Show us your Traveler's Palm (Ravenala madagascariensis)

[cagary]

Here's a look at the Traveler's Palm growing in my front yard in southern California. I started it from seed over 15 years ago. Its been in its present location about ten years. We've had high and maybe even mid 30's F,, but its never shown any cold damage. Every September it puts out a couple of inflorescence, but they never have produced any seed. Presently it has about 7 feet of clear trunk.

Any other growers in SoCal?

[The Silent Seed]

That sure is a beauty! Do these things pup, like Strelitzias? I've never seen one with pups.

[Jeff Searle]

They sucker their butts off! Not a very popular plant any more in the landscapes here. Too fast and too much maintenance.

[Cindy Adair]

I certainly agree that I have to cut off several new growths every time I go to my farm to keep it the desired two dimensions!

I will also be glad when it gets just a bit more trunk so it no longer partially blocks my view.

However still a nice tree and I do like your perfectly manicured one!

[cagary]

That sure is a beauty! Do these things pup, like Strelitzias? I've never seen one with pups.

Mine suckers a lot, but I just keep cutting them off near the ground.

[Tropicgardener]

Yes as Jeff stated, they have fallen out of favour due to their relatively high maintenance. They used to be a very common sight here in Queensland but not these days. I wouldn't mind planting one though and just keep de-suckering it. If you don't do that they look crap.

[raimeiken]

will these survive in zone 9b?

[Really full garden]

I actually like the suckering ones. Mine in Guatemala rarely sucker.Out of five,only one has suckered.

I wonder if there are cultivars or strains that are prone to suckering? I have noticed too that the ones in South Florida do sucker profusely.

[Kim]

Interesting question. I haven't grown one, but have admired many. They seem to need a dry period -- the best I saw were in Tanzania. Big, bold, colorful, perfect fans, not a sucker in sight. Madagascar they take over abandoned rice fields, mostly solitary. Those I saw were windblown and tattered after a cyclone had passed through. They used the woody trunks for construction. I never would have imagined the wood could be that strong.

[colin Peters]

They are still used here on Oahu in landscape, a lot. Probably due to the fast growth

and they due sucker like crazy. I agree with Jeff about the maintenance. Removing the

flowers and dead leaves on tall ones require a tall ladder and pruning pole, at least on the gardens I maintain.

aloha

[DoomsDave]

Here's mine.

They do sucker, oh yes.

[Palmdude]

They will survive in 9b. The frost or short freeze will beat them up but they come back

[Walt]

will these survive in zone 9b?

I think the short answer is it may depend on just what type of 9b climate one has, say a cool 9b vs. a warm 9b (I'm talking about winter time average temperatures). Traveler palms certainly survive in my 9b climate (where my winter time highs average 73-74 degrees F in January and 48 degrees F low. But on normal winters my lows will fall into the high 20s with frost. Fortunately, it stayed above 30 degrees the past two winters.

I bought my first traveler palm in 2002 as a 15 gallon size and pot grew it for about a year before planting it. Today it has 9'-6" of clear trunk (a few inches more if I trimmed off the dead frond bases). It's been totally defoliated several times and partially defoliated several times over the years. The last totaly defoliation was in December of 2010.

In early 2010 I bought three traveler palms from my local Home Depot, as they had a good price on them. Not sure what the size was, but 15 gallon max. I planted all three in separate locations. One of them was killed during the severe 11-day cold spell in December 2010. The other two survived with damage. Today they remaining two are of different sizes as you can see in the below photos. One reason for that, I believe, it that the smaller one is in way too much shade, the sun being blocked by a large Ficus altissima tree.

All of my traveler palms sucker, and some of the suckers are getting big. I now wish I had separated them when young. No matter. I can live with them.

Above photo: My largest traveler palm (plus4-5 suckers) with pothos vine climbing up to the new developing flowers.

Above photo: A close up view showing the pothos vines growing up past the trunk and to the flowers

Above photo: My second to largest clump of traveler palms. No developed trunk yet.

Above photo: My third clump of traveler palms. This is the clump that gets too much shade and grows slower. On the other hand, it's far more protected from frost in this spot.

[DoomsDave]

During the Big Freeze of 2007, my big Traveler's was in the ground, unprotected, and it was exposed to about 4 days of temperatures around 27 F. It was damaged but it recovered.

