Now in their third summer from 4” containers, the Burretiokentia kogiensis, and B. dumasii, and second summer B. vieillardii have proven to be winners in my Northern CA garden. Partial shade and lots of water seem to be the trick not to mention good soil. I had imagined much slower growth with these but they’ve sailed along. Not pictured are my two B. hapala. Would love to see examples in other members gardens!

Burretiokentia vieillardii

B. kogiensis

B. dumasii

They look great Jim! I’m learning that these don’t have high heat requirements. I killed a B vieillardii decades ago before I really knew what I was doing and just assumed at the time that they weren’t suitable for my climate. More recently I’ve grown B hapala and B koghiensis without issue so probably should give B vieillardii another go. I haven’t yet got my hands on B dumasii or B grandiflora.

B hapala (I need to take an updated photo, this is a bit old)

1 hour ago, tim_brissy_13 said:

They look great Jim! I’m learning that these don’t have high heat requirements. I killed a B vieillardii decades ago before I really knew what I was doing and just assumed at the time that they weren’t suitable for my climate. More recently I’ve grown B hapala and B koghiensis without issue so probably should give B vieillardii another go. I haven’t yet got my hands on B dumasii or B grandiflora.

B hapala (I need to take an updated photo, this is a bit old)

Looks great, Tim.

Very very nice Jim! Such a beautiful genus. Kogihensis & dumasii were always indistinguishable to me, with the exception of me killing every labeled one of former and having no trouble with the latter. If I had space I’d try veilardii again; always loved the crown on that one. They tick right along in a temperate garden; no surprise they look great in yours, given your touch.

That’s the go Jim, zone push away.

I have discovered so many palms from zone pushing.

You gotta try and go against what you’re told won’t grow, yes some obvious things wont grow, but you never know until you try!

2 hours ago, happypalms said:

That’s the go Jim, zone push away.

I have discovered so many palms from zone pushing.

You gotta try and go against what you’re told won’t grow, yes some obvious things wont grow, but you never know until you try!

It’s not to difficult in my zone 10a area, Richard. The real tropical stuff refuses to grow here of course though. Winters have been 10b for over ten years but they are cool nonetheless. Burretiokentia seem to like the cool wet season as much as the warm summertime.

2 hours ago, happypalms said:

That’s the go Jim, zone push away.

I have discovered so many palms from zone pushing.

You gotta try and go against what you’re told won’t grow, yes some obvious things wont grow, but you never know until you try!

24 minutes ago, Jim in Los Altos said:

It’s not to difficult in my zone 10a area, Richard. The real tropical stuff refuses to grow here of course though. Winters have been 10b for over ten years but they are cool nonetheless. Burretiokentia seem to like the cool wet season as much as the warm summertime.

You’re climate sounds somewhat a little like my climate, Iam definitely subtropical but live in a sweet spot for a lot of varieties of palms, like you said the super tropicals we can rule out, but among that tropical stuff there is a lot of stuff you can grow. Availability is the thing stopping a lot more stuff being discovered!

1 hour ago, Jim in Los Altos said:

It’s not to difficult in my zone 10a area, Richard. The real tropical stuff refuses to grow here of course though. Winters have been 10b for over ten years but they are cool nonetheless. Burretiokentia seem to like the cool wet season as much as the warm summertime.

Same here! When we moved up the hill from our old house , things changed . Micro climates are real and once we got an established garden , I was surprised at what I could grow . I have noticed the warming trend over the 30 years we’ve been here . Of course a freak cold snap can happen but we just don’t see below mid 40’s any more . The weather app will show 42 but our real time temp is 46+ . We are higher up , south facing , warming us in the morning hours.

Lovely palms , those . I’ve never tried them . My main thing , now , is room. Harry

I'm growing B. vieillardii and B. hapala which both do great in our cool climate. They're much happier since they got some canopy from a nearby Telanthophora grandifolia and are now outpacing my Chambeyronias which are constantly suffering from sunburn. Hard to get a good pic but here's my B. vieillardii.

Side note, T. grandifolia is a nice fast-growing canopy option, mine's almost 20 feet tall from a seedling in a bit over 2 years.

On 6/29/2026 at 1:41 PM, Jim in Los Altos said:

Looks great, Tim.

Update of my B hapala after another year or 2 of growth since the last photo. Really bulking up before producing clean trunk.

What’s more noticeable to me now looking at this is how quickly my nearby Cyphophoenix elegans is growing (white trunk and crownshaft to the right).

Jim, having seen your place I am baffled where you find room for all these palms, it was full 11 years ago when I last visited.

All of the New Caledonia palms are weeds in my cool montane heat deprived climate, 4" in the ground turns into a trunking palm in three years, it's always 70's during the day and 60's at night with some Winter days that don't make it past 64F. But our dew points are much higher than yours, and Winters are 12a so we don't get those cold 40's nights you get, plus more rain than we really want or need. But in general these palms don't seem to need a lot of tropical heat to grow. Happy to send you some of our rain, we're at 160 inches already for the year, El Nino is making for a much wetter than normal first half of the year.

13 hours ago, Mauna Kea Cloudforest said:

Jim, having seen your place I am baffled where you find room for all these palms, it was full 11 years ago when I last visited.

All of the New Caledonia palms are weeds in my cool montane heat deprived climate, 4" in the ground turns into a trunking palm in three years, it's always 70's during the day and 60's at night with some Winter days that don't make it past 64F. But our dew points are much higher than yours, and Winters are 12a so we don't get those cold 40's nights you get, plus more rain than we really want or need. But in general these palms don't seem to need a lot of tropical heat to grow. Happy to send you some of our rain, we're at 160 inches already for the year, El Nino is making for a much wetter than normal first half of the year.

Axel, Filling in the pool/ koi pond, as seen in these pictures, opened up an area for several more palm species. Archontophoenix, Burretiokentia, Bassalinia, Chambeyronia, Pritchardia, Bentickia, Howea, Syagrus, Rhopalostylis, Geonoma, Dypsis, Chamaedorea, Cyphophoenix, and Pinanga are some of the genus growing in that former pool area. The new area for planting was created three years ago.

On 7/1/2026 at 11:22 PM, tim_brissy_13 said:

Update of my B hapala after another year or 2 of growth since the last photo. Really bulking up before producing clean trunk.

What’s more noticeable to me now looking at this is how quickly my nearby Cyphophoenix elegans is growing (white trunk and crownshaft to the right).

My Cyphophoenix Nucele has been slow to start but plugging along , as they say. I have a similar climate to Jim and I anticipate a nice growth rate once the C. Nucele and Chambeyronia Pyroformis get established . The New Caledonia palms give a tropical feel to a temperate garden. Harry

20 hours ago, Jim in Los Altos said:

Axel, Filling in the pool/ koi pond, as seen in these pictures, opened up an area for several more palm species. Archontophoenix, Burretiokentia, Bassalinia, Chambeyronia, Pritchardia, Bentickia, Howea, Syagrus, Rhopalostylis, Geonoma, Dypsis, Chamaedorea, Cyphophoenix, and Pinanga are some of the genus growing in that former pool area. The new area for planting was created three years ago.

Beautiful Jim!

Tim