Allagopterra arenaria unleashed

[Looking Glass]

I got this little Allagopterra arenaria from Carribean Palms Nursery.  It has been sitting in a pot, baking out back.   It seemed slow, bored and uninspired, so I decided to put it in right up front.   Perhaps it will pick up speed in the ground.   It’s a very sunny spot, that can get inundated during the rainy season.   Had to pull out about 4 giant bromeliads to give it room.   Hopefully it doesn’t get swamped by Oyster Plants and giant orange broms.   Hoping it will fill out the understory spot over time.  
 

October 28th 2021…

March 15th 2023…

 

Hoping to find some very silver Serenoa repans in 3-5g to fill a similar role in dryer spots.   Hard to find small pots of those it seems.  

[PalmatierMeg]

I have several. Really neat palms, tough, too.

[Looking Glass]

Just now, PalmatierMeg said:

I have several. Really neat palms, tough, too.

They look great, once they start to “bush out” a bit.   There are some tall, whoppers out there too, but very old I presume.  How is your growth rate in the ground?   This one seems like a slow poke in a pot.  

[96720]

In Phoenix they are slow but very neat palms I have 4 in the ground and more in pots!

[Hardypalms]

4 hours ago, Looking Glass said:

Hoping to find some very silver Serenoa repans in 3-5g to fill a similar role in dryer spots.   Hard to find small pots of those it seems.  

S. repens is now easily found around Atlanta 7a-8a

I got 4 in ground in 7b and the silver seems hardier than the green, at least in my yard. Cute little palms.

Pat

Edited March 16, 2023 by Hardypalms

[Looking Glass]

17 minutes ago, Hardypalms said:

S. repens is now easily found around Atlanta 7a-8a

I got 4 in ground in 7b and the silver seems hardier than the green, at least in my yard. Cute little palms.

Pat

I’ve always loved the silvery-white form.  Down here you don’t see them planted often, though there are miles of highway stretches with these growing wild and 9 feet tall.   Used to be considered more of a weed, but sentiment is shifting these days.   I think they look great.  They aren’t cheap either.  

Edited March 16, 2023 by Looking Glass

[Merlyn]

Arenaria is definitely my favorite "bushlike" palm.  Full sun is fine here, and temps down to 25F seem to not phase them at all.  In shady spots they are slow, and also very slow from seedlings.  But at that size I'd guess almost doubling in size by next spring.  That's what mine did from the same size as yours, and is now about 5 feet tall ~2 years after planting it.  

[Looking Glass]

54 minutes ago, Merlyn said:

Arenaria is definitely my favorite "bushlike" palm.  Full sun is fine here, and temps down to 25F seem to not phase them at all.  In shady spots they are slow, and also very slow from seedlings.  But at that size I'd guess almost doubling in size by next spring.  That's what mine did from the same size as yours, and is now about 5 feet tall ~2 years after planting it.  

Pics!, Pics!

[Merlyn]

10 hours ago, Looking Glass said:

Pics!, Pics!

Here is my smaller one, theoretically it could be Allagoptera Campestris too.  The leaves are shorter and straighter than "normal," but it's also younger.  I'm guessing it's probably an Arenaria.  In the upper right corner there's an Allagoptera Caudescens seedling, 75% burned in the upper 20s.  Unfortunately that one is, at best, an under-canopy palm here.  These defoliate every winter and are very slow, so if my last couple die I won't try another.  Arenaria, on the other hand, laughed at 24.4F with frost.  This is about 4 feet wide and 2 feet tall:

This is my biggest one, the tip of the tallest leaf is about 6 feet tall and it's at least 7-8 feet diameter. 

[redant]

I have one, great unusual palm. mine has been super duper slow, partly because of it's location.  Yours should do well there.

[ruskinPalms]

I love these but not sure where I’d plant one. The fact that they are so cold hardy is a plus. 

Edited March 16, 2023 by ruskinPalms

[Merlyn]

@ruskinPalmsplant one as a replacement for a medium-sized shrubbery.  Eventually (after a decade or so) they turn into a short, wide tree.

[PalmatierMeg]

On 3/15/2023 at 5:27 PM, Looking Glass said:

They look great, once they start to “bush out” a bit.   There are some tall, whoppers out there too, but very old I presume.  How is your growth rate in the ground?   This one seems like a slow poke in a pot.  

They are slow in the ground, too. I took photos of my oldest planted 11-12 years ago. I also took photos of what I bought as Allagoptera brevicaulis. It looks very similar, perhaps a bit lighter green and less silvery on the reverse side of the leaflets. The infructescence is slightly smaller.

Allagoptera arenaria, Cape Coral, FL 2023

Allagoptera brevicaulis, Cape Coral, FL 2023

 

[PalmatierMeg]

I should have added that those Allagoptera and everything around them look more than a bit weatherbeaten because they are. Six months after a major hurricane.

[Looking Glass]

16 minutes ago, PalmatierMeg said:

I should have added that those Allagoptera and everything around them look more than a bit weatherbeaten because they are. Six months after a major hurricane.

I was gonna say, “Looks like they held up well against hit from a major hurricane”.   It looks like you’ve got the sun and the space for a big Copernicia species in there somewhere now!  

[PalmatierMeg]

59 minutes ago, Looking Glass said:

I was gonna say, “Looks like they held up well against hit from a major hurricane”.   It looks like you’ve got the sun and the space for a big Copernicia species in there somewhere now!  

