A Second Chance

[Darold Petty]

https://www.palmpedia.net/palmsforcal/Presteoa_acuminata_var._acuminata

This link shows my previous attempt to grow this palm.  Unfortunately the original ones died several years ago.  I was fortunate to receive 3 seedlings a few years ago from a Bay Area plantsman, after his return from a visit to Ecuador.  I raised them up to 3-gallon citrus pot size and have ground planted two in my garden today.  The third one I gave to a fellow palm gardener here in SF. 

 When I receive a gift of special plant material I don't consider it to be truly mine until I can pass some along to a third person.   

Anyone else growing this in California ?

  Here is the image of one I planted today  !

[SeanK]

Is it customary to plant in the midst of winter there?

[Mauna Kea Cloudforest]

Why don't you wait until the soil warms up? Does it not matter?

[Darold Petty]

I have never delayed planting relative to the "seasons",  which hardly matter here at all.   Check out my seasonal temperatures.

In the next few weeks or months I will install two Howeas, a Hedyscepe, a Pritchardia,  and an Arenga.  

[GottmitAlex]

1 hour ago, Darold Petty said:

I have never delayed planting relative to the "seasons",  which hardly matter here at all.   Check out my seasonal temperatures.

In the next few weeks or months I will install two Howeas, a Hedyscepe, a Pritchardia,  and an Arenga.  

Wunderbar!

 

[richnorm]

Does well here and I have just germinated a batch of NZ produced seed.  Colour is not quite on a par with a Lipstick palm but fabulous all the same.

[Phoenikakias]

Good luck for all three plants.

[Palm Tree Jim]

It appears to have some great color already!

[SeanK]

11 hours ago, Darold Petty said:

I have never delayed planting relative to the "seasons",  which hardly matter here at all.   Check out my seasonal temperatures.

In the next few weeks or months I will install two Howeas, a Hedyscepe, a Pritchardia,  and an Arenga.  

I'm more concerned with soil temps.

[Johnny Palmseed]

The idea of planting palms seems to conjure notions of tropical climates being hot all the time. But some palms don’t require heat so much as simply not being too cold. That’s why you see palms in Britain which nobody would consider tropical. The temperature swings in the Bay Area are low and much different than ours. Hot for that area is often short lived and not enough to significantly warm the ground. I doubt that it makes much difference for planting. If a palm will be happy in that area, it will probably not mind being planted now.

[Fusca]

Agreed.  I planted a Livistona saribus, Ravenea rivularis and Archontophoenix maxima in January - they all are fine and actively growing.  I wanted them to get a good start before the hot dry season upcoming.  All are water lovers and planted in low/wet areas.  

Edited February 2, 2023 by Fusca

[Patrick]

The micro climate that San Francisco, to sum it up in a blue collar phrase is: "Steady Eddy". It's always going to be near the same temperatures in that specific part of California, no matter what time of year. Not too hot, not too cold, pretty darn constant. High of 60, low of 50. Maybe a few degrees warmer in the summer. Wasn't it Mark Twain that said the coldest winter he ever experienced was a summer in San Francisco? Or maybe it was Abe Lincoln. No, Abe famously said "Don't believe anything you read on the internet" Soil temps will be pretty constant out there, too, I would imagine.

 

Now you head 1 hour east, and it's a whole different ballgame. Out there, summer: High of 100, low of 70 or 80. Winter: High of 60, low of 30-40. It's pretty wild all of the different micro climates we have in this one little area. Sunset lists 20! I don't even try some of the stuff that will grow out in S.F.. It gets too hot here; and if the heat doesn't kill it, a winter freeze will!

[Aloha Palms]

This is mine planted a few months ago from a 1 gallon. New spear opening up.

[richnorm]

5 hours ago, DP Blanco-Niño said:

This is mine planted a few months ago from a 1 gallon. New spear opening up.

That  looks like P. acuminta var montana. 

[Aloha Palms]

1 minute ago, richnorm said:

That  looks like P. acuminta var montana. 

That may be it. It might have been mislabeled when purchased.