms. Not all though. Also, some provenance selections of cunninghamiana stand up to wind very well, while others don't. Here in NZ you can find isolated examples of cunninghamiana standing tall and undamaged in very high wind areas, while neighbouring trees much younger and still protected by surrounding vegetation are in tatters. One tree on the southern side of Whangarei is a particualrly good example of this.

It may be possible to find trees that are wind tolerant and grow seeds from them in your area if you can wait that long.

[MattyB]

Hmmmmmm, A. maxima seems to handle lots of sun very well.  Maybe it would be a good candidate for a tough King.  Although, when any Archonto. opens that new frond that's on the downwind side of the next spear it gets blown against it and the leavlets get all folded over and look jacked up.  I hate that!  Does anyone else notice that phenomenon?

[Ashton]

(Bennz @ Jul. 26 2006,18:42)

QUOTE

Ashton, are you saying you have to plant kings?

Bennz,

That's right. The first 20 feet back from the curb is called a city setback and the city council appointed 'art jury' decided that all the homes on our street that wish to plant trees must plant king palms.  The idea is that twenty years from now, the street will be a King palm lined avenue.

I'm not a huge fan of growing kings here. Every king that sees much sun or wind gets it's fronds demolished. I once found a king protected form the wind in an apartment courtyard and I had no idea what it was. It was stunningly beautiful. The owner told me that it was a cunninghamiana.

I will try the purpurea and maybe an alexander or two and see if they hold up better.

Now to just find a grower in SoCal that has some multi's.....

ashton

[MattyB]

You could probably plant any number of other crownshafted palms and they wouldn't notice.  Maybe we can make a list of substitutes:

Dypsis baronii - just tell them it's a slow growing King

Clinostigma savoryanum

Chambeyronia macrocarpa

Dypsis onilahensis

Cyphophoenix elegans or nucele

I guess it depens on how bold you wanna be.  I bet the "art jury" couldn't tell a small king from any of the above.

[palmsrgreat]

(Ashton @ Jul. 26 2006,22:59)

QUOTE

Now to just find a grower in SoCal that has some multi's.....

ashton

Go talk to Phil at Jungle Music. They are actually having a large sale this weekend. Too bad I'm in Houston now.

Michael

[BigFrond]

My house get constant wind blast but it does not rip to shread any of the fronds on my kings.  The purpurea variety has thicker fronds and should be more robust.  The underside of the frond has a silver color to it.

[DoomsDave]

Ashton:

I suspect  you get some wicked wind where you are, right near the ocean, and I suspect that the salt does more damages then the wind does.

Somewhere, I hope you try some Rhopalistylus, you're in heaven for them, they love the fierce Antarctic wind . . .

If you have to do the king thing, plant a whole bunch together, and they'll look a lot better, sheltering each other from the wind.

I wouldn't mess with the art jury, you could end up getting fined later.

dave

[Ashton]

(Dave from So-Cal @ Jul. 27 2006,01:13)

QUOTE

Ashton,

Somewhere, I hope you try some Rhopalistylus, you're in heaven for them, they love the fierce Antarctic wind . . .

I wouldn't mess with the art jury, you could end up getting fined later.

dave

Dave,

I'm hoping to pick up some 15 gallon or bigger Rhopalistylus cheesemanii this weekend. I'll just put them beyond the twenty foot mark. I'll see if somebody is selling any multi-trunk purpurea's to put close to the curb.

I play nice with the art jury. I dropped four 48" box royals in last week and offered to give the city four 25' Washingtonia's that I ripped out of the ground. They were thrilled but had to decline. Budget prevents them from planting mature trees. I'm going to hire someone to make a dozen tiki's out of the trunks. Do you know anyone locally?

ashton

[Ashton]

(MattyB @ Jul. 27 2006,00:43)

QUOTE

You could probably plant any number of other crownshafted palms and they wouldn't notice.  

I guess it depens on how bold you wanna be.  I bet the "art jury" couldn't tell a small king from any of the above.

I've thought about that. Everytime I plant something new out front, I've got to show them a picture of one, or take them to the window of the office and point it out in the park across the street.

ashton

[Fred Zone 10A]

Best to stay with the program and not provoke the art jury.  One of the guys here at the office lives in RPV on a designated kentia street.  Further back he's planted a tall P. rupicola x P. reclinata, foxtails and a triangle.

If you have to "go with the flow" and plant kings, I'm with you in wanting to have something a little different.  Sort of like that television commercial where the very attractive widow is walking in her husband's funeral procession dressed in the traditional black coat and underneath you can see glimpses of her bright red dress.

In addition to Jungle Music, Rancho Soledad has large A. alexandrae and A. purpurea.  I personally don't care for how triples bend away from the center and prefer the look of three singles about 1 meter apart.

