street plantings of Ceroxylon

[redbeard917]

It was nice to see that in Bogotá they are quite proud of their native Ceroxylon and commonly plant it as a street tree. I also saw some tall ones in a highway median on the way in but was unable to get a photo. It seems like the shuttlecock form as a juvenile is an advantage so it doesn't take up valuable space. I believe this pedestrian avenue with the rectangular pools of water surrounded by wax palms is called Avenida Jimenez de Quesada, and it goes on like that (albeit with car lanes on either side) for quite a ways, it appeared maybe as much as a quarter of a mile.

[idontknowhatnametuse]

Beautiful

[Tyrone]

I wish I could grow these. 

[tim_brissy_13]

1 hour ago, Tyrone said:

I wish I could grow these. 

Have you given them a go in Albany Tyrone? I’ve killed my fair share of seedlings here in Melbourne but now seem to have found the (somewhat obvious) formula to keep them happy even during hot summer days: constant moisture and deep shade. I’ve got C quindiuense, C ventricosum, C parvum, C parvifrons and C echinulatum all fairly happy in the ground now. 

[ChristianStAug]

I was down there a couple weeks ago and was enjoying the plantings. The silvery leaves compliment the red bricks and generally mountain misty “moodiness” of chilly Bogota. The plantings on the way in/out from the airport will also be stunning one day!

[Jim in Los Altos]

Stunning palms! 

[redbeard917]

They really are majestic. Here is a ventricosum from the botanical garden, which apparently is plumose. I did not see any trunking individuals of this species.

[redbeard917]

Here is the only alpinum that I saw. At least on this individual, the trunk is darker and thinner and the leaflets are closer to being in a flat plane. Also the leaf scars have an interesting criss-crossing effect halfway up. (In the group photo it's the one in the center of the green square.)

[redbeard917]

Here is vogelianum, which seems to have a black trunk and curving fronds. This is two views of the same individual, look for a relatively skinny trunk at the very center of the photo.

[redbeard917]

Here is some local info on the palms. The fruit is eaten by that colorful bird.

Edited June 25, 2022 by redbeard917

[redbeard917]

Not a great photo but I like the gentle curve on some of the trunks.

 

[Little Tex]

Great palms but, ugh people will graffiti anything, 

[Tyrone]

12 hours ago, tim_brissy_13 said:

Have you given them a go in Albany Tyrone? I’ve killed my fair share of seedlings here in Melbourne but now seem to have found the (somewhat obvious) formula to keep them happy even during hot summer days: constant moisture and deep shade. I’ve got C quindiuense, C ventricosum, C parvum, C parvifrons and C echinulatum all fairly happy in the ground now. 

I don’t know what I’m doing wrong then. They remain moist all year, are in deep shade but then go backwards in summer. I should be able to do it here but can’t seem to succeed. I had some planted out and it all looked good for a while then one by one they suddenly curl up and die. The climate averages here should be great for them. But all it seems to take is one hot day in summer, or even just high humidity with moderate heat (37C) and they’re done in. They stop growing then slowly rot away.

[tim_brissy_13]

3 hours ago, Tyrone said:

I don’t know what I’m doing wrong then. They remain moist all year, are in deep shade but then go backwards in summer. I should be able to do it here but can’t seem to succeed. I had some planted out and it all looked good for a while then one by one they suddenly curl up and die. The climate averages here should be great for them. But all it seems to take is one hot day in summer, or even just high humidity with moderate heat (37C) and they’re done in. They stop growing then slowly rot away.

Hmm we very rarely or just about never get 37C and humidity so maybe it only takes those one or two days in summer to stop them. We do get more than a handful of 30-35C humid days but more often that not our 30C+ days are coupled with low humidity. Albany’s summer minimums are only 1-2C higher than ours so I doubt that’s it either, especially considering we’ll get a random 25C night or two most summers. 
 

This C ventricosum is actually quite an old plant, maybe 15 years or so. It survived Black Saturday (over 46C) in 2009 but was a stunted seedling until I put it in the ground at my new property a couple of years ago. Since then it’s probably tripled it’s size. 

[Tyrone]

4 hours ago, tim_brissy_13 said:

Hmm we very rarely or just about never get 37C and humidity so maybe it only takes those one or two days in summer to stop them. We do get more than a handful of 30-35C humid days but more often that not our 30C+ days are coupled with low humidity. Albany’s summer minimums are only 1-2C higher than ours so I doubt that’s it either, especially considering we’ll get a random 25C night or two most summers. 
 

