I love Archontophoenix palms, and I am sure many of you do too. I couldn't find an Archontophoenix specific thread, so I thought I'd make one in hopes of people showing off their Archontophoenix palms, any species! Here is my Archontophoenix cunninghamiana, which has been thriving for me indoors and outdoors (when its warm and sunny enough, like today). It's small, but is growing quickly. I am surprised at how much it seems to not care about being in cooler conditions. 

Edited December 26, 20196 yr by PalmTreeDude

Good thread. Who doesn’t love archontophoenix. Here are my two. 

55 minutes ago, Jeff985 said:

Good thread. Who doesn’t love archontophoenix. Here are my two. 

You’re growing these in Houston? How long have they been in the ground?

Love King Palms. I have 5 variations in my yard: Alexandrae, Alexandrae Beatricea, Cunninghamiana, Maxima, and Tuckeri. Just missing Myolensis and Pupurea to have all subspecies represented 

Archonotophoenix alexandrae

Archonotophoenix cunninghamiana

Archonotophoenix maxima

Archonotophoenix tuckeri

 

Archontophoenix how do I love you? Let me count the ways

Losing count 

From Dorian Ouer’s garden 

31 minutes ago, RedRabbit said:

You’re growing these in Houston? How long have they been in the ground?

One of them I’ve had since summer 2018. The other one I’ve only had about a month. 

2 hours ago, Jeff985 said:

One of them I’ve had since summer 2018. The other one I’ve only had about a month. 

That would be awesome if they can grow there. Best of luck Jeff, I’m pulling for ya!

I grew one to about 12 feet in south Louisiana under canopy until 18 F and transplanting in same year did it in now I have 4 babies under same tree. They are doable here if you supply heat to the crown during freezes

3 minutes ago, RedRabbit said:

That would be awesome if they can grow there. Best of luck Jeff, I’m pulling for ya!

I’m cautiously optimistic. Based on my research they seem to be about as hardy as roebelenii, which has been thriving here since 1989. I don’t actually live in Houston. I live southeast of it two blocks from Galveston Bay so it’s a little warmer here. Two years ago we had our coldest temperature since 1989. My area bottomed out at 22f. Pygmys were damaged but survived. A. Cunninghamiana would have been questionable, but possible and that was the coldest temp in 30 years. Between the two of them I’ve only got $120 invested so at the very least I should get my money’s worth out of them. 

5 minutes ago, Jeff985 said:

I’m cautiously optimistic. Based on my research they seem to be about as hardy as roebelenii, which has been thriving here since 1989. I don’t actually live in Houston. I live southeast of it two blocks from Galveston Bay so it’s a little warmer here. Two years ago we had our coldest temperature since 1989. My area bottomed out at 22f. Pygmys were damaged but survived. A. Cunninghamiana would have been questionable, but possible and that was the coldest temp in 30 years. Between the two of them I’ve only got $120 invested so at the very least I should get my money’s worth out of them. 

Ah okay, since you live in that part of town it does seem like they’ll at least have a fighting chance. 

4 minutes ago, RedRabbit said:

Ah okay, since you live in that part of town it does seem like they’ll at least have a fighting chance. 

Thanks for the encouragement. Cunninghamiana is one of my favorites. 

14 minutes ago, RedRabbit said:

That would be awesome if they can grow there. Best of luck Jeff, I’m pulling for ya!

In the warmer parts of town (heat island and/or water influence) , stuff like kings, royals, and foxtails can last for years (5-10+ years).  There were some foxtails near town probably planted in the early 2000s that made it well into the mid-late 2010s. 2018 was the real post-'89 killing freeze that wiped out all upper 9b/10a stuff that might have squeaked through earlier freezes. P. roebelenii has proven to be mostly hardy the last 20+ years. 

I’d like to find more of them. With all the tppd and fusarium in my area I’d like to have a backup for my queens and Sylvestris. I use those as foundation plants for my landscape since they’ve proven themselves reliable. Kings aren’t quite as hardy but as far as I know they’re resistant to tppd. 

This is mine.  Not in the ground that long, but starting to grow a little faster now that it is getting more sunlight. 

This is a planting near Hollis Gardens.  Tallest is approximately 40 feet, give or take.  They do set fertile seed.

Here’s a picture @oc2texaspalmlvr sent me from his neighborhood in League City. 

7 minutes ago, Jeff985 said:

I’d like to find more of them. With all the tppd and fusarium in my area I’d like to have a backup for my queens and Sylvestris. I use those as foundation plants for my landscape since they’ve proven themselves reliable. Kings aren’t quite as hardy but as far as I know they’re resistant to tppd. 

Not to get off topic, but give Ravenea a try. They’re hardy and look really nice when they’re mature. 

10 minutes ago, RedRabbit said:

Not to get off topic, but give Ravenea a try. They’re hardy and look really nice when they’re mature. 

I actually have three of them. One is trunking. There is one in my neighborhood that has about eight feet of trunk that survived 2018. The only problem with them is they don’t grow very fast and it’s hard to find them with a trunk. 

40 minutes ago, kinzyjr said:

This is mine.  Not in the ground that long, but starting to grow a little faster now that it is getting more sunlight. 

This is a planting near Hollis Gardens.  Tallest is approximately 40 feet, give or take.  They do set fertile seed.

Are those alexandrae? They look super tropical. 

These are a staple of my NorCal yard.

 

This is probably my favorite. A slightly crowded out maxima.

 

I said at the beginning this would be a good thread. Sure is nice being proven right. Keep them coming. 

I’ve got so many Archies in the garden, it’s impossible to count them. They’ve naturalized here and many volunteers are mature trees now. The big ones are primarily cunninghamiana and Illawara but I also have alexandrae, maxima, myolensis, and purpurea. 

