Veitchia montgomeryana/arecina

[Stevetoad]

i bought 2 of these to see if i can grow veitchias at my place. i understand that montgomeryana and arecina are the same but i bought mine as montgomeryana. heres the question. my place gets really hot during the summer and really cold nights during the winter avg is 40 but ill get qite a few nights in the mid to low 30s and a few frosts too maybe 4-8. i have a pretty big jacaranda tree that i could use as canopy but i was wondering if this will be to much shade. any info would be great!

[quaman58]

Hey Steve,

I've spent a lot of time trying to grow these. They don't die usually, but they really get too cold during winter. By the time they start recovering, winter arrives again. However, I made the mistake of planting them out in the open. Think shelter, shelter. Cardiff bill has a couple nice clumps. One is jammed against his house on the east side with plenty of protection, the other in a very overgrown area, again very protected. The ones by his house are already peeking over his 2 second story, so they're pretty fast.

[Stevetoad]

thanks bret. i was also thinking of keeping one in a large pot.

[realarch]

I never thought of these a potted specimen until I saw a couple a friend of mine has indoors no less. I think they are in 15 gal. nursery pots and look great.

Lots of indirect light too.

I thought there were a row of V. arecina at the SD zoo close to the Koala exhibit. Pretty tall and totally exposed.

[Eric F]

This does not address climate but the arecina/montgomeryana difference.

Does anyone have any good pictures of the Veitchia arecina / montgomeryana at Daryl's place? He pointed out to me when I was there that there are leaf form variants between them, where the leaflet droop (if I recall correctly) was stronger on montgomeryana and more upright on "arecina". Feel free to correct me as mine are all still seedlings

[Hilo Jason]

Steve - I don't think the shade will be a problem at all from the Veitchia that I am growing here (or trying to grow!). My Arecina is out in the open and get hit hard every winter. I have 2 V. Spiralis that are both under a Jacaranda canopy that do much better than the Arecina. They've seen 3 winters there with a low of 31 (out in the open, a couple degrees warmer under the canopy). Never much frost though. Maybe 2-3 light frosts in 3 years.

[realarch]

According to Kew, V. montgomeryana is a synonym of V. arecina, so according to them it's one in the same. In talking to different growers, it seems there are a lot of hybrids

here in Hawaii between the two most common species, V. arecina and V. joannis.

[el-blanco]

I just picked up a nice 15 gallon V. Montgomeryana today at Blue Bell Palms in Anaheim.  $70.00 clams!  A very nice looking palm.  Was in licht shade its whole life thus far.  Just put it in the ground in a semi sheltered area knowing that it will grow through the "canopy" to get to full sun.  Will see how this does here in 10a Dana Point, CA.

For any local So Cal Palm Nuts Arlene still has a few nice ones of these around.

Would love to see pictures of those in So Cal and other similar climates.  WIll post a picture of mine later this week!

Jeff

 

[Butch]

Too many pics, I know, but wanted to show it and it's location....The small plat is a volunteer, that popped up just below it...Not sure if it is the same...Or maybe a foxtail from the tree to the left? maybe a little bit of both? (Can anyone say "Foxy Lady?)....I get lottsa seeds from both trees, as well as the dypsis and the Sago...I'm not 100% sure what this tree is....I bought as an arecina, but to me it looks more like a joannis...Or A cross?...Anyway this is growing at the Orange county/Los Angeles county line in Southern California...It struggled when young, but is growing nicely now....No special precautions taken for weather...

Butch

[quaman58]

That's a real nice one for around here. Looks to be 100% arecina. Arecina (at least in my limited experience) has a very silvery crownshaft, with the dark brown fuzz at the base of the petiole. The leaflets are only mildly pendant (weepy). Joannis seems to carry much more of the fuzz or tomentum on the crownshaft & right up the petiole. Larger plants also have much more lax leaflets, sort of like a Howea. Great pictures, thanks!

[quaman58]

Thought I'd share a couple pictures between the two: arecina crownshaft in the garden

[quaman58]

A much younger (& more scraggly) joannis...

[Matt in OC]

Here’s one of mine, a triple. It’s fast and pretty easy but likes a lot of fert. I should add that the crownshafts are not as white as others they are mostly green with some gold in the trunk  I believe they came from RS  

[Butch]

Sorry to bring up an old post, but I was just looking at my Veitchia and was thinking about this post... This volunteer was growing in full sun since the seed fell from the tree... It may have been buried in the flowers at 1st, until it grew thru a few inches of foliage... Since then, full sun and doing well... Over 6' tall... My last pic above is the same plant... There are other volunteers coming up in full sun, as well...

      

Butch

 

[quaman58]

Such a great looking palm when happy.  How big was the mother palm when you planted it?

[Butch]

1 hour ago, quaman58 said:

Such a great looking palm when happy.  How big was the mother palm when you planted it?

I can't remember for sure, but I planted all of these palms by myself, in about 2001/02, and don't believe any thing was over 15-20 gal size if that... Maybe even 5 gal... It has been a struggle for the mother palm, at times, but she's a tough lady... And she's very fertile....

 

Butch