What 3 palm trees would you grow, if climate wasn't a problem?

[Slifer00]

My three picks:

1. Cyrtostachys renda 2. Bismarckia Nobilis 3. Kerriodoxa elegans

Honourable mentions:  Cocos nucifera, Hyophorbe lagenicaulis, Roystonea regia

[Marius]

 

Mauritia flexuosa

Pigafetta filaris

Lodoicea maldivica 

[Palmarum]

Hmm... more than three come to mind but the first batch that popped in there were:

1. Chamaedorea tuerckheimii (Highland Form)

2. Dypsis marojejyi

3. Ceroxylon sp. (any species)

 

Ryan

[happypalms]

Geonoma atrovirens by the thousands.
Marojejya darinii by the thousands.  
Johannesteijsmannia Altifrons by the thousands.
In no particular order either, so basically any of those by the thousands! 

[ZPalms]

Pigafetta elata

Nypa fruticans

Ravenea rivularis

I'm gonna say honourable mentions as well 😂 Cocos nucifera, Roystonea Regia, Trachycarpus latisectus and Hedyscepe Canterburyana

[MC Silver]

Right now I only have 1. Pritchardia Pacifica. So beautiful but from what I understand, it browns up under 50 degrees. I guess I gotta wait for global warming to do its thing. 🤷‍♂️😞

[iDesign]

I rank my "most wished for" plants by how many times I've stubbornly tried to grow them—despite knowing they’re almost guaranteed to fail. Here are my top three:

1) Verschaffeltia splendida
My "white whale". I met a giant one in person at Rancho Soledad (brought in from Hawaii) and it has haunted me ever since. And once I learned they can survive indoors with perfect humidity and conditions, I became determined to grow one. I’ve tried everything—1-gallon plants, seedlings, even seeds. Each has died, but with every failure, I learn something new. I've sworn them off for a while, but after a short break, I'm sure I will kill again. ☠️

---

2) Areca Vestaria
One of my indoor 1G ones were looking glorious for over a year... and I've heard they can survive in CA in a PERFECT outdoor spot. So I'll likely try again. But no luck as of yet. 🤞

---

3) Chrysalidocarpus leucomallus (Dypsis)
One of the few Chrysalidocarpus I have NOT success with. I love the white trunk, but they are slow growers so wouldn't grow to maturity in my lifetime anyway... so I won't be trying this one again. 🌱

[sgvcns]

Pinanga chaina, Pinanga jambusana and Licuala "mapu".

Pinanga mirabilis would be there but when left Brisbane a few weeks ago I had a seedling growing. Who knows now but I've got 50+ seeds this trip to keep trying. 

Steve

[JohnAndSancho]

Hmmm.... Rhophies, a Bismarckis, and Royals. It'd be nice if they could all magically appear as mature plants, too. Nice and big and cat proof. 

[tim_brissy_13]

Hard to narrow down to 3, but a few of my favourites that I don’t have a hope of growing:

Iriartea deltoidea

Geonoma epetiolata 

Adonidia zibabaoa

[Harry’s Palms]

Only three , really? OK hmm . Cyrostachis Renda , Licuala Grandis , a nice big “Joey” ( love the palm but can never remember the actual spelling ) Harry 

side note : @iDesign I have been to Rancho Soledad and saw the Vershafeltia about 25 years ago . It was my first introduction to this palm. Recently , in the glass house at The Huntington , a stunning example! Harry

‘Sorry , no decent photo of the rest of the palm . It can be seen by rubber necking but I’m not a good photographer and my iPhone X wouldn’t capture it! It appears there were two but one had died and the base of that one is all that remained.

   I really encourage folks to see that glass house and palm garden as well as all the other gardens . It is really an all day excursion , worth the effort. Harry

My new Joey, even comes with a name tag!  😂
 

[gyuseppe]

juania australis by the thousands

[Phoenikakias]

18 hours ago, Marius said:

 

Mauritia flexuosa

Pigafetta filaris

Lodoicea maldivica 

Like Marius, alternatively Areca vestiaria, Cyrtostachys renda and Latania lontaroides for color.

[iDesign]

1 hour ago, Harry’s Palms said:

Recently , in the glass house at The Huntington , a stunning example!

Absolutely! I’ve been in the glass house and it’s paradise. It’s been a few years though… need to go back. 😊

Was the Joey photo you included from there as well? I have a Joey doing well here in Carlsbad. Much smaller than the one in your photo, but I’m still quite pleased with it. Photo taken just now…



Not as much success with my Verschaffeltia attempts. Yet I love it enough I’ll undoubtedly try again after tweaking my indoor setup...

