Washingtonia robusta

[PalmGuyWC]

I have read some rather disparaging remarks about Washingtonias in some of the threads on here, and mostly by Californians, yet what would California be without Washingtonias?  It's our signature palm, much as is the Coconut for S. Florida and Hawaii and the Butias for N. Florida and the Gulf Coast. Did you ever think about what California would look like without Washingtonias brushing the skylines?

I know, they are common and seen just about everywhere palms will grow. I live in a palm scant area, but one can hardly look in any direction without seeing a tall Washingtonia towering above the other trees. They make an impressive signature against the skyline.  Their presence reminds me that I'm living in the Golden State and how lucky I am.

It's rather odd that California only has one native palm, that being Washingtonia filifera, yet W. robusta seems to thrive in areas where W. filifera looks rather puney in compairson. Only in the hot, dry desert areas does W. filifera seem to thrive.  They are georgeous in Palm Springs lineing the main street, but in N. Calif. they look rather sickley while W. robusta looks very happy.

I know you palm snobs are thinking, "Washingtonias?  How boring," but think what Los Angeles would look like without Washingtonias, the signature tree of Southern Calif.

I have seven growing in my palm garden planted in groups of three.  I planted one a little away from the groupings to see if it would grow any faster alone. They have all grown at the same rate and now, after 30 years, they are all over sixty feet high. They add great drama to my garden and can be seen from blocks away. Given ample water and fertilizer, they grow incredably fast.  A robust youngster with some trunk might grow 4 or 5 feet in one year.  That's fast even by tropical standards.

Of course they have their drawbacks.  They are rather messy at times, but now mine are so tall that the winter storms blow the old fronds down, sometimes all at once.  At least I don't have to pay now to have the skirts removed as they are so tall the winds clean them off for me. Often times there will hardly be any breeze at the ground surface, while the tops of the Washingtonias roar with the sound of wind.  I love that sound as it sounds like rain, something that I get none of in the warmer months.

The seeds germinate in unwanted places too, such as the cracks in a sidewalk, etc.  One of my seeds germinated in my neighbors yard in an unwanted place.  I told him to remove it when it was small, but he didn't.  In 5 years it had 10 feet of trunk and was removed with a lot of trouble and expense. It was rescued by a landscaper friend of mine.  I'm sure it's growing happily now where it's wanted.

For temperate zones, I've often wondered which is the most ubiquitious, Washingtonias or Phoenix canariansis?  I'm sure there are more Washingtonias as PCID's take up a lot more room. Any ideas or observations?

I see a lot of Washingtonias being planted in Southern Florida.  They are cheap and fast, so they are used quite a bit, but they look out of place to me in S. Fla.  They are definately "in place" in Calif. and why plant Washingtonias in S. Fla where coconuts would grow just as well?  They have even planted Washingtonias at the entrance to Miami Int. Airport....which makes me want to barf!  Why not coconuts??

At any rate, Washingtonias are here to stay in California, so you might as well like them.

Dick

[Kris]

Dear Dick  

Iam madly in love with the Big Brother_i.e Washy Filifera's

than its weak brother_Robusta's !

thanks for that above info's

Love,

Kris  

[doubravsky]

I too am grateful for all the Robustas all over the place in So Cal... where else would I get all my logs for tiki carving?

[bahia]

Dick,

I agree with you about the unappreciated beauty of W. robusta's, and also love the look they give to the urban skyline.  I'm willing to bet if they weren't so easy to grow, then they would be more appreciated.  As it is, it seems people either love them or hate them, not many people seem to have no opinion...  I hadn't realized that they put on 2 foot of trunk a year as you mention for your 30 year old palms.  The biggest Mexican Fan Palms here in Berkeley/Oakland are almost always part of some old Victorian homestead, and indicate the oldest settled parts of town.  Although I like the look of them, I would never actually plant one in my own garden, as I don't have the room, and prefer a palm that doesn't get so tall so quickly.  I would like to see them used more often for freeway and boulevard plantings, where they make a lot more sense.

[Adam from Oz]

As I have always said with nauseating repetiveness, I love this palm.

I just don't like its weird reaction to Melbourne's soil.

They are unpredictable here. Some just rocket, while others, i.e. MINE look like rubbish.

A well grown Washie is a thing of beauty.

If you're surrounded by thousands of them, you have a lot of beauty.

Cheers,

Adam - in philosophical mode.

[Tad]

for as hated as they seem to be...to the tune of 2500 to 4500 a year they run out the field!!

just sold a local farm 5000 one gallons today!!!

