Leu Gardens - Some Z9 palms for the gulf coast

[thyerr01]

I was in central Florida for a couple of days and stopped by Leu Gardens in Orlando.  The palm and cycad collection is excellent and it was well worth the visit. I thought the labeling throughout was among the best I have seen in botanic gardens. 

I was less interested in the really exotic stuff (of which there is plenty) and more focused on seeing some of the palms I'd love to try in Z9b Texas if I could ever find them available. They are all clustering species from East Asia that have a chance to recover from our infrequent but severe freezes.

Chuniophoenix nana


Lanonia dasyantha


Licuala fordiana


Rhapis humilis - I was hoping to see clearer differences between this and R. multifida. 


Rhapis multifida


Rhapis subtilis


I also saw but did not get photos of Chuniophoenix hainanensis (the only one I saw was very small), Arenga engleri (they apparently have some different forms labeled, but I couldn't find them), and Wallichia oblongifolia (can't remember if it was labeled W. densiflora).

I was also interested in seeing their Heliconias, but these were disappointing compared with the palms. Very few were in flower, I think because most were in deep shade. 

Heliconia champneiana 'Maya Gold'


Heliconia lingulata? I could not see a label and have only seen forms with yellow or yellow with red tipped flowers before. I'm not sure if they fade through orange as the flowers age. These looked great.


Heliconia stricta 'Jamaican Dwarf'. I'm curious how large it needs to be to flower. I doubt much larger given the number of leaves.

[Jdash]

thanks for sharing, great selection of palms and cycads there. every time I learn more about a genus, i always find myself walking through leu to find specific species that my eyes have caught before and not paid much attention to, bc there's just a lot planted out there. 

Also there are a few Chuniophoenix hainanensis out there, I'll see if i can post a picture of one of the larger specimens. 

Do you have a lot of shaded coverage in Texas for those species?

[thyerr01]

@Jdash I have a garden bed with a good amount of shade set aside for these (and a few other) species if I can find them. It's always a trade-off with shade here because some direct sun to warm things up as quickly as possible after freezes is important. Heliconias need full sun here, even at the cost of crisping some leaves during the height of summer, to push enough growth to get flowers.

Would love to see some more photos of the Chuniophoenix, or if you have any showing the different Arenga engleri forms.

I'll have to try and make it back for their spring plant sale one year.

[Jdash]

C. Hainanensis

[PalmBossTampa]

On 9/28/2025 at 5:46 PM, thyerr01 said:

I was in central Florida for a couple of days and stopped by Leu Gardens in Orlando.  The palm and cycad collection is excellent and it was well worth the visit. I thought the labeling throughout was among the best I have seen in botanic gardens. 

I was less interested in the really exotic stuff (of which there is plenty) and more focused on seeing some of the palms I'd love to try in Z9b Texas if I could ever find them available. They are all clustering species from East Asia that have a chance to recover from our infrequent but severe freezes.

Chuniophoenix nana


Lanonia dasyantha


Licuala fordiana


Rhapis humilis - I was hoping to see clearer differences between this and R. multifida. 


Rhapis multifida


Rhapis subtilis


I also saw but did not get photos of Chuniophoenix hainanensis (the only one I saw was very small), Arenga engleri (they apparently have some different forms labeled, but I couldn't find them), and Wallichia oblongifolia (can't remember if it was labeled W. densiflora).

I was also interested in seeing their Heliconias, but these were disappointing compared with the palms. Very few were in flower, I think because most were in deep shade. 

Heliconia champneiana 'Maya Gold'


Heliconia lingulata? I could not see a label and have only seen forms with yellow or yellow with red tipped flowers before. I'm not sure if they fade through orange as the flowers age. These looked great.


Heliconia stricta 'Jamaican Dwarf'. I'm curious how large it needs to be to flower. I doubt much larger given the number of leaves.

Great garden right ! I went for the first time in April 2025 and been back 3 times. Every time I notice more plants 

the Arenga you see might be ryukuiensis (check spelling) but from small island in Japan.

i found a short video of a taller Chuniophoenix hainanensis from April 25

im really similar climate and tree canopy so i see what’s more than 6-7 years old there as a good confidence point for me