Brahea 'Super Silver' just planted

[Al in Kona]

I just planted in ground my 1-gallon size plant of a fairly newly discovered Brahea species of which I'm rather excited about growing and seeing how it will look here in our climate. It is being called Brahea 'Super Silver', which refers to the leaf color as being a bright silvery white. I'd like to hear from anyone else who might be growing it. Here's what Rarepalmseeds has to say about it:

Brahea sp. (Super Silver)

Silver Rock Palm

This plant is a most exciting and somewhat unlikely discovery from central Mexico, in a desert region that has a high number of endemic species. First thought to be a somewhat out-of-range population of B. nitida, because its leaf stalks are completely thornless, a key characteristic of that species, we quickly came to the conclusion that we must be dealing with something else, perhaps a palm species completely new to science. The palms grow in sparsely vegetated, dry, high altitude valleys around 1800 m (6000 ft.) and higher, where they are one of the dominant elements of the local vegetation. A green form of Brahea dulcis (with thorny leaf stalks!) is also commonly found in the same habitat. What sets this palm apart is foremost the incredible color of its leaves, an unreal, bright silvery white, easily as good as the best Brahea armata you have seen. As opposed to the fierce armament of other Brahea species, this plant has completely smooth leaf stalks, without a single thorn. Of botanical interest are also the very long, arching inflorescences that extend well beyond the leaves. The fruits are small and black when ripe. As for its horticultural future, we think this Brahea has great prospects and easily has enough potential to become as popular as Brahea armata is today. It is hardy to drought as well as to severe freezes and should be adaptable to a wide range of temperate climates. Due to its reasonable size it should find room in any garden.

Here it is just planted . . .

[sonoranfans]

I will be interested to see how this one turns out. It clearly is far more green than any armata I have ever seen at that stage or any stage. It must really undergo a color metamorphasis as it matures. The thornless part sounds very interesting to someone who knows the armament of brahea armata all too well. Is this is a small palm in its mature state? That would be another interesting aspect of the super silver.

[Al in Kona]

I will be interested to see how this one turns out. It clearly is far more green than any armata I have ever seen at that stage or any stage. It must really undergo a color metamorphasis as it matures. The thornless part sounds very interesting to someone who knows the armament of brahea armata all too well. Is this is a small palm in its mature state? That would be another interesting aspect of the super silver.

Tom, it will be interesting to see at what stage (age) this palm starts to show it's silver white leaf color. It may be like Brahea decumbens in that they are very green as small (young) plants and as they get bigger and older they can become very silver-blue in color. Another aspect I like about Brahea 'Super Silver' is the completely unarmed petioles.

Are you growing any of these? Here's a link to see a pic of this palm in habitat.

http://www.rarepalmseeds.com/pix/BraSil.shtml

[_Keith]

I will be interested to see how this one turns out. It clearly is far more green than any armata I have ever seen at that stage or any stage. It must really undergo a color metamorphasis as it matures. The thornless part sounds very interesting to someone who knows the armament of brahea armata all too well. Is this is a small palm in its mature state? That would be another interesting aspect of the super silver.

Tom, it will be interesting to see at what stage (age) this palm starts to show it's silver white leaf color. It may be like Brahea decumbens in that they are very green as small (young) plants and as they get bigger and older they can become very silver-blue in color. Another aspect I like about Brahea 'Super Silver' is the completely unarmed petioles.

Are you growing any of these? Here's a link to see a pic of this palm in habitat.

http://www.rarepalmseeds.com/pix/BraSil.shtml

Al, I would not suspect Brahea to do all that well in Hawaii, except maybe in Waneia Steve's arid environment. What is your rainfall like there?

[hulagalnz9]

I was just reading about those silvers and debating on getting some to try. very cool. Look forward to seeing how yours does.

[palmcurry]

Good luck, thats a prize plant! I have managed to find one about the size of yours and can say it definitely likes shade. Being concerned about the color, I asked Phil Bergman(http://www.junglemusic.net/) about the lack of blue and he said it's natural for these plants to be green at this stage and the blue/silver eventualy comes.

My Brahea sp. super silver has proven to be fickle. It is in a 5 gal container and I've moved it all around my garden trying to get a spot that makes it grow favorbly. Shade with morning and daple light seem to work best at it's current size. Almost killed it when I put it the green house so I don't recommend that.

