A lovely native palm that nobody grows here

[peachy]

Imagine an attractive palm from the tropics that can take quite a bit of cold,  down to 0c, very fast growing, very tough, can handle full sun from very age and tolerate a bit of neglect.  I am talking about the gorgeous Carpentaria palm.  With such impressive looks and fast growth, my big question is why aren't they a popular garden palm in cool sub tropical areas.  They are easily propagated but it took me many years to find one.  We have a lot of over looked native palms in Australia. Admittedly some are touchy or very slow growing but these do not go under that category.

What does everyone think about Carpies and why don't they have one ?

Peachy 

[idontknowhatnametuse]

I would have one but it would easily die in my area. I prefer clumping tropical species because of that.

[quaman58]

Lovely palm. But just don’t seem to handle a Mediterranean climate. Lord knows I’ve tried. And I’m not aware of anyone in SoCal growing them..

[happypalms]

Well you got me on that one my dear possum, I don’t have any of them, and if anyone was going to have them you would think I would have them. 
I assumed they don’t like the cold and never really have come across any seeds or plants, iam sure there out there just not in my nursery, but I will say question of the week goes to peachy🌱

Richard 

[happypalms]

1 hour ago, idontknowhatnametuse said:

I would have one but it would easily die in my area. I prefer clumping tropical species because of that.

You’re a game grower, saying to @peachy I prefer clumping palms, you’re in for it now 🤣🤣🤣

[peachy]

2 hours ago, happypalms said:

You’re a game grower, saying to @peachy I prefer clumping palms, you’re in for it now 🤣🤣🤣

Having @idontknowhatnametuse as a handle is going to make it so difficult for people to send flowers to the funeral.  No need to train any poochies either as here is one I prepared earlier.

[happypalms]

55 minutes ago, peachy said:

Having @idontknowhatnametuse as a handle is going to make it so difficult for people to send flowers to the funeral.  No need to train any poochies either as here is one I prepared earlier.

Send in those pooches to get him my dear possum, fancy a clumping palm lover mentioning that in your post he’s a brave man. 🤣🤣🤣

Richard 

[aztropic]

A timely post as I am just about to sow the newest crop in Arizona. Seeds are done soaking and will be planted today. Let's see what happens...

This has actually been a great choice of species for the Arizona desert if you are looking for a fast growing, crown shafted palm. Once a trunk has established, they literally gain 3 feet in height every year! My only complaint is that the crowns seem a little sparce growing without the humidity of the tropics. Notice the spacing between growth rings on this 5 year old example in my garden.

 

aztropic 

Mesa, Arizona 

[aztropic]

Here are 2 between my royals that eventually succumbed to excessive heat of 3 days in a row of 119-121F. The heat didn't hurt the existing fronds or trunks, but did kill the buds in both carpies. Old fronds dropped one by one as usual over the next several months, but no replacement fronds ever developed after that extreme heat episode. 🤷‍♂️

 

aztropic 

Mesa, Arizona 

[Brad52]

Apparently, I have two of them, each was obtained from different vendors as Veitchia species but ID’d here from pics as Carpentaria.

[Than]

22 hours ago, aztropic said:

A timely post as I am just about to sow the newest crop in Arizona. Seeds are done soaking and will be planted today. Let's see what happens...

This has actually been a great choice of species for the Arizona desert if you are looking for a fast growing, crown shafted palm. Once a trunk has established, they literally gain 3 feet in height every year! My only complaint is that the crowns seem a little sparce growing without the humidity of the tropics. Notice the spacing between growth rings on this 5 year old example in my garden.

 

aztropic 

Mesa, Arizona 

Do they see frost? 

[Than]

Stunners indeed, with the added advantage of being self-cleaning! I wish they could take a couple of degrees below 0, then I'd def go for 'em...

[aztropic]

32 minutes ago, Than said:

Stunners indeed, with the added advantage of being self-cleaning! I wish they could take a couple of degrees below 0, then I'd def go for 'em...

They actually will take a couple degrees below freezing without any damage. Probably about 2 degrees less hardy than a Cuban royal. If you can grow royals, then you can grow these. They are very similar overall to foxtail palms.

 

aztropic 

Mesa, Arizona 

[mnorell]

22 hours ago, aztropic said:

Here are 2 between my royals that eventually succumbed to excessive heat of 3 days in a row of 119-121F. The heat didn't hurt the existing fronds or trunks, but did kill the buds in both carpies. Old fronds dropped one by one as usual over the next several months, but no replacement fronds ever developed after that extreme heat episode. 🤷‍♂️

 

aztropic 

Mesa, Arizona 

Scott, did the mortally wounded specimens see the western sun? And did any others that may have been protected survive? If that's the case I guess they would need to be on the east side of some very tall trees, or planted in groupings of staggered multiple ages/heights so the tall specimens that die are replaced by the smaller ones (even if also perhaps destined to perish). I have a few of these here in my garden in the Palm Springs area, under a large Hibiscus tiliaceus, and none were fazed by 124F as young specimens planted in the shade/protection of that tree. When I lived in Mississippi, I used a staggered-height strategy with Livistona chinensis...if a really hard freeze killed the larger ones, most of the small ones with buried meristems were still there to "take over" for their dead brethren. Made the occasional losses much easier to take!