[spockvr6]

(Ashton @ Jul. 26 2006,22:59)

QUOTE

Every king that sees much sun or wind gets it's fronds demolished. I once found a king protected form the wind in an apartment courtyard and I had no idea what it was. It was stunningly beautiful.

I agree 100%.

The lions share of Kings that I see here that are in at least semi-protected locations look far better than those fully exposed.  

I have 8 Archontos in my yard and far and away the best looking ones are those which are in areas which receive wind and sun protection.

However, I have also seen some very large Archontos in the wide open which receive no protection and they look pretty good.  So, I suspect with age that these palms become a little tougher.

[Bennz]

That's right. The first 20 feet back from the curb is called a city setback and the city council appointed 'art jury' decided that all the homes on our street that wish to plant trees must plant king palms.  The idea is that twenty years from now, the street will be a King palm lined avenue.

Land of the free, I thought someone said once. Still, its probably a good idea, as long as you like the designated plant. IN a country where recently a beautiful mature Queen gets felled in preference to a runty willow I'd hate to see what kind of rules our guys would come up with...!

Ben in still-palm-backward-NZ

[Fred Zone 10A]

Land of the free, I thought someone said once. Still, its probably a good idea, as long as you like the designated plant.

Benn,

Actually, this can be a great idea.  There are streets in Pasadena, California lined with jacarandas.  They are spectacular when they bloom.  The street that crosses mine is lined with huge Washingtonia filiferas and it looks marvelous--except that over the years some have died and been replaced by other trees.  My own street used to be lined with olive trees, but they reached the end of their useful lives and have mostly been removed.

[Tyrone]

Plant a Roystonea regia, or Roystonea borinquena. To the untrained they'll look identical to the Archo's at first, until yours looks like a King Kong King on steroids.

[Fred Zone 10A]

Plant a Roystonea regia, or Roystonea borinquena. To the untrained they'll look identical to the Archo's at first, until yours looks like a King Kong King on steroids.

That's fine until the art jury, with the full force of the city government behind it, wakes up and forces you to remove it.

[Ashton]

(Tyrone @ Jul. 28 2006,05:32)

QUOTE

Plant a Roystonea regia, or Roystonea borinquena. To the untrained they'll look identical to the Archo's at first, until yours looks like a King Kong King on steroids.

Tyrone, I like the way you think.  

My only problem is that I just dropped a row of  4 Regias-15' each in my frontyard (yea I know...you're always supposed to have an odd number but the seller had four beauties and...).

I might try the myolenis or purpurea kings in a couple of groups and see how they fare.

ashton

[Tyrone]

My thoughts on the Archo's are that the maxima would look pretty nice. From what I've heard they get a nice big bulging trunk, and the small petiole and stiff leaflet arrangement would look pretty neat, and maybe even be a little more wind tolerant. Also they're fast, whereas purpurea as beautiful as they are, are actually pretty slow. Both species come from about 1000m altitude so they'd be just as cold tolerant etc as one another.

regards

Tyrone

[chris78]

Just a question.......

because A. purpurea is slower growing and with smaller stiffer leaves are they more drought tolerant then other Archontophoenix sps??

[Tyrone]

(chris78 @ Jul. 29 2006,02:10)

QUOTE

Just a question.......

because A. purpurea is slower growing and with smaller stiffer leaves are they more drought tolerant then other Archontophoenix sps??

All Archo's I've seen in the wild grow near or virtually in permanent water in what is already a very wet climate, ie 1500mm - 10000mm? annual rainfall.

A purpurea comes from Mt Lewis and a couple of other mountains in the Atherton Tablelands. When I was up at Mt Lewis I saw baby seedlings of A purpurea actually growing in the streams around moss covered rocks etc. I would probably think purpurea would have the same water needs or if not more need for water than the others, as the elevation tends to collect all the clouds and moisture that the lowlands may miss. I would say that Mt Lewis and the surrounds would never have a dry spell, and it would rain at least something virtually every day or so.

But really, drought tolerance and Archontophoenix shouldn't be mentioned in the same sentence. They just love water and lots of it.

regards

Tyrone

[DoomsDave]

A. pupurea are pokey, compared to the oth Archontos.  They grow at about one-third the rate of A> tuckeri, cunninghaminana, myolensis and beatricieae (sp?)

dave

[Sabal Steve]

I'd like to complement the front of my home with a few multi-trunk king palms. The most readily available are the cunninghamiana, however they always get damaged by the winds.Do any of the others (purpurea, maxima, tuckeri, myolaensis) retain their frond shape better in wind?I realize that other genus are better at this than Kings, but we have a street tree ordinance and for my street, the city chose Kings. Outside of the setback, I can do as I please.AshtonPalos Verdes CA, zone 10b

But will the city know difference, and will the find out...