[Kris]

Dear Al

its surprising to me,that its is all green in leaves,since the breha armeta's that i raised from the seeds were predominently silver when its was in the leaf bade stage itself ! why is your palm that green ?

thanks & love,

Kris

[Al in Kona]

Dear Al

its surprising to me,that its is all green in leaves,since the breha armeta's that i raised from the seeds were predominently silver when its was in the leaf bade stage itself ! why is your palm that green ?

thanks & love,

Kris

Good luck, thats a prize plant! I have managed to find one about the size of yours and can say it definitely likes shade. Being concerned about the color, I asked Phil Bergman(http://www.junglemusic.net/) about the lack of blue and he said it's natural for these plants to be green at this stage and the blue/silver eventualy comes.

Kris, unlike Brahea armata, some of the other Brahea species with silver-blue leaves are born with green leaves and remain green for some time until the plant attains a certain size or age before becoming silver-blue in color. My Brahea decumbens was green for a few years as a small plant before the leaves began to take on that nice glaucous blue

color. I'm assuming that Brahea 'Super Silver' will behave in a similar manner.

[Al in Kona]

Kris, The first paragraph in my message above was a quote from palmcurry.

The 4-pics below are shown to illustrate how my Brahea decumbens turned from a green leaf palm to a glaucous blue.

Left to Right:

#1. 3-06 several years in the ground as a green leaf palm.

#2. 2-07 a hint of blue beginning to show.

#3. 8-07 newest leaves emerging quite blue and older leaves remain green.

#4. 10-07 most leaves now showing typical glaucous blue coloring.

[PalmGuyWC]

I first saw "Super Silver" growing in a N. Calif. palm garden a few months ago. There were several of us old hands examining the palm and it looked so different we couldn't even determine its genus at first. The lack of thorns along the petiole confussed us. We finally determined it was a Brahea, but a very different looking one. The palms were about waist high and very silver, almost white. They were growing in full sun and the picture of health. I'd sure like to get my hands on one.

Dick

[Kris]

Dear Al

thanks for all the explaintion & time you have taken..those new stills of yours are self explinatory !

And one more question to you all,a year a go i purschased a silver looking fan palm which i then assumed it to be a silver form of Med Fan.since in the nursery it was not tagged.but looked dashing so i bought it.

here is a still of it,by any chance could it be super silver ? how to identify a super silver_Please need some techenical info on that.

thanks & love,

Kris

[sonoranfans]

I will be interested to see how this one turns out. It clearly is far more green than any armata I have ever seen at that stage or any stage. It must really undergo a color metamorphasis as it matures. The thornless part sounds very interesting to someone who knows the armament of brahea armata all too well. Is this is a small palm in its mature state? That would be another interesting aspect of the super silver.

Tom, it will be interesting to see at what stage (age) this palm starts to show it's silver white leaf color. It may be like Brahea decumbens in that they are very green as small (young) plants and as they get bigger and older they can become very silver-blue in color. Another aspect I like about Brahea 'Super Silver' is the completely unarmed petioles.

Are you growing any of these? Here's a link to see a pic of this palm in habitat.

http://www.rarepalmseeds.com/pix/BraSil.shtml

Those wild silvers are beauties Al, the thin trunks look great in multiples. I sure would like a nice silver thornless palm like that. Its also quite rewarding to watch green go blue/silver in a palm, my cerifera seedlings did this nicely this past year. I actually had some real doubts as to whether they were in fact ceriferas at first. Im sure the drier west side of big island will be a great climate for that palm. I will have to look into these Brahea silver, its likely a practical palm for here as well.

[MattyB]

Thanks for sharing Al! I was lucky to get one of these at the last meeting...on the raffle table. It sat there until the very end. I assume that no one knew what it was. Neither did I but I scooped it up quickly. It's in a liner so I've got a ways to go until it's towering over my head sporting it's blue.

[mari]

Does the Brahea Sp. Super silver grow faster then the Brahea Armata? Armata's are slow pokes.

[Walter John]

Kris, The first paragraph in my message above was a quote from palmcurry.

The 4-pics below are shown to illustrate how my Brahea decumbens turned from a green leaf palm to a glaucous blue.

Left to Right:

#1. 3-06 several years in the ground as a green leaf palm.

#2. 2-07 a hint of blue beginning to show.

#3. 8-07 newest leaves emerging quite blue and older leaves remain green.

#4. 10-07 most leaves now showing typical glaucous blue coloring.

