Anyone into palms?

[Faerygirl]

I love palms, anyone else growing them? This is a variegated rhapis (lady palm) with Philodendron plowmanii and a small variegated alocasia odora

[Tindomul]

Those are nice!! I don't think I can grow palms here in NY, not even indoors.
I'm more into the family in which the Alocasia is in.

[Ross]

I love palms, but like Tin, I can't grow them here.

[Faerygirl]

I would disagree with both of you on your ability to grow palms. If you can grow orchids successfully indoors, there are palms that you can also grow indoors.

Most people think that the entire state of FL is one big coconut palm resort, but it just ain't so. I live in North Central, almost in the very center of the top 1/3 of the state. I am 6 hours south of Atlanta, an hour south of Jacksonville and 2 hours north of Orlando and Tampa. 5.5 hours north of Miami. Same level as Houston TX.

But my climate is extremely variable and can be quite different from Atlanta, Tampa and Orlando. We are always warmer in winter by almost 2 climate zones than Atlanta, whose weather is closer to Dallas TX. We never get snow or ice, and only have 1-5 nights below 32 in a typical winter. We are landlocked, being about an hour from both the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic, and as a result, we can get much hotter than Central and South FL in summer with no sea breeze to coll it off. And, of course in winter, we can and do get colder. Our average outdoor winter lows are 40's, but you know "averages" aren't really worth the paper they are written on. It was 23F (a record low) a week or so ago. Yet on Tuesday and Wednesday this week, the low was in the high 60's, almost 70! That's quite a variation for one week.

The most common palms planted out here are cold hardy ones like Braheas, Butias, Sagos, Phoenix (date palm) species, Trachycarpus species, Syragus species (especially Queen palms), Washingtonias, Sabals and Serenoa repens. Rhapis can also be planted out in protected locations. These palms are variably hardy to between 5-28F. I know people as far north as Chicago that successfully grow larger species palms in containers outside in summer and indoors in winter.

Of course the farther south you go you can do Princess palms, Areca palms, Dypsis, coconuts, etc etc etc.

If you don't want to mess with bigger species, there are many MANY MANY small growing rainforest understory palms that lend themselves to indoor growing. They might be hard to locate, indeed they would certainly have to be mail ordered, but unless I go down to South Florida in person, I have to mail order them too! I get most of mine from Hawaii.

Species that prefer shade are not uncommon! Those especially suited to house culture are Chamaedoreas and Calyptrocalyx species. Others that can be done successfully are Rhapis (excelsa, humilis, and multifida), some of the Licualas, Pinangas, many of which are very beautiful with mottled fronds, Kentia palms, and even (if you are very adventurous) Joey palms and Darian Palms. Joeys (Johannesteijsmannia altifrons and J. magnifica and the Darian palm, Marojejya darianii) eventually get HUGE, but the key word here is EVENTUALLY. These are very VERY slow growing, trunkless palms that get huge fronds up to 10-20 ft long, but that takes so many years, the palms may outlive YOU. They can be very happy in containers for a very very long time.
Let me pull some photos of palms I believe you guys could grow indoors. I grow them in the greenhouse as understory to taller plantings.

[Ross]

I hear you, but please keep in mind that nearly all of my window area is devoted to orchids. I won't speak for Tin, but given a choice on plant selection I will pick orchids any day. I had an Erica palm years ago and was pretty successful with it indoors but it got pretty big and took over the window area I can devote to plants. I'd love to see pics, though.

[cb977]

We've got a number of palms around the property...a few sagos, a Roebellini, a Queen, and a few others that I don't remember the name of. They're all out in the lawn area...hubby's domain! I do have a Ponytail Palm on the lanai but from what I understand, they're not true palms

[Faerygirl]

I understand where you are coming from, I used to be the same way with Heliconias. I collected them beyond all reason (for me) because many are huge growing and I didn't even have a greenhouse then.

Areca palms (aka Golden Cane Palms, Butterfly Palms) are really in the genus Dypsis, not Areca, but somehow they got the common name Areca Palm. They are a poor choice for interiorscape, because the require high light and do get very large and unmanageable indoors. These palms in the photos following are all small, understory palms, that love shade, some even DEEP SHADE, which make them perfect for interiorscape. Set in corners away from but still near to windows, they would really compliment any indoor orchid collection or other indoor plant collection. Most of these are MATURE at 2-4ft. The largest get to about 10 ft.

Chamaedorea ernestii-augustii
only 2 ft at maturity!! Perfect for house or small greenhouse culture.


Calyptrocalyx micholitzii
also perfect for in the house! Mature at only 2 ft!


Chamaedorea geonomiformis
solitary, very thin trunk develops over time. To about 4-5 ft. Perfect housepalm


Calyptrocalyx julianetii
very rare in collections, a beautiful small growing palm that loves shade!


Chamaedorea adscendens--Velvet Palm
mature at 2-3 ft


Chamaedorea metallica
from Mexico, loves DEEP SHADE, clusters, beautiful, only gets 2-3 ft tall


Chamaedorea pachystachys
LOVES SHADE, often has a lovely maroon coloration especially on newly emergent leaves
only gets to about 6 ft tall


Calyptrocalyx polyphyllus
very rare in collections, likes shade, stays dwarf


Asterogyne martiniana
ultimately gets about 10 ft, but WORTH the space
beautiful undivided deeply notched leaves, mine is a baby, I have had it since March 2006. This was taken in Jan 07.


Pinanga species...many stay small (8-10 ft) and have beautiful leaves and seeds of unusual colors. I have several species but these are my prettiest. They love shade! Would do well in beautiful ceramic containers in filtered light in the house
Pinanga sp. "Thai Mottled" when I first got it


Pinanga sp. Blue Fruit when I first got it


And planted in the greenhouse after several months

[Ross]

Thanks for the photos. Would they do well in a North exposure window? At my latitude that means about 300-400 foot candles of cool light.

[cb977]

The photos are wonderful! I love tropical greenery

[Tindomul]

Very nice choices. I'll look into it.