This C ventricosum is actually quite an old plant, maybe 15 years or so. It survived Black Saturday (over 46C) in 2009 but was a stunted seedling until I put it in the ground at my new property a couple of years ago. Since then it’s probably tripled it’s size. 

It’s looking good. I wish I could do the same thing. 

I haven’t been able to grow Juania either. Ceroxylon go down much the same as my Juania. It’s normally around Match that I notice they are not well. We can get dewpoints  around 21,22C by then. Even though my minimums never get above 20C, the mid afternoon dewpoints can at times be around 21,22C. I imagine Melbourne would be similar though. In the heat I will turn the sprayers on in the shadehouse. We had a 43.5C day in February (which was dry) and I had the retic going for 5mins every 30 mins in the shadehouse. They are in the darkest breeziest part of the shadehouse. I’m wondering if the beige shade cloth is wrong for them. Maybe dark green shade cloth is better. I don’t know. 

[tim_brissy_13]

2 hours ago, Tyrone said:

It’s looking good. I wish I could do the same thing. 

I haven’t been able to grow Juania either. Ceroxylon go down much the same as my Juania. It’s normally around Match that I notice they are not well. We can get dewpoints  around 21,22C by then. Even though my minimums never get above 20C, the mid afternoon dewpoints can at times be around 21,22C. I imagine Melbourne would be similar though. In the heat I will turn the sprayers on in the shadehouse. We had a 43.5C day in February (which was dry) and I had the retic going for 5mins every 30 mins in the shadehouse. They are in the darkest breeziest part of the shadehouse. I’m wondering if the beige shade cloth is wrong for them. Maybe dark green shade cloth is better. I don’t know. 

Have you tried any in the ground? Like most palms that are sensitive to drying out and/or heat, I’ve found them to be easier in ground than in pots. 
 

If you can get your hands on them, I’d recommend C echinulatum. Of all of my Ceroxylon, C echinulatum seems to like the warmer months the best. It actively pushes growth even during hot weather, and it probably isn’t even in an ideal position. It gets a bit of west facing filtered afternoon sun and the neighbour’s P canariensis sucks most of the moisture out of that area of garden so it probably is on the dry side a bit too much. Despite that it’s pretty happy. Same size as the C ventricosum but less than half the age. 

[palmfriend]

Great photos - thank you so much for posting!

I have tried C. quindiuense before but had no luck - the month-long super warm nights we have from May to October/November were too rough for this species... 

best regards 

Lars

[Jim in Los Altos]

16 hours ago, Tyrone said:

I don’t know what I’m doing wrong then. They remain moist all year, are in deep shade but then go backwards in summer. I should be able to do it here but can’t seem to succeed. I had some planted out and it all looked good for a while then one by one they suddenly curl up and die. The climate averages here should be great for them. But all it seems to take is one hot day in summer, or even just high humidity with moderate heat (37C) and they’re done in. They stop growing then slowly rot away.

I have several varieties of Ceroxylon here in California and they’ve all endured heat waves well. Last summer we had a nasty several day heat wave and it peaked at 115°F (46°C). None of my Ceroxylon showed any stress. I can’t imagine 37°C killing yours Tyrone. We get several heat waves in summer and autumn in that range every year. I do keep mine exceptionally well irrigated however. 
 

[Tyrone]

@tim_brissy_13 @Jim in Los AltosI don’t know what I’m doing wrong then. Mine never dried out. Maybe I overwatered them. I did try some in the ground and even surrounded one in shadecloth and still that didn’t work. I’m totally stumped. 

[Blueman]

What about C amazonicum?  It's supposed to grow at 2640-3800 feet in Ecuador, which is pretty low, and warm for that genus.  

[NorCalWill]

On 6/25/2022 at 5:59 PM, Little Tex said:

Great palms but, ugh people will graffiti anything, 

Is there anything that can be done to restore a trunk after it has been carved into?

I've got a similar problem with a few Ceroxylon at the Oakland Palmetum...

Would a light sanding or wire brushing help or be detrimental? Or is there something that can be painted over the scars to sort of fill them in?...

 

[Jim in Los Altos]

7 hours ago, NorCalWill said:

Is there anything that can be done to restore a trunk after it has been carved into?

I've got a similar problem with a few Ceroxylon at the Oakland Palmetum...

Would a light sanding or wire brushing help or be detrimental? Or is there something that can be painted over the scars to sort of fill them in?...

 

I’m afraid sanding will worsen the scars. The trunks will never heal from the graffiti scars unfortunately. A permanent marker close to the color of the trunk works for concealing them but is very time consuming if there’s lots of damage.