Well, I do now. I have a good-sized baileyana, small gigas and a very small rigida. Too bad they are so slow growing

[Looking Glass]

42 minutes ago, PalmatierMeg said:

Well, I do now. I have a good-sized baileyana, small gigas and a very small rigida. Too bad they are so slow growing

Maybe they’ll surprise you, with some TLC and full sun.   All great choices!  I’d love to find a rigida!  That one, and Hospita, are my faves in that group, but they all look magnificent as they grow up.   I wish I would have focused more on Carribean stuff when we first got the house.   They are slow, but handle the extremes of Florida well.   

Your experiences with various palms vs. hurricane conditions is really useful information for those of us down here.   Thanks of all of your various posts.   Can’t wait to see what you come up with next.  

Having a garden or landscaping hobby is like creating a living painting.   It’s constantly changing, needing editing, reshaping and the occasional overhaul.  It’s never ending I guess.  

[PalmatierMeg]

I lost a C prunifera to Ian. A C alba survived and I hope it will grow better now most offending shade has been removed. In the back yard I had a Livistona drudei that struggled for years under unwanted canopy. It’s going gangbusters now the shade is gone.

[Looking Glass]

You guys were right.  Allagopterra Arenaria is super slow, even in the ground.  I put a second 3g in a while back, along side the 1st.   They are so slow, I forget they are even there.  But the other day I walked by and noticed both are starting to flower.   Super slow and flowers early…  Weird combination.   

#1 couple years in the pot first…

 

#2 right from pot to ground this year…

Still, over time I hope these create a bushy mound in this middle of this center island. 

[Dartolution]

On 3/15/2023 at 4:06 PM, Looking Glass said:

Hoping to find some very silver Serenoa repans in 3-5g to fill a similar role in dryer spots.   Hard to find small pots of those it seems.  

@Looking Glass I was just in PCB and Beach Nursery had tons of silver serenoa's for $30. I picked one up myself that was extra blue. I know thats quite a ways from you though. 

[Looking Glass]

Anyone know if these seeds look OK?   Basically, the corn fell off the cob and produced these fruits that smell strongly like a tropical vacation cocktail.  Are they good?  Or just a trial run?    Should I clean them up and break out the solo cups?  

 

Edited March 23, 2024 by Looking Glass

[96720]

They look good to me I have never had any look that ripe as the animals around always eat them give it a try!! By the way I have heard they taste good!!

[aztropic]

Should be a few good ones in there.

 

aztropic

Mesa,Arizona

[kinzyjr]

7 hours ago, Looking Glass said:

Anyone know if these seeds look OK?   Basically, the corn fell off the cob and produced these fruits that smell strongly like a tropical vacation cocktail.  Are they good?  Or just a trial run?    Should I clean them up and break out the solo cups?  

Give them a try.  A few of them look big enough to sprout.

[happypalms]

7 hours ago, Looking Glass said:

Anyone know if these seeds look OK?   Basically, the corn fell off the cob and produced these fruits that smell strongly like a tropical vacation cocktail.  Are they good?  Or just a trial run?    Should I clean them up and break out the solo cups?  

 

The big ones should have viable seeds I recently harvested some seeds and also purchased 100 from RPS with good germination rate using the baggie method spagnum bottom heating 30 degrees Celsius using two plastic bags for extra heat I have used this method before with success 

[Looking Glass]

5 hours ago, kinzyjr said:

Give them a try.  A few of them look big enough to sprout.

I didn’t pick up every one but maybe only 5-6 are really large.  Perhaps I’ll give these a go.  

 

11 hours ago, 96720 said:

They look good to me I have never had any look that ripe as the animals around always eat them give it a try!! By the way I have heard they taste good!!

You can smell them 10-15 feet away at night.  They smell like they would make a decent smoothie, but I’m not one to randomly eat berries I know nothing about.  Possums, squirrels, rats and raccoons travel through the yard every day and no one thrashed the fruit stalks yet.   

[Looking Glass]

5 hours ago, happypalms said:

The big ones should have viable seeds I recently harvested some seeds and also purchased 100 from RPS with good germination rate using the baggie method spagnum bottom heating 30 degrees Celsius using two plastic bags for extra heat I have used this method before with success 

I’m definitely an amateur, lazy germinator.  I got some silver serenoa repens and coontie seeds 2 years ago….  I put them in solo cups with the bottom half filled with dirt and the top half filled with sand, and stuck the cups in the sun.   I moved them all around the yard over seasons and babied them with frequent water and gentle fertilizer…. I now have a bunch of 6 inch high sprouts…. Jesus..  the labor involved in attaining sprouts.  You people are nuts!  You seed sprouters are a patient bunch.  
 

 

[happypalms]

12 minutes ago, Looking Glass said:

I’m definitely an amateur, lazy germinator.  I got some silver serenoa repens and coontie seeds 2 years ago….  I put them in solo cups with the bottom half filled with dirt and the top half filled with sand, and stuck the cups in the sun.   I moved them all around the yard over seasons and babied them with frequent water and gentle fertilizer…. I now have a bunch of 6 inch high sprouts…. Jesus..  the labor involved in attaining sprouts.  You people are nuts!  You seed sprouters are a patient bunch.  
 

 

That’s why you do them by the hundreds and lots of different varieties of seeds always germinating something a mini sea of green besides that patience is a virtue try the baggie method with bottom heating for you’re allagoptrea seeds and good luck