Welfia regia

[Cindy Adair]

Who grows this palm? I have only one, planted so I can see the new red leaves from my house. Please post your photos and experiences with this palm.

As you see the striking red color fades in about a week but lovely.

August 13, 2021

August 16, 2021

That's a Meryta to the right and one of the "palm imitators" as a tall ground cover below. Stem of a bamboo orchid to the left and many tree ferns.

A little of my Rhopaloblaste elegans in the top photo.

August 20,2021

[D. Morrowii]

I love the deep red but that faded transition color is something as well!

[PR00636]

I don't have that Cindy, but I love it.  Maybe this is one of the species you can point out to me when I'm back.  

[mike in kurtistown]

Cindy, I have planted a small specimen. Jeff at Floribunda also planted one, now a lot larger than mine. Mine gets full sun during part of the day, but it is shaded during the rest of the day. It looks quite happy. I think Welfias develop a mass of huge leaves (to 18 ft long) before they start trunking. A local palmy couple planted two of them in the late 1990's. Some years later, he took them both out because the huge leaves covered many neighboring palm plantings. Plenty of space would seem to be indicated. Mine has plenty of space, so I'm not worried.

[Cindy Adair]

41 minutes ago, PR00636 said:

I don't have that Cindy, but I love it.  Maybe this is one of the species you can point out to me when I'm back.  

Absolutely! 

[Cindy Adair]

2 hours ago, D. Morrowii said:

I love the deep red but that faded transition color is something as well!

Thanks. I like this palm at all stages.

[Cindy Adair]

23 minutes ago, mike in kurtistown said:

Cindy, I have planted a small specimen. Jeff at Floribunda also planted one, now a lot larger than mine. Mine gets full sun during part of the day, but it is shaded during the rest of the day. It looks quite happy. I think Welfias develop a mass of huge leaves (to 18 ft long) before they start trunking. A local palmy couple planted two of them in the late 1990's. Some years later, he took them both out because the huge leaves covered many neighboring palm plantings. Plenty of space would seem to be indicated. Mine has plenty of space, so I'm not worried.

Good to hear from you Mike and thanks for all the information. I am glad yours is doing well.
 

I look forward to seeing Jeff’s when the IPS goes to HI October 2022! Mine is planted on a slope below my house and far enough so it won’t touch but likely will crowd other things.
 

They have to sort themselves out as I am not moving anything...

[John hovancsek]

I planted a small one a while back because I fell in love with the massive ones at the Hilo zoo but it got hit with a d-8 excavator when I was getting more land cleaned up for more palms but it has made a comeback and hopefully will get big now that it is back on track 

[Cindy Adair]

7 hours ago, John hovancsek said:

I planted a small one a while back because I fell in love with the massive ones at the Hilo zoo but it got hit with a d-8 excavator when I was getting more land cleaned up for more palms but it has made a comeback and hopefully will get big now that it is back on track 

Amazing that it survived!

Photos anyone?

 

[John hovancsek]

I looked threw my phone and I have a pic of the one at florabunda but not the whole palm. It is to the far left. I will get a pic of mine when the sun comes up

[Cindy Adair]

Thanks so much!

[mike in kurtistown]

Here's mine in full midday sun, planted in May 2020 from a 2- or 3-gal pot, pick for scale. It is much larger than when planted 15 months ago.

[Cindy Adair]

Very nice Mike!

Mine started in nearly full sun and then some tree ferns and the Meryta grew.

I thinned some so it is getting more sun because I wanted to see the colorful new leaves.

Do you get the same stunning new red color?

[mike in kurtistown]

I get some red color, don't know if it's quite that stunning. It's in a remote section of my lot, so I may not have checked it at the best time.

[colin Peters]

I tried a few here in Honolulu with no luck. but up at Lyon arboretum, in the much wetter rainforest areas they do really well.  Love this palm, just wish it

would grow for me in the dryer, windy area.

aloha

[John hovancsek]

The one that I have that got ran over is pushing a new red leaf. This is a great palm if you got the room for it

[Cindy Adair]

Glad to see it is a survivor John! Love that new leaf color!

[Rick Kelley]

Here's my hard luck story from the same batch of 2020  Floribunda 1 gallon plants.  It went in the ground in March 2020 and was roughly this size. Then I forgot about it while we had a very dry October last year.  It burned to a crisp.  One leaf had a small patch of green tissue, but mostly it was toast.  I was pretty mad that I had not given it any water during that dry spell.  But three months later a new spike emerged.  New hope! It opened with brown, dead tissue.  Surely it was a goner.  Then a few months later it tried to push up another spike.  This one opened green.  A few months ago another green leaf opened.  At this point I don't care about showy new leaf color.  All I want is a pulse.  I'm back where I started, but at least it looks like this tough little guy is going to make it.  Unlike John's, mine is planted on top of a lava mound, so there is no danger of being run over. The reason I wanted this species is because of a huge specimen growing in the Karen & Dean's garden north of Hilo.  It is a show-stopper even though it has not yet developed a trunk.

