Randy4ut

Just thought I would post a couple of pics taken when I got home and my youngest daughter, just had to get out and have a snowball fight. Thought I would take them before it turns to rain in a little while. It is currently 33F.


Basjoo, Butia, Chamaerops:

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Taylor

I like the stiff leaves on that palm. How old is it?

Randy4ut

Taylor,
The Trachycarpus fortunei was planted in May of '05 from a 15 gallon container. I would guess it is at least 8-10 years old from seed... Just my simple minded estimate... I like it alot better than the other one I planted at the same time from the same size and source. It leaves are alot stiffer than the other one which is only about 6' away from it and somewhat taller and leaner.

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Taylor

Is the less-stiff one the palm I can see barely on the left hand side?

It is a big difference, I prefer the stiff, but who am I to talk.

Hoping for a weird hybrid palm that grows fast,
lol
Taylor

the flying dutchman

The Trachy with the stiff leaves is actually
Trachycarpus Wagnerianus in my opinion.

But I also see Wagnerianus sold as Fortunei, because it sells better.

Ron

dablo93

very nice pics!
how are the stems of the basjoo now?

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STEELVIPER

Nice pics.

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Tangy

Great pictures Randy. I think I will do a little research on Trachycarpus fortunei to see if it might live here.

Randy4ut

Daen,
With the 12-15-18F nights and below freezing for over 36 hours two weeks ago, I think I will not be starting out with as much pstem as I would like. All but a few of the stems have collapsed. I am not worried about them coming back, its just I would have liked to have started with a little more pstem than that. This was the coldest it had been at my place since I started messing with bananas 3 years ago...

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Randy4ut

Michael,
I think you would be fine if you could find a nice little microclimate for it and be ready to protect it for the first couple of years until it gets established. They are hardier than what most folks realize. Some say 0-5F, but I wouldn't want to test it at that temp... Hey, give it a go, you will never know unless you try.... I always kill at least 3 of anything before I finally concede!!!!

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Tangy

I just might give it a try and I like your attitiude about perserving until it grows.

This might be old news to you palm growers/experts but I pass it along anyway.
I was reading about a new and very strange palm tree that was recently discovered.

from cnn- follow link for picture at cnn

Self-destructing palm tree discovered in Madagascar

* Story Highlights
* Palm tree discovered on Madagascar flowers once every 100 years and then dies
* When flowering, a shoot become covered in white flowers that ooze with nectar
* The effort of flowering and fruiting depletes the tree making it die within months
* It is the largest palm species in the country but there appear to be only about 100

ANTANANARIVO, Madagascar (AP) -- A self-destructing palm tree that flowers once every 100 years and then dies has been discovered on the Indian Ocean island of Madagascar, botanists said Thursday.

The name of the giant palm and its remarkable life cycle will be detailed in a study by Kew Gardens scientists in the Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society published Thursday.

"It's spectacular. It does not flower for maybe 100 years and when it's like this it can be mistaken for other types of palm," said Mijoro Rakotoarinivo, who works for the London botanical gardens in Madagascar.

"But then a large shoot, a bit like an asparagus, grows out of the top of the tree and starts to spread. You get something that looks a bit like a Christmas tree growing out of the top of the palm," he said.

The branches of this shoot then become covered in hundreds of tiny white flowers that ooze with nectar, attracting insects and birds.

But the effort of flowering and fruiting depletes the tree so much that within a few months it collapses and dies, said botanist Dr. John Dransfield, author of the study.

Dransfield noted that "even for Madagascar this is a stupendous palm and an astonishing discovery."

The world's fourth largest island, Madagascar is renowned for its unusual flora and fauna, including 12,000 species of plant found nowhere else in the world. Indeed 90 percent of its plant species are endemic.

The palm tree, which grows to 66 feet in height and has about 16-foot leaves, is only found in an extremely remote region in the northwest of the country, some four days by road from the capital. Local villagers have known about it for years although none had seen it in flower until last year.

The bizarre flowering ritual was first spotted by Frenchman Xavier Metz, who runs a cashew plantation nearby. After seeing it he notified Kew Gardens.

Puzzling Dransfield is how botanists had missed such a "whopping palm" until now. According to him it is the largest palm species in the country but there appear to be only about 100 in existence.

He also questions how the palm got to Madagascar. The tree has similarities to Chuniophoeniceae palms, however these are only found in Asia, more than 3,700 miles away.

Dransfield suggests the plant has been quietly living and dramatically dying in Madagascar since the island split with mainland India 80 million years ago.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/science....ap/index.html

Randy4ut

Ron,
At times, I too, thought the Trachy was a "waggie". But after several of my palm friend, gurus, looked at it closely, they all determined that it was just a variation in the fortunei species. They actually called it a fortunei "stiffie". I do like the stiffer fronds of it whatever it is...

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