That's an excellent illustration Al. I can't recall that change being displayed so clearly anywhere, what a lovely palm. I see that Pritchardia hillebrandei sp. blue dwarf palms are green when young, that's one reason why I didn't acquire one, silly me, they turn silver blue later on in life.

[freakypalmguy]

I bought a batch of these from RPS about 8 months ago. I had a very high germination rate. Almost 100%. I just potted them up as three to four leafers. They are all green just like Al's. Mine have been in my unprotected full sun greenhouse since day one and seam to be doing just fine. If anyone get's out my way (Temecula, CA) and would like one, let me know.

Matt

[MattyB]

That should be a good grow for you Matt. It'll like your heat and won't mind your cold. Your comment about an un shade clothed greenhoues made me think of something. I wonder if you can create a hot box like I've heard Kevin Weaver does for his Bismarckias? I wonder if temps near 130F will make them grow faster? Hmmmmm, maybe I should try that.

[freakypalmguy]

That should be a good grow for you Matt. It'll like your heat and won't mind your cold. Your comment about an un shade clothed greenhoues made me think of something. I wonder if you can create a hot box like I've heard Kevin Weaver does for his Bismarckias? I wonder if temps near 130F will make them grow faster? Hmmmmm, maybe I should try that.

It is amazing how hot his bismarkia house is. It is almost painfull to be in it on a hot day. My greenhouse never gets over 110f. I have all the top vents open and a few of the panels on the sides moved down to increase airflow. It would be interesting to see how they would react to that much heat.

[sonoranfans]

That should be a good grow for you Matt. It'll like your heat and won't mind your cold. Your comment about an un shade clothed greenhoues made me think of something. I wonder if you can create a hot box like I've heard Kevin Weaver does for his Bismarckias? I wonder if temps near 130F will make them grow faster? Hmmmmm, maybe I should try that.

It is amazing how hot his bismarkia house is. It is almost painfull to be in it on a hot day. My greenhouse never gets over 110f. I have all the top vents open and a few of the panels on the sides moved down to increase airflow. It would be interesting to see how they would react to that much heat.

In my experience, Bismarckias grow fastest in the heat. We typically have 90+ 100 F(38C) degree days a year in the Phx valley. This year, my 3 bismarckias didnt open a single frond until early june, but 4 since then and all have 3-4 spears ready to finish the year. In april our average high temp is 84F, may 93F and june 103F. They do tend to stall in the dry heat(110F, 6-10% RH), so I frequently use foliar watering at the end of the day and it corrects that. I dont know about 130F for bismarckias, but mine have seen 120F, and 115F about a dozen times in the last 3 years. Heat does not appear to stress Bismarckias, only their cold tolerance is a concern here. Mine survived 20F lows two days in a row in '07, but all fronds were badly burned. They do like humidity with their heat to keep them growing fast. Brahea armata are similar in that they grow notably faster in the heat. I consider them a "medium grower" here, almost as fast as bismarckia. I wonder if the brahea silver grows fastest in the heat as well. I will have to keep my eyes open for a few of those.

Edited September 12, 2008 by sonoranfans

[Zayin]

I just got some Brahea Super Silver/Blue plants shipped to me from a nursery in Oregon - Cistus Nurseries. On the tag it said that these were collected in New Mexico - I double checked that it said New Mexico and not Northern Mexico.

The tag said that it has the same colouring as Brahea Decumbens but grows up to ten feet and has larger leaves ( sounds really nice ) does this sound like the same Super Silver Brahea that RPS.com was selling seeds for a while back?

Thanks

[Morabeza]

I just planted in ground my 1-gallon size plant of a fairly newly discovered Brahea species of which I'm rather excited about growing and seeing how it will look here in our climate. It is being called Brahea 'Super Silver', which refers to the leaf color as being a bright silvery white. I'd like to hear from anyone else who might be growing it. ... Here it is just planted . . .

Aloha Al and all,

I bought one seedling from Floribunda in January 2007 and have kept mine in full sun since a month after acquiring it. ( http://www.flickr.com/photos/morabeza79/400481716/ ). It has grown slowly yet steadily in beginning in a hot semiarid/rainshadow climate (Kaimukī) and now a cool humid semi-montane environment with high rainfall not seeming to bother it at all. Now over two year later the new leaves are beginning to split, yet still they are very green.