[Hilo Jason]

On 8/29/2021 at 4:29 PM, Rick Kelley said:

Here's my hard luck story from the same batch of 2020  Floribunda 1 gallon plants.  It went in the ground in March 2020 and was roughly this size. Then I forgot about it while we had a very dry October last year.  It burned to a crisp.  One leaf had a small patch of green tissue, but mostly it was toast.  I was pretty mad that I had not given it any water during that dry spell.  But three months later a new spike emerged.  New hope! It opened with brown, dead tissue.  Surely it was a goner.  Then a few months later it tried to push up another spike.  This one opened green.  A few months ago another green leaf opened.  At this point I don't care about showy new leaf color.  All I want is a pulse.  I'm back where I started, but at least it looks like this tough little guy is going to make it.  Unlike John's, mine is planted on top of a lava mound, so there is no danger of being run over. The reason I wanted this species is because of a huge specimen growing in the Karen & Dean's garden north of Hilo.  It is a show-stopper even though it has not yet developed a trunk.

That has made a great recovery Rick!  I have one from Floribunda that was also bought as a 1 gallon plant in 2020.  I have it in a 5 gallon pot now and should probably bump it up.  Doesn't seem to like a lot of sun, so I'm going to have to wait awhile til I plant it at the new property.  No room at my current garden for such a big palm.  Hopefully I can grow it up to a large healthy palm in a pot and then find a good spot at the new property for it.  

[Cindy Adair]

So glad to hear another happy story about this very nice palm!

[John hovancsek]

I think Rick and Jason and I all got from the same seed batch and I am so glad that all are alive and doing great. Here is a update on that stunning red leaf 

[Frond-friend42]

These are pretty. Here are some from habitat (Braulio Carillo state park in Costa Rica). 

small, medium, and large.

[Cindy Adair]

I always love habitat photos! Thanks!

[colin Peters]

here is one up at Lyon arboretum, from yrs back. lots of them scattered all around. Some very large mature ones. also.  aloha

[Cindy Adair]

Lovely! Thanks!

[mike in kurtistown]

Here's my answer, Cindy.

 

[Cindy Adair]

Thanks Mike!

I am glad you do get the same lovely color!

PalmTalk is such a good place to have searchable records of information with photographs of palms (in so many places and sizes) in both habitat and cultivation. 

 

[Rick Kelley]

Here is an update on the FB 1 gallon planted three years ago that almost died shortly after going in the ground.  It is all recovered and doing fine.  This morning I was going through the garden with an umbrella (58" of rain in the past 31 days) and noticed the new leaf had just opened.  I have several species that are purported to push up new red leaves, but most of them are pretty disappointing.  This is by far the most striking one that I have.  Hope new leaves keep flashing this intense color as the tree gets bigger.  The red lasts about 3-5 days.

[Kim]

Very dramatic color, Rick! I have never seen a frond that red on mine. This is a very s-l-o-w palm, at least for me.

Love those habitat shots! I can remember being wowed by Welfia in Costa Rica on an IPS trip, viewed looking down on the huge crowns from hanging bridges high above, amazingly gorgeous palms. 

I see most everyone's are still young. I have one that is getting pretty tall, but of course still no trunk. As it is slow to grow, I don't photograph it often, but happened to take a couple of shots last month. let me dig them up.

Below center, some 25 feet beyond the shaded Marojejya darianii, with the little Syagrus hoehnii maybe 12 ft in front of it. 
 

A closer look. Planted almost exactly 13 years ago, pot size not noted, but probably a 3 or 5 gal. 

[Cindy Adair]

Rick, that color is amazing! Kim, yours is so big and looks great too. 

Thanks so much for brightening my morning with your posts.

PT is perfect for viewing habitat and cultivated versions of all sizes of uncommon palms.  The captions by people I either have already had the pleasure of meeting or those I would enjoy getting to know is a big plus too.

I am on a short trip so can’t snap a fresh photo today, but with the unusually dry weather in PR I doubt I have any new red leaves photo worthy. 

I am happy to report that the rhinoceros beetles have not (yet) sampled mine and it has grown a lot since my last photos here. I would add several more of this species should they become available in PR!

[realarch]

Rick, glad to see your Welfia off of life support and making a full recovery. That deep red is a new one for the color wheel. After seeing the Welfia at Karen’s and the zoo, I opted to pass planting one in my garden due to its large size. I planted Metroxylon and Mauritia instead. 😶

Tim

[Rick Kelley]

Tim,

The red leaf was a surprise to me.  Who knew?  I bought it precisely because I had seen the monster at Karen's.  I've got three acres to fill up.  Licualas are just not going to get the job done.  I've planted six Metroxylons of various species with more waiting in pots and my Mauritia is starting to take off.  Go BIG or go home. 

[Hilo Jason]

On 3/3/2023 at 4:36 PM, Rick Kelley said:

Here is an update on the FB 1 gallon planted three years ago that almost died shortly after going in the ground.  It is all recovered and doing fine.  This morning I was going through the garden with an umbrella (58" of rain in the past 31 days) and noticed the new leaf had just opened.  I have several species that are purported to push up new red leaves, but most of them are pretty disappointing.  This is by far the most striking one that I have.  Hope new leaves keep flashing this intense color as the tree gets bigger.  The red lasts about 3-5 days.

Rick - mine seems to be in sync with yours on the red leaf. I imagine these are both from the same seed batch as this one also came from Floribunda as a 1 gallon a few years ago. Like Kim mentioned, not fast at all and mine struggled for the first year or so as well. Happy now in a 15 gallon pot and I’m slowly introducing it to more light. The plan is to plant it in Pepe’ekeo. Hoping it can take the conditions out there.