Rhopalostylis baueri v. cheesemanii vs. R. baueri

[mppalms]

I'm considering some purchases of either R. baueri or R. baueri var. cheesmanii.  They are pretty similar, but which is hardier to cold?  Is there a strong reason to prefer one over the other for some other reason?  Thanks.

Jason

[Darold Petty]

Jason, stick with the basic R. baueri.  The only nikau of mine that died in the 1990 freeze was R. baueri v. cheesemannii.

[Gaston in Argentina]

Jason.

I have the two forms and for me both were the same as cold tolerance.- They are elegant palms and grow fast (by far fastest then R. sapida) if well established, better in partial shade or filtered sun with riche humus soil.-

If well they can grow when is yet cool, they arent tolerant to direct freezes.-

Good luck.

Gaston AR

[mppalms]

Thanks, Gaston and Darold.  I had pretty much ruled out R. baueri because I thought it was too cold sensitive, but I was encouraged to reconsider since they do apparently recover from low 20s with damage.  My threshold survival temp. for any palm that grows over ~20 ft. is around 22 deg. F, since that is the 10-20 year freeze.  While it has gotten colder where I am (19-20 deg. F. all-time low from 1990), I figure the idea is to not have large plants in the landscape that look really bad once every 10 years.  If once every 50 years, everything gets trashed despite my best efforts, so be it.  I have enough other "hardy" stuff to hold the yard together.

FWIW, for me, the 2007 freeze was really not much of a freeze.  Even fully exposed Euterpe edulis seedlings suffered no damage with three nights close to 28 deg. F.   I lost nothing.  The low-lying areas around the bay and SoCal seem to have been hit much harder.   I feel a bout of overconfidence coming on!

Jason

[Bennz]

Some NZ growers consider cheesemanii hardier, but as not many are grown in true frosty areas it is hard to tell. Possibly there is a cool tolerance difference. Also no one here seems able to agree about any real differences in cultivated plants, which could be either variant, if the seperation is even valid.

If habitat is relevant, cheesemanii should be hardier to cool conditions, as it occurs mainly at higher elevation 400-600masl with lower numbers at the coast, while baueri grows on an island that has 300+/-m as the highest point. Otherwise the climates of Norfolk and Raoul Islands are similar. 600m asl on Raoul should have a climate slightly cooler than Auckalnd, and indeed they grow very well on mainland NZ.