Are there any palms available that are tolerant of full sun have planteda few over the years but seem to suffer when melbourne summer comes around may be planting wrong? Any help would be great .
Thanks Dean
Browse Forums Landscape & Garden Design Re: palms 9Feb 15, 2011 1:37 am ^ Never seen a Bismark palm down this way Fu, there's plenty of them around Cairns so I doubt they would be suitable here. Great post Kerry. I have a palm garden Kassan, and the most successful variety is definitely the Cocos. They grow very well around here in all conditions. I also have a few Bangalows (not Bungalows!!! ) which have been more sensitive to frost rather than hot sun, but both will damage them. I researched and learned that Bangalows can tolerate temperatures down to -5, yet I've found that even a normal frost of -1 or -2 will hurt them. Much to Fu's annoyance my garden is purely palms or palm-like plants, because it rests on an easement which prevents me from growing anything with an agressive root system. For variety I have also planted Dwarf Dates, Cycads, Ponytails, Yuccas which I will continually coppice when they get a bit bigger, some grasses, a few Birds Of Paradise, and more recently some Majestic Palms which have a reputation for getting a bit big, but I don't think that will happen around here. The reason I've planted them more recently is to shelter the smaller stuff from the afternoon sun. They do go a bit pale but Epsom Salts fixes that. The other variety of which I have several of is the Lady Palm, but they definitely need shelter from hot sun, so I have planted them on areas where they get some shade from the bigger palms. To acclimatise new palms that I buy, I re-pot them into a larger pot and keep them in my alfresco area until I'm ready to plant them, in the meantime dragging them around into the sun every now and then, but keeping them sheltered when the weather is too harsh, either hot or cold. Geoff - Decophile. Re: palms 10Feb 15, 2011 9:53 am Bismarckia Nobilis are frost tolerant Eager - you just need to give them the protection they need to establish well and watch them grow...and grow....and grow.... When palms, or all plants really, are noted as being cold hardy or frost tolerant, quite often this is referring only to their growth in cultivation and not the wild. It's often the extreme to which a professional botanist etc has managed to get the plant to survive to, whilst giving them the protection they need to do so. If they get good growth in the growing season and a good level of mulch to protect those root systems, then you *might* be lucky enough to get them to survive to that temperature. Shrugs Good to get some input from someone with experience of growing a variety of palms - the acclimatisation tip is a good one Re: palms 11Feb 15, 2011 10:28 am I looked into palms sersiously and spoke to a few growers including ringing a supplier in Qld, they all pretty much said full sun this far south and the "classic" tropical looking palms like foxtails, alexanders will look poo. And i have looked very hard around melbourne and apart from the canary/date palms and cocos palms they all look utter rubbish in full sun. The cocos drop so much fruit and crap lots of people remove them after getting sick of the maintainence. In fact the cocos look pretty rough also after a normal summer. As Fu said create a micro climate and away you go, the banglows planted together look brilliant and even work in inland Vic where its stinking dry heat. Or go for some of the non classic tropical palms as Kerry has suggested. Here is some info; http://www.pacsoa.org.au/palms/Articles/melbourne.html palms 12Feb 15, 2011 2:29 pm I love palms and tropical gardens it's just that for the most part they are something to approach with caution. I know many ignore my advice and do as they please anyway so I focus on much tougher options that will be relevant to Australians in years ahead. I love how fast many have forgotten about drought A tropical gardens need to be done with great care and attention to soils more than any other. Building micro climates is crucial to them not only growing but that they are as effective as we envisage in our minds. You want them to be easy and without micro climates they struggle for years. Green fresh mulches are essential. Re: palms 13Feb 15, 2011 3:28 pm kassan1973 Are there any palms available that are tolerant of full sun have planteda few over the years but seem to suffer when melbourne summer comes around may be planting wrong? Any help would be great . Thanks Dean Dean, I live in Perth. About 17 years ago I planted Cuban Royal 4m high trunk, Foxtail 5m high trunk, Triangle 1m high trunk, Bismark, Single stem Fish tail that grew to about 8m high (now removed as too close to house) and Golden Canes with 3m long stems. When I planted these I put half a bag of chook poo in the hole first followed by 50mm of soil and the the palm and they all took off. All of the green froned palms do get sun/wind burn even in their mature state from the hot Perth summers, the Bismark with is blue/grey fronds dosen't suffer from this. The previous owner planted Cocos (5 off) and a Washingtonia Cotton Tail. I suffered for years with the huge and constant seed pods being produced by these Cocos palms along with them always being a very messy palm same with the Cotton Tail. About 4 years ago I felled all of the noxious palms. But even today the young Cocos plant wants to start growing from seed previouly dropped by its mum. Re: palms 14Feb 15, 2011 5:07 pm The Cocos, otherwise known as the Queen Palm (Syagrus romanzoffiana), is a listed weed in Australia. It's a particular problem in areas where there are flying foxes, which spread the seeds, even though the spines on the palm can damage their wings - it must taste pretty good! Re: palms 15Feb 15, 2011 7:33 pm I'm going against the grain here. I think Cocos palms are quite attractive, although I have never grown one to the seed stage. If they seed, chop them off, what's the problem? Geoff - Decophile. Re: palms 16Feb 15, 2011 8:02 pm I dare you to do it. Then you'll see. If bloody Cocos pretty much killed the palm trend in landscaping. Just like ignorant and poorly trained lawn mowing contractors are killing the domestic turf image now. Re: palms 18Feb 15, 2011 8:14 pm It varies. Summer flower. Takes anywhere between 5 and 15 years for them to mature enough to fruit (flower isn't the problem) Re: palms 20Feb 15, 2011 8:49 pm Once they fruit the fruit drops and ferments on the ground. Dogs love them. They get drunk on them but whole mess smells like vomit. They also attract Rats. The flower pods are pretty lethal looking. |