[Don Little]

Well said dick.  I too love washies and the look they have when tall.  Some have said that they look like nothing more than telephone poles when tall but if you go to Santa Barbara or any other beach town where they are planted in masses, I think they give a unique beach setting that says CALIFORNIA.  The only problem with them is that they seed like crazy and you can literaly have a lawn of seedlings growing.  That being said there is nothing that says california better than 100' Wahies swaying in the breeze.

[Alicehunter2000]

I love the Washintonia robusta's and filibusta's and I think they look tropical for a fan palm. There are not many palms that can grow in a 8b/9a climate but this species seems to do pretty well. We have lots of them around but I have never seen any volunteers here. I wonder why that is? Plenty of seeding adults but no pups.

[Alberto]

(PalmGuyWC @ Apr. 04 2007,11:31)

QUOTE

II have seven growing in my palm garden planted in groups of three.  I planted one a little away from the groupings to see if it would grow any faster alone. They have all grown at the same rate and now, after 30 years, they are all over sixty feet high. They add great drama to my garden and can be seen from blocks away. Given ample water and fertilizer, they grow incredably fast.  A robust youngster with some trunk might grow 4 or 5 feet in one year.  That's fast even by tropical standards.

Dick,I also have seven washies:two groups of three and one planted alone!!

 My biggest is now 4m, and i hope that mine will look similar to yours ,over a few years,swaying in the wind....

 I like this palm very much!

[Tad]

twisty trunks

[Tad]

twisty 2

[Tad]

march on little soldiers!!

[Tad]

here today gone mananna!!! these will be 7 years from a gallon in august!!

[chris.oz]

Here in Melbourne CIDP is King.   Then comes the washy,  or maybe the trachy.  Its hard to say,  but the washy is arguably becoming more popular here because it doesnt shade out your whole yard

[iwan]

Here is a grouping of Dick's W. robusta.  I couldn't get far enough away to capture the entire palms (and bamboo).

From another direction.  Pardon the glare.

[chris.oz]

Nice washys !

So Dick whats your theory about why some have a shag and some dont ?

Do you think that once a full shag develops,  it kind of re-inforces itself ?

[PalmGuyWC]

Thanks Robert for posting the pictures.  Chris, I wish I had an answer about the shag, but I don't. The two you see in the picture have retained the shag, and all the others have shed it. We can have some pretty fearce winds here in the winter and sometimes dozens of fronds come down at once.

I had my Washingtonias trimmed about 6 years ago and ever since then most of them don't retain shag.  It's amazing how strong the wind can be at frond level of the Washingtonias and yet so still on the ground. I love to hear the roar of the wind blowing through them.

I expect my two shag ladys will drop their skirts during some winter storm and I'll have two or three truck loads of fronds to haul away. The seedlings that come up under the trees can be a problem, and I try to pull them out as soon as possible.  It's amazing what a strong root system even a 3 leafer can have and they are hard to pull out of the ground.

Another mystery to me is why the trunks shed the leaf bases higher up on the trunk, but retain them closer to the ground. One would think the older leaf bases closer to the ground would rot off first. I also wonder why people pay good money for Washingtonias with several feet of trunk, as they grow so fast. It only takes a few years from a 5 gal size to a good sized tree.

Dick

[Phil]

Here's a few cool shots of older trees.  

They certainly mark the skyline.

Phil

[Phil]

And Tiki Dave,

Could you please email me privately about your tikis?

Phil

phil.bergman@junglemusic.net

[Kris]

(chris.oz @ Apr. 04 2007,21:38)

QUOTE

Here in Melbourne CIDP is King.   Then comes the washy,  or maybe the trachy.  Its hard to say,  but the washy is arguably becoming more popular here because it doesnt shade out your whole yard

Dear Chris  

the 1.2.3 order of austrilian peoples choice do not seem to surprise me since iam in love with this CIDP(Female Form).

And folks those stills are fentastic..and as david said its giving

some kind of tropical look.those stills are a testimony to it !

Love,

Kris  

[macario]

LOWES in Victorville california, 14333 bear valley road,92392 ( the high desert ) right off of I-15 sells pure washingtonia filifera. They have w. robusta labled mexican palm, they have the hybrid called washingtonia hybrid, and they have off to the side on seperate pallets, they have pots that say Washingtonia filifera - California palm. They have 5 gallons for $15 and 15 gallons for $49. Heres pics off two filifera I bought from them.

http://inlinethumb29.webshots.com/4380....Q85.jpg

[PalmGuyWC]

Phil,

Those are beautiful shots of Washingtonias, and a picture says a thousand words. I'm curious, where was the first picture taken?  Absolutely beautiful.

