A couple of trachycarpus sijitong pics in habitat

[happypalms]

I germinated a few sijitong seeds and had a couple of requests for a few pictures of them, I got onto my supplier and he sent  me these pictures. It’s amazing to see pictures of palms in habitat in China.

[kristof p]

ha ok, they are T. princeps. That explains the look of the seedlings you posted earlier. Beautiful palms

[happypalms]

2 minutes ago, kristof p said:

ha ok, they are T. princeps. That explains the look of the seedlings you posted earlier. Beautiful palms

Either way there will be a demand among collectors. 🌱

[peachy]

Everyone seems to sneer at poor old Trachys but although I live in a very palmy place they are very very hard to find and usually expensive. I have yet to see one (apart from my own) in any garden this side of the city. They are reputed to be difficult in the subtropics however mine is very healthy, fast growing and just flowered for the first time. I feel they can only add interest to any palm collection.

Peachy

 

[tim_brissy_13]

Honestly Richard I was expecting they’d be yet another variety of fortunei. I’d say you’ve probably scored - princeps seed can be pricey and they are just about the most attractive of the genus in my opinion. 

[kristof p]

8 hours ago, happypalms said:

Either way there will be a demand among collectors. 🌱

for sure as princeps is a very beautiful palm and one better suited for your climate in Australia. Nice find and cheap, princeps seeds can be expensive. Luckely the last couple of years we have our own seeds from mature princeps growing in europe. I have a male princeps growing but sadly no female princeps.

[kristof p]

3 hours ago, peachy said:

Everyone seems to sneer at poor old Trachys but although I live in a very palmy place they are very very hard to find and usually expensive. I have yet to see one (apart from my own) in any garden this side of the city. They are reputed to be difficult in the subtropics however mine is very healthy, fast growing and just flowered for the first time. I feel they can only add interest to any palm collection.

Peachy

 

I love Trachycarpus, even the "normal" fortunei. As I live in Belguim in a maritime cold temperate climate (Z8b/9a, mostly 9a) it is the most adapted palm genus to my climate. They grow like weeds here. I have T. oreophilus,T. ukhrulensis, T. wagnerianus, T. nanus, T.fortunei, T. princeps, T. nainital and a bunch of hybrids growing in the garden. I have a few martianus and latisectus also but those are marginal in my climate but should be fine most winters as there cold hardiness is not much different then T. oreophilus which is growing fine here and only gets some minor damage in the colder winters when temps go down to about -7°C/-8°C. I will plant them out this spring. Most of my palms are almost 20 years old.

I also have some seeds in the propagator of the new species T. sp himgarda, this one is only recently discovered in the far eastern reaches of the himalaya. It is a very unique looking trachycarpus. It looks like a princeps crossed with wagnerianus and nanus. a very beautiul little Trachycarpus. They also discovered a population of T. nanus that grows a stem. I also have seeds of this one, this could also be a new species or  just a variant of nanus. this is also a very recent discovery and research has to be done on those populations.

[NC_Palms]

Very nice. I feel like trachycarpus is one of those palms you don’t see many photos of in habitat, so I enjoyed 

[kristof p]

12 minutes ago, NC_Palms said:

Very nice. I feel like trachycarpus is one of those palms you don’t see many photos of in habitat, so I enjoyed 

some time ago I went searching on google maps for T. fortunei growing in China.  I posted a few I found growing in what looks like there natural habitat on the eps forum.   https://www.palmsociety.org.uk/post/1/15082

[peachy]

12 hours ago, kristof p said:

I love Trachycarpus, even the "normal" fortunei. As I live in Belguim in a maritime cold temperate climate (Z8b/9a, mostly 9a) it is the most adapted palm genus to my climate. They grow like weeds here. I have T. oreophilus,T. ukhrulensis, T. wagnerianus, T. nanus, T.fortunei, T. princeps, T. nainital and a bunch of hybrids growing in the garden. I have a few martianus and latisectus also but those are marginal in my climate but should be fine most winters as there cold hardiness is not much different then T. oreophilus which is growing fine here and only gets some minor damage in the colder winters when temps go down to about -7°C/-8°C. I will plant them out this spring. Most of my palms are almost 20 years old.

I also have some seeds in the propagator of the new species T. sp himgarda, this one is only recently discovered in the far eastern reaches of the himalaya. It is a very unique looking trachycarpus. It looks like a princeps crossed with wagnerianus and nanus. a very beautiul little Trachycarpus. They also discovered a population of T. nanus that grows a stem. I also have seeds of this one, this could also be a new species or  just a variant of nanus. this is also a very recent discovery and research has to be done on those populations.

They will be fascinating to see when they all grow up a bit.  When one only see photos of the rare and wondrous equatorial species it is so pleasant to see other palms growing in cooler places where the majority of the western world inhabit.

Peachy

[happypalms]

On 2/7/2025 at 9:23 PM, peachy said:

Everyone seems to sneer at poor old Trachys but although I live in a very palmy place they are very very hard to find and usually expensive. I have yet to see one (apart from my own) in any garden this side of the city. They are reputed to be difficult in the subtropics however mine is very healthy, fast growing and just flowered for the first time. I feel they can only add interest to any palm collection.

Peachy

 

One of the easiest to grow in the subtrclimate my ones never looked back after planting. Easy predictable growth so easy to work with in the garden. They where popular years ago in my area I think because they take frost and it was one of the first frost hardy species that where available back then. But yes not as common anymore they just want golden canes, Alexander’s and  Bismarck nowadays thanks to Bunnings oh and kentias. They have a certain beautiful look. 
Richard