Slanted trunks

[Phoenikakias]

On 12/1/2021 at 12:16 AM, Kim said:

Chamaerops humilis is not fast, but makes a nice clump. These barely-tended street trees along the San Diego waterfront are a reasonable example. (street view screenshot) They are quite tough palms.

Yes, Chamaerops is a good proposal for our climate, provided that you find a form that grows fast and creates a trunk or  you enough money to spend on a ready clump! Pay attention that this monospecific genus is extremely variable, whereby some forms are dwarf or painfully slow growers. This one below is just the offshoot of the original main stem, which remained quite upright. The plant originates from a seed sowed in the vicinity of an older Washingtonia and it used to grow inside the leaf skirt of latter, as long as the Washie had still a lower height.  Main stem had been attacked by Paysandisia and eventually was removed but the offshoot turned out astonishingly fast. Fortunately it produces seeds and the plant is very probably hermaphrodite, so you can get seedlings true to type.

[Phoenikakias]

33 minutes ago, Jim in Los Altos said:

True Dave but not necessarily all the time. The three Archies in the front of this grouping were dug as adults with six feet of woody trunk and only had basketball sized root balls. That was fifteen years ago. They never had even a slight slowdown. I kept them watered twice, sometimes three times daily for six months and removed inflorescences and they sailed through the reestablishment period. 

Wow! Do they need so much water? I fear I am not able to provide it!

[Jim in Los Altos]

23 hours ago, Phoenikakias said:

Wow! Do they need so much water? I fear I am not able to provide it!

Not at all once their root zones recover and they are growing normally.