I also wonder......Has anyone ever heard of a Washingtonia being blown down by strong winds in Calif?  Florida and the Gulf coast don't count as I imagine the huricanes might level a few. Three of mine are planted within easy reach of my house, and I get awfully nervous in the winter time when I've seen 60+ mph winds blow through them. Sometimes they sway as much as 10 feet off center. It's amazing to me that the fronds will take such a constant beating from the wind and show no damage.

A young friend of mine was flight training a few years back, and he used to buzz my house in his little Cessna.  He said he could always locate my house from a distance by seeing the Washingtonias sticking up above everything else.

Dick

[Don Little]

Dick,

Here in the I.E. we have had gusts of winds that have exceeded 100 mph, and down here we have some very tall washies yet I have yet to see one that was blown over.  My mom had two in her front yard that were nearing 65-70" before she sold the house and sometimes it would be a little nerve racking with the strong winds but till this day they are still are going strong.

[ruskinPalms]

I think lightning may be a culprit in the demise of tall washies here in Florida as well. That being said, I love these palms and have several planted in my yard. They are the closest thing to Pritchardia that I will ever be able to successfully grow in the ground here. I really love these palms at young to intermediate ages. They can get too tall for my taste and grow out of the landscape. At super tall heights, they are better suited for plantings downtown near tall buildings and such rather than my backyard.

[Neel]

one thing i was always curious about all these washys in so cal is what happens once they reach their life span? I understand that most robustas live about 100 years. After that, will it stop producing leaves with just the trunk remaining? Or do they actually fall over?

[Kris]

Dear Neel  

very thoughtful question,even i used to think what one has to do if the palm reaches its dead end.iam living in a very crouded city & always full of traffic.if i have to remove it

which is in public boundry or in my neighbours terretory,

then when i cut it down in peices or as a whole.think what

damage it will make to other's properties ?

love,

Kris  

[Neel]

Hi Kris,

One of the reasons I wonder is because there are several mature robustas that line the streets in my city and other parts of LA.... and what happens when these start to die??

I was in Chennai back in December for the first time; although the climate then was comparable to So Cal, I'm sure it gets much hotter and humid the rest of the year.

Do u happen to know the name of the fan palm that is almost ubiquitous in the countryside? It's kind of like our robustas here. It seems like they use the leaves of that tree for shelter, etc. I think they were the same ones growing in Mumbai as well.

[NBTX11]

Here in south central Texas, our long term climate seems to be more suitable to W. Filifera.  W. Filifera are king here, although there are a lot of robustas and hybrids too, and these do well too.  There are tons of huge old filiferas everywhere in older residential neighborhoods here.  They THRIVE in our climate, and love the heat we get here.  They get huge here, much like you would see in inland Cal, I believe.  A lot of the pure robustas were killed off in the 80s freezes, but none of the filifera or hybrids (or very few) were harmed.  So we have lots of very old large specimens of filifera and filibusta around.

[BS Man about Palms]

(PalmGuyWC @ Apr. 07 2007,01:24)

QUOTE

Phil,

Those are beautiful shots of Washingtonias, and a picture says a thousand words. I'm curious, where was the first picture taken?  Absolutely beautiful.

I also wonder......Has anyone ever heard of a Washingtonia being blown down by strong winds in Calif?  Florida and the Gulf coast don't count as I imagine the huricanes might level a few. Three of mine are planted within easy reach of my house, and I get awfully nervous in the winter time when I've seen 60+ mph winds blow through them. Sometimes they sway as much as 10 feet off center. It's amazing to me that the fronds will take such a constant beating from the wind and show no damage.

A young friend of mine was flight training a few years back, and he used to buzz my house in his little Cessna.  He said he could always locate my house from a distance by seeing the Washingtonias sticking up above everything else.

Dick

Dick,

Only because I just attended the recent tour there, I'm pretty sure its the LA Arboretum in the pic of Phils. You can look in the travel log area and you might find a similar picture.

Neel- From every thing I've read, the Robustas rocket to 60' or so, then the opposite of other palms that age, they slow down.  I've never heard of one dying. As a matter of fact, I believe some at the Arboretum are 100+ years old.

Wait till you see the old 40' tall Dioon Spinulosums in LA somewhere!!! (100+ years old too)

[Kris]

(Neel @ Apr. 08 2007,18:33)

QUOTE

Hi Kris,

One of the reasons I wonder is because there are several mature robustas that line the streets in my city and other parts of LA.... and what happens when these start to die??