How much rainfall do you get Al? Do you also irrigate your Brahea sp. 'Super Silver' or do you rely on rainfall? Has it put on much growth during the past 7 months since you planted it?

Just a reminder for those sceptics about Brahea survival in Hawai'i; Koko Crater Botanic Garden has many mature species of Brahea, including B. aculeata ( http://www.flickr.com/photos/morabeza79/409862464/ , http://www.flickr.com/photos/morabeza79/409860962/ ) and B. armata. Also Ala Moana Beach Park has a variety of (unlabelled) mature species of Brahea. Of course both of these locations are in a hot semiarid/rainshadow climate.

[chris.oz]

Al,

Remember B. edulis is not armed.

Seems like this may be the desert version of edulis.

Food for thought.

[Alberto]

Does the Brahea Sp. Super silver grow faster then the Brahea Armata? Armata's are slow pokes.

I have three of this and was concerned of how GREEN this SUPER SILVER are, and thinking that maybe it was another palm.... Now I´m more ´´tranquilo´´

My super silver are growing much faster than B.armata and B.clara.

[iamjv]

Al thanks for that great illustration of the green to blue effect.... oddly enough I came across a source for these super blues and when the pics came in and the plants were green I became concerned. This certainly puts my mind to ease and will pursue the purchase. Thanks. Jv

[PalmGuyWC]

I just recieved 2 small "Super Silvers." Whoope! Apparently from reading this thread, there are more of them around than I thought. There is a picture of one on post #6 in the Bergstrom garden in N. Calif, and it's the first one I had seen. In the middle picture of the palm in RPS, it appears it is a clustering palm, or it could just be a group of them growing together. Does anyone know if it clusters?

Dick

[Dave H]

I just recieved 2 small "Super Silvers." Whoope! Apparently from reading this thread, there are more of them around than I thought. There is a picture of one on post #6 in the Bergstrom garden in N. Calif, and it's the first one I had seen. In the middle picture of the palm in RPS, it appears it is a clustering palm, or it could just be a group of them growing together. Does anyone know if it clusters?

Dick

Hey Dick,

I have 6 that I bought as seedlings over the last year and a half... 1 is in a 15G getting full Palm Springs desert sun right through the summer with no problems. 1 in a 7 G getting some filtered sun in parts of the day ( this one is growing the fastest ) although I wonder if the one in the 15 gallon is putting its energy into rooting in the much larger 15G pot. They both have been putting out new growth consistently, the one in the 15G is more compact. The other 4 in 5G getting mostly full sun doing great. They don't blink at our intense sun and heat...

I'm dreaming of the day when I have 4 or 5 of these grouped together with trunks staggered in height...

Dave

[Dave H]

Dick,

I forgot to mention none of mine have clustered... Here's a pic of the 7G.

Dave

Brahea Sp. Super Silver ( Silver Rock palm )

[Dave H]

Here is a pic of my 15G...

Brahea Sp. Super Silver ( Silver Rock palm )

[trioderob]

any updates ???????

[Sabal Steve]

Hey Rob,

I've seen a few of these. There's one in the cactus garden in Balboa that it about 6' tall. Only the upper leaves retain that bright silver. In my opinion, B. armata is a better option. B. decumbens is a nice silver palm as well, but from my understanding it takes a long time before the silver traits manifest. A great looking Brahea none the less.

Steve in Santee has a nicer one that is a similar size, that is a brighter silver.

[Rafael]

I think i am growing one of these...

[trioderob]

saw these in Balboa park today....they are the cats a$$

Edited July 6, 2015 by trioderob

[Ben in Norcal]

What are those Rob? Can't tell for sure but looks like quite a bit of armament...so something besides a Super Silver?

[trioderob]

no idea - just took the photo

gurus ?????

[Sabal Steve]

That's an armata. There are a probably two dozen of those in that section. Next to the super silver that I photographed, there is a nice silver Copernicia alba and a Hyphanae of some sort.

[GMann]

Could you post an update photo on how your super silver has progressed over the 8 years since your last post? I'd love to find out the growth rate on it.

[Kennybenjamin]

Me too, update please!!

[Rafael]

I hope this one is super silver...

[Sanips]

1 hour ago, Rafael said:

I hope this one is super silver...

It seems to be. The petioles look unarmed, good sign 

[Stevetoad]

14 hours ago, Rafael said:

I hope this one is super silver...

It is. Give it plenty of water and it will blow up too.