I had about 30 potted babies that turned to mush the first day. They're a lot more tender for sure than Strelitzias, which can take a lot more cold.

[Walt]

Early on in my palm/plant growing hobby I read the white bird of paradise was a 9b plant and the traveler's palm was a 10a plant. I wanted to test that statement.

From my experience, the white bird of paradise is only about three degrees more frost hardy (on the leaves) than the traveler palm.

When I planted my traveler palm back in 2002, I purposely planted it next to a WBOP, which today, the WBOP is slightly taller than my traveler palm. I purposely planted them next to each other so as to empirically observe the difference in frost hardiness of the leaves, as they would both see the same exposure to the elements. I always place a hi-low thermometer about 15-20 feet away from these plants, so I know just what my low temperature was so that I can correlate the temperature with leaf damage from cold/frost.

Over the years, on numerous winters, where I get frost from radiational freezes, it seems my WBOP can withstand about three degrees more in low temperature than my traveler palm. However, the difference might be for one reason. And that is, the leaves on my traveler's palm are more vertical (at a right angle to the open sky), whereas the leaves on my WBOP are much less vertical, indeed, more horizontal and more facing to the open sky, thus far more prone for frost settlement on the leaves. Angle of leaf exposure to the open sky is definitely a prime factor as to whether the leaves get frost burned or not (within a given low temperature). Of course, this holds true for almost any plant, as I'm sure many of us notice how some leaves on the same plant will escape frost injury and other leaves will get burned based on the angle of orientation to the open sky.

As far as cold damage (not frost damage) its self between the two plants in terms of trunk/stem hardiness, I haven't drawn any firm conclusions. And, hopefully, I never will find out. No way do I want severe cold to kill either mature plant.

[rsproule]

Is it the wind that tatters the leaves or is that inevitable? I like to plant one in a almost windless two story courtyard, but only if the leaves won't look too ragged.

[DoomsDave]

Ryan:

In my observation, they do seem to tear a bit no matter what you do. On the other hand, winds will shred them and make them look untidy.

I guess that's a boundary you'll have to decide for yourself.

There are a lot of other way-cool plants you can put in a courtyard.

How about starting a thread, with some pics of your courtyard? Someone will have an idea that will inspire.

[Matt in OC]

Has anyone had success propagating the suckers? I haven't dug down yet, but want to try and pull a couple off.

Mine has been a really fast grower in front of an east-facing wall, but since i don't have an updated picture on my phone, here's my son with the one at Sherman Gardens.

[David in Berkeley]

The Traveler's Palm doesn't do well here in northern California zone 9b/10a climates, there are none to be seen anywhere here in gardens. I think our winters last a bit to long even without frosts, and cool summers don't build up enough starch reserves. Strelitzia nicholai, on the otherhand, thrive here.

Edited October 29, 2014 by David in Berkeley

[Al in Kona]

I guess I like Ravenala madagascarienses enough that I've planted a second one in the same spot as where my first one was located (See pic below). The first one grew faster than I expected and soon was tall and interfering with the nearby Bismarckia. It was a single trunk form (non clustering) and no longer serving as a screen from the street. Therefore, I chain-sawed it down just above ground level. Several years passed and it rotted away and left a cavity hole waiting for me to plant another in its place, which I did. I wish it would stay at about this size or even a bit bigger but the time may come again when I may have to remove this one too, however, I know I have a few more years to enjoy it here. It serves the purpose of a nice screen, similar to what a fence or hedge might do.

[Mahalo2]

There are a few nice Ravenala madagascarienses at the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim. I attached photos of two of them...the one on the left below is on the border of Fronteir/New Orleans Square in Disneyland and the one in the next photo is located in Downtown Disney.  

 

 

 

 

[Walt]

I have five clumps of travelers palms. Below are my three largest clumps, photo taken in 2021. Hurricane Ian really wrecked them. They are recovering now and should look close to normal by summer season's end. I bought the travelers palms shown below at Home Depot. They were about a 7 gallon size. My other two smaller clumps are a different variety. I got them as one pint sizes from Floribunda.

[kinzyjr]

Originally posted on the Tigertown - Lakeland, FL thread in the Travel Logs section.  These do get beat up by wind, but they still look pretty nice.

[bubba]

All over but you never tire of seeing:

[bubba]

Cannot stop Traveling:

[bubba]

Another in the same garden but with a Coccoloba pubescens on the right ( Big Leaf Seagrape):