 

Edited December 26, 20196 yr by Jim in Los Altos

2 hours ago, PalmTreeDude said:

Are those alexandrae? They look super tropical. 

Yes, those are all alexandrae.

I love this genus. Alexandrae has grown great for me in the past here in Florida but it absolutely hates true frost. Cunninghamiana grows painfully slowly (compared to alexandrae anyway) but really does seem to take a degree or three colder on the cold nights and is more tolerant of prolonged cool weather but my suspicion is that it hates a true frost too. I have a cunninghamiana planted out in the yard.  Slow. But it does seem to be growing a thicker trunk than most of these pics on here. Growing in full sun. I’ll try to post an updated pic tomorrow. 

Obscenities screamed.

Want seeds?

My posts, especially the first one, in the Hollis Gardens thread in the Travel Logs section has a lot of Archontophoenix alexandrae for those that are fans of that species (I certainly am).  They use them to line Main Street now that TPPD is wiping out a lot of our Phoenix dactylifera.  The ones at City Hall are my personal favorites.

 

14 minutes ago, DoomsDave said:

Obscenities screamed.

Want seeds?

Sure. I’ll take any archontophoenix seeds you have and give them a go here. I bought some seeds from amazon or eBay or something and they never grew. Probably old...

50 minutes ago, ruskinPalms said:

I love this genus. Alexandrae has grown great for me in the past here in Florida but it absolutely hates true frost. Cunninghamiana grows painfully slowly (compared to alexandrae anyway) but really does seem to take a degree or three colder on the cold nights and is more tolerant of prolonged cool weather but my suspicion is that it hates a true frost too. I have a cunninghamiana planted out in the yard.  Slow. But it does seem to be growing a thicker trunk than most of these pics on here. Growing in full sun. I’ll try to post an updated pic tomorrow. 

Frank Tintera may still have some A myolensis if you want to give them a try. I bought one for my Westchase property a few weeks ago.

11162 Huber St
https://maps.app.goo.gl/g1SKbBiecUeoBLkX8

That's my old casa in garden grove before relocation to Texas. Anyone growing Terra Carpa from @Phil ? 

Hi there,

when I started with palms seven years ago this beautiful species came soon to 

my mind. Lacking domestic plant suppliers I ordered seeds internationally (rps) 

and got rewarded with at least 8 sprouts out of ten. 

Doing some research it seems that Alexander palms are almost naturalized in 

Okinawa - I did a short documentation about it when visiting a garden on the 

Okinawa main island a few weeks ago...

- and I got not disappointed with their growing speed/performance over here

on our more southern, "typhoony" island Miyakojima. 

Extremely well growing, still a bit wind shattered looking (we got at least four

direct hits by typhoons this year)...

...but always coming back very quickly, so no concerns about them in general.

best regards from Okinawa

Lars

 

Here’s my A. Alexandra’s hanging out on the patio, waiting for me to take some water oaks down before she goes in the ground. 
 

side note: I am appalled kings are not more readily available in central florida ... or in all of florida for that matter. I’ve heard the big box stores in California sell Cunninghamianas? Well at least I can buy as many adonidias as I want... 

That’s crazy. Yeah big box have Cunninghamiana and Alexandrae however they mark both as common and don’t know what they are selling. 

Here's a photo from a friends place just north of Hilo. Even though A. alexandrae are an invasive species here, they can still be beautiful in the right situation. 

Tim

 

maxima in my back yard. If anyone wants some seedlings, come buy and pull em out of the ground for me. There are hundreds!!

I went overboard a bit with cunninghamiana... now my garden doesn’t have much space but they do look good. 
 

Here is an alexandrae(in ground from a 3 gal) Also growing illawarra, purpurea, maxima, and some smaller tuckerii, and myolensis 

3 years back we found out Lowe’s was mislabeling cunninghamiana and actually was alexandrae. So I drove to all the nearby Lowes looking for silvery underneaths! What else would a palm nut do?

4 hours ago, enigma99 said:

I went overboard a bit with cunninghamiana... now my garden doesn’t have much space but they do look good. 
 

Here is an alexandrae(in ground from a 3 gal) Also growing illawarra, purpurea, maxima, and some smaller tuckerii, and myolensis 

3 years back we found out Lowe’s was mislabeling cunninghamiana and actually was alexandrae. So I drove to all the nearby Lowes looking for silvery underneaths! What else would a palm nut do?

Yup I did something similar. I have 2 triples and 5 single Alexandrae most of which are the bulbous Green-Blue Beatricea variety with pronounced bases and deep leaf scars. Really good looking palms. All were labeled as Cunninghamiana.

Edited December 28, 20196 yr by James B
Left out info

57 minutes ago, James B said:

Yup I did something similar. I have 2 triples and 5 single Alexandrae most of which are the bulbous Green-Blue Beatricea variety with pronounced bases and deep leaf scars. Really good looking palms. All were labeled as Cunninghamiana.

Same as beatrice? I wonder what I have, if they are just standard alexandrae 

39 minutes ago, enigma99 said:

Same as beatrice? I wonder what I have, if they are just standard alexandrae 

Based on my understanding Alexandrae true type are a yellowish green and have a thinner trunk. The darker somewhat greenish blue type with the fat base is considered by many to be the Beatrice variety. But I don’t know I kinda think palm enthusiasts get a bit carried away with subtypes of Archontophoenix. Aside from Purpurea and Cunninghamiana I think the others are all just regional populations of Alexandrae.

Edited December 28, 20196 yr by James B

My A alexandrae is still small. They are in shade under large trees.