On another note, I have also found Carpentaria to be strangely slow as seedlings, similar to the "Syagrus effect"...not sure if that is just a problem in my garden for some reason, as mine are planted amidst a lot of root-competition...though I also have one in a container that has also been quite slow as a seedling, so perhaps it is just a general trait of the species? I only have one that is finally large enough--just shy of trunking--that it seems to be speeding up a bit. Otherwise, they seem to really be heat-lovers and always look good for me, even if they haven't been dosed with very much sun as yet, and they have taken low 30s here on multiple nights without a bit of apparent unhappiness (and I assume only their heat requirements cause their oft-noted failure in cool coastal areas of California).

[Than]

25 minutes ago, aztropic said:

They actually will take a couple degrees below freezing without any damage. Probably about 2 degrees less hardy than a Cuban royal. If you can grow royals, then you can grow these. They are very similar overall to foxtail palms.

 

aztropic 

Mesa, Arizona 

Foxtails are impossible where I live and royals are very marginal. 

[Fusca]

52 minutes ago, Than said:

Foxtails are impossible where I live and royals are very marginal. 

Yes, unfortunately I believe @aztropic meant that Carpentaria can take a couple of degrees Fahrenheit below freezing rather than Celsius.  I really like them and wish they were planted more here. 

Scott, are they as thirsty as Archontophoenix or do they just like a lot of water and are somewhat drought tolerant like royals?  I've got some seeds started this past week too!

[Fusca]

On 11/29/2025 at 11:42 PM, happypalms said:

You’re a game grower, saying to @peachy I prefer clumping palms, you’re in for it now 🤣🤣🤣

I don't think that @idontknowhatnametuse prefers the look of clumping palms (maybe he does?) but rather prefers to grow a clumper that is marginal in his climate.  If he gets a bad freeze event that kills the main trunk the palm can continue to live from the suckers growing from the base.

[happypalms]

1 minute ago, Fusca said:

I don't think that @idontknowhatnametuse prefers the look of clumping palms (maybe he does?) but rather prefers to grow a clumper that is marginal in his climate.  If he gets a bad freeze event that kills the main trunk the palm can continue to live from the suckers growing from the base.

Oh I don’t mind clumping palms, and if they live after a bad freeze even better! A bit of humour as peachys loathes clumping palms, but secretly I will find a clumping palm  that will one day appease the gods and @peachy will love that palm like one her pooches. But for the life of me I can’t figure out why my clumping palms a mysteriously dying, I reckon peachys has been around with that roundup in that little spray bottle that she claims to her defence against clumping palms ! 🤣🤣🤣🤣

[idontknowhatnametuse]

33 minutes ago, Fusca said:

I don't think that @idontknowhatnametuse prefers the look of clumping palms (maybe he does?) but rather prefers to grow a clumper that is marginal in his climate.  If he gets a bad freeze event that kills the main trunk the palm can continue to live from the suckers growing from the base.

Both things. They are very good to cover walls and they have more chances to live after a freeze than a solitary species. Most crownshafted, solitary palms are a no go here.

[Kim]

On 11/30/2025 at 12:13 PM, Brad52 said:

Apparently, I have two of them, each was obtained from different vendors as Veitchia species but ID’d here from pics as Carpentaria.

I also have one that was given to me as a Veitchia. Oh well, it's doing all right. The crown is kinda skimpy on mine.

[aztropic]

8 hours ago, mnorell said:

Scott, did the mortally wounded specimens see the western sun?
On another note, I have also found Carpentaria to be strangely slow as seedlings

Trees were several feet above the roofline, so yes, the extremely high ambient temperature, plus the western summer sun blasting against their trunks was just too much for them.

The potted seedlings seem to be on par growth wise with other Veitchia and Dypsis seedlings I have grown. Everything always grows faster in the ground, so I often plant out at 1 gallon size.

 

aztropic 

Mesa, Arizona 

[Brad52]

1 hour ago, Kim said:

I also have one that was given to me as a Veitchia. Oh well, it's doing all right. The crown is kinda skimpy on mine.

It’s a nice palm, but I don’t think I would’ve picked it out I’m a fan of Veitchia or at least palms I’ve obtained as such!

[aztropic]

7 hours ago, Fusca said:

 @aztropic

Scott, are they as thirsty as Archontophoenix or do they just like a lot of water and are somewhat drought tolerant like royals?  I've got some seeds started this past week too!

Everything I have growing gets the same amount of water. 1 deep soak per week over the summer and way less over the cooler months, so yes,I think they are drought tolerant.

 

aztropic 

Mesa, Arizona