[Slifer00]

2 hours ago, gyuseppe said:

juania australis by the thousands

If you locate any source for seeds, do let me know

[Slifer00]

16 hours ago, ZPalms said:

Pigafetta elata

Nypa fruticans

Ravenea rivularis

I'm gonna say honourable mentions as well 😂 Cocos nucifera, Roystonea Regia, Trachycarpus latisectus and Hedyscepe Canterburyana

+1 for the pigafetta, I found them impossible to grow

[Brad52]

2 hours ago, iDesign said:

Absolutely! I’ve been in the glass house and it’s paradise. It’s been a few years though… need to go back. 😊

Was the Joey photo you included from there as well? I have a Joey doing well here in Carlsbad. Much smaller than the one in your photo, but I’m still quite pleased with it. Photo taken just now…



Not as much success with my Verschaffeltia attempts. Yet I love it enough I’ll undoubtedly try again after tweaking my indoor setup...

Mine have proven fussy, 3 died, one dying, two doing OK.

[gyuseppe]

22 minutes ago, Slifer00 said:

If you locate any source for seeds, do let me know

ok,If I find them I'll let you know, but it's very difficult to find them

[JD in the OC]

Fun topic!

1) Areca macrocalyx var Mariae

2) Chrysalidocarpus baronii Black Stem 

3) Pinanga aristata

[idontknowhatnametuse]

1. Bactris militaris

2. Bactris brongiartii

3. Bactris riparia

[Xenon]

Oncosperma tigillarium
Tahina spectabilis
Johannesteijsmannia altifrons

 

[Harry’s Palms]

@iDesign YES!! I wanted to stay there with it 😄. Definitely go back. It had been 30 years since I had been there and I was awe struck . The Joey was overhead and I am 6’ tall. Harry

[meridannight]

For me, it's not the climate that is an issue, it's the space. I don't have enough, and I don't have a possibility to plant anything in the ground. I have to keep everything in containers for now. It's not the best way to grow palms, but for the time being I have to make the best of it.

So, if space wasn't an issue, and if I could plant palms in ground, these 3 would be the first planted:

1. Chrysalidocarpus prestonianus;
2. Chrysalidocarpus baronii 'Black Petiole';
3. Caryota kiriwongensis.

I have all of these palms in containers, grown from seed, and they're doing well so far. 
 

[iDesign]

3 hours ago, meridannight said:

For me, it's not the climate that is an issue, it's the space. I don't have enough, and I don't have a possibility to plant anything in the ground. I have to keep everything in containers for now. It's not the best way to grow palms, but for the time being I have to make the best of it.

So, if space wasn't an issue, and if I could plant palms in ground, these 3 would be the first planted:

1. Chrysalidocarpus prestonianus;
2. Chrysalidocarpus baronii 'Black Petiole';
3. Caryota kiriwongensis.

I have all of these palms in containers, grown from seed, and they're doing well so far. 
 

Ah, I'll bet you could cram a "Black Petiole" in there somewhere.  🌴 🌱 🌴

The other two... not so much.  

[JohnAndSancho]

I could easily do a top 25 list here. Maybe even top 50. 😬

[sonoranfans]

To be limited to 3 species would be a tragedy for a dream garden.

1) a stand of copernicia fallaensis

2) satakentia luikensis

3) pinanga speciosa

4) copernicia hospita  ( I cheated and added a 4th)

[Xenon]

22 hours ago, Xenon said:

Oncosperma tigillarium
Tahina spectabilis
Johannesteijsmannia altifrons

 

(So we're doing 4 now?)😎

+ Lemurophoenix halleuxii 

 

[OutpostPalms]

Royals, Kings, Foxtails, coconuts and others you see in south FL that don’t usually survive on the northern gulf coast. 
 

More exotically yet I’d love to have an oil palm. I’m not really sure the real name for them but I’ve been to west Africa a couple times and seen them in the wild and they grow giant fronds that have to be at least 10 feet long. 

[Fusca]

2 hours ago, OutpostPalms said:

More exotically yet I’d love to have an oil palm. I’m not really sure the real name for them but I’ve been to west Africa a couple times and seen them in the wild and they grow giant fronds that have to be at least 10 feet long. 

Elaeis guineensis 

[Las Palmas Norte]

Palms I can't grow ... I used to think of such things when I was young.

[Brad52]

On 6/28/2025 at 6:38 AM, Brad52 said:

Mine have proven fussy, 3 died, one dying, two doing OK.