I was in Chennai back in December for the first time; although the climate then was comparable to So Cal, I'm sure it gets much hotter and humid the rest of the year.

Do u happen to know the name of the fan palm that is almost ubiquitous in the countryside? It's kind of like our robustas here. It seems like they use the leaves of that tree for shelter, etc. I think they were the same ones growing in Mumbai as well.

Dear Neel  

i simply adore u,you are a true palm lover man ! i have no

second thought in bestowing this kind of title to you !

since in all the washy threads i used to tell i hate the weaker looking robustas,since they resemble our plamera trees here.

very common and life expetancy is 50 to 60 years and grow as tall as robustas.and its self cleaning thought.but do not grow as fast as robustas at all and the friut is  mouth watering.and even wine is harvested from it.the fruit is big as seen in Borobuss filifersta_i think i spelt that okay.

but my suggestion will be always to grow the big brother_

african plamera than the indian version of plamera.

And neel you have visited S.India in the right season i.e

from november to feb end is lovely.but after march to

september its hot and feel as thought the bones will melt

down & its very humid and sultery(very horrible for us

itself).it will be difficult for foreigners to travel & site seeing

on those months.

some of the foreginers complain that due to heat and spicy

food here they get stomuch ulcers & boils in the skin.

so always come here in our winters which are not cool at

all !

Thanks & Love,

Kris  

[Neel]

Kris,

thanks for the kind comments. Yes, I do love palms but unfortunately can not choose where I have to live so i'm somewhat limited in what I can grow. But it's still So Cal, so not too bad...it could be worse if I lived somewhere colder. I wouldn't mind coming back to So India again now that I meet my relatives there. Mumbai, on the other hand, is a different story...

Don,

Have you seen all the robustas they lined Day Creek Blvd in Ranch Cucamonga (I work right there)? I can just picture when those trees mature years from now, the blvd will look awesome. The city really likes date palms too.  

What kind of luck have you had with other palms out there?? I know RC gets windy and real hot in the summer.

[Kris]

Dear Neel  

its very nice to hear that,you got relatives living here,and a

buddy too_here i meant myself  

Love,

Kris  

[happ]

Dick

Your poetry about Washingtonia is appreciated.  The palms of our childhood and, as you exude,  the California palm.

Miles of city streets lined with towering robusta; quite inspiring as the sun sets  

Alas, the city council has deemed these jewels "unacceptable" for planting.  Not enough shade is why washingtonia is rejected  

Here's a few gems outside La Brea [near the Grove]

[Zac in NC]

Here is a link to Washingtonia robusta in the wild at Nacapule Canyon, outside of San Carlos, Sonora.

Nacapule Canyon Washies

And another thread with pics.

Zac

[Don Little]

(Neel @ Apr. 10 2007,01:43)

QUOTE

Kris,

thanks for the kind comments. Yes, I do love palms but unfortunately can not choose where I have to live so i'm somewhat limited in what I can grow. But it's still So Cal, so not too bad...it could be worse if I lived somewhere colder. I wouldn't mind coming back to So India again now that I meet my relatives there. Mumbai, on the other hand, is a different story...

Don,

Have you seen all the robustas they lined Day Creek Blvd in Ranch Cucamonga (I work right there)? I can just picture when those trees mature years from now, the blvd will look awesome. The city really likes date palms too.  

What kind of luck have you had with other palms out there?? I know RC gets windy and real hot in the summer.

Neel,  Give those palms 5 to 10 years and they should look pretty nice but give them 20 years and they be awesome.  Yes it does get windy and hot but the wind seems to be the harshest on my palms, just dries and tatters some of them.  Day creek is much windier than where I am because it's closer to the pass.  I'm over closer to Haven and Baseline where while it's still windy  it doesn't seem to be as windy as it once was. (I think all the development blocks out some of the wind)

I'm still a newbie compared to many here but currently I have between 35 to 37 species and most do very well.  The only washies I have are two little seedlings that must have been carried by birds and dropped in the yard, but I plan on keeping them.

[Kris]

Dear Zac  

thanks for the links...i have visited it,but it did appear new to me.

thanks & Love,

Kris  

[PalmGuyWC]

Hap and Zack,

Those are great pictures guys...loved the ones in habitat, and the very artistic ones of yours Hap....Particularly the one in the grove with the camera pointed upwards.  My vote for a calander picture.

Dick