Will Arenga engleri stay small in a confined space?

[Fukuoka Scott]

I’m thinking of planting them on either side of my front door. A bit of bushiness is fine but I’m wondering if they will tend to stay more compact in a small space, as something this big would be a bit much. I suppose I could just remove any annoying trunks as they emerged?

[OC2Texaspalmlvr]

I'm sure if you were to keep them in pots you could keep them in control. In the ground im not sure you could really keep them under control especially by a walkway. I cant say for sure since I'm not growing this palm. Maybe others who are, could give there experience. 

T J 

[BeyondTheGarden]

I just ordered a couple from Jungle music.  From what I hear they're painfully slow growers (although they supposedly grow quicker in SoCal) so I expect mine will stay small for a very long time. 

[Fukuoka Scott]

1 hour ago, Jesse PNW said:

I just ordered a couple from Jungle music.  From what I hear they're painfully slow growers (although they supposedly grow quicker in SoCal) so I expect mine will stay small for a very long time. 

Right, it will probably be at least 10 years down the road before size is an issue...

[LivistonaFan]

2 hours ago, Fukuoka Scott said:

Right, it will probably be at least 10 years down the road before size is an issue...

Why don't you plant some Arenga ryukyuensis? They are naturally quite a bit smaller than A. engleri and even a little more cold hardy. It should be feasible to find them somewhere for sale in southern Japan. 

[Fukuoka Scott]

51 minutes ago, LivistonaFan said:

Why don't you plant some Arenga ryukyuensis? They are naturally quite a bit smaller than A. engleri and even a little more cold hardy. It should be feasible to find them somewhere for sale in southern Japan. 

The ones I bought may well be A. ryukyuensis. Growers here are very vague about names and they're typically considered synonymous/variants of the same species. The best you will get at any grower here is they will be called "kurotsugu" (the local common name) and it could be either one...

It's not uncommon to see queen palms labeled with the local common name and "Arecastrum romanzoffiana" here.  Very lackadaisical about plant nomenclature...

Here’s the grower’s web page (translated) you can see they describe it as native to Okinawa, Amami and Taiwan but the one in Taiwan is engleri, the one in Okinawa is ryukyuensis.

https://j4ath6i53kszbnnvpbznmrlzo4-ac5fdsxevxq4s5y-yokoen-webcrow-jp.translate.goog/kurotuguyasi.htm

 

 

Edited May 19, 2021 by Fukuoka Scott