Multi Trunked blue/silver palms in central Florida

[ncimino]

I have a perfect spot for a multi trunked blue/silver palm in my landscape in central Florida but I was wondering what is best suited for the Orlando area.

The 4 varieties that come to mind are the Trithrinax Campestris, Chamaerops humilis var. cerifera,  Nannorrhops ritchiana and the Acoelorrhaphe Wrightii azul.

There doesn't seem to be a lot of information on any of these in central Florida so I thought I would make a topic.

Thanks!

[Merlyn]

@ncimino I have Acoelorrhaphe Wrightii 'Azul' and Chamaerops Humilis "Cerifera" here on the NW side of Orlando.  Both are good growers for me, though predictably slow to gain height.  Both are also very resistant to common diseases and tolerate full sun to shade.  I'd pick one of the two based on personal preference.  Everglades palm will eventually grow to a bigger diameter cluster, if that matters for your spot.

Nannorrhops is a desert palm and may struggle in the swamp of Orlando.  I think @kinzyjr was growing this one?  Trithrinax Campestris is known as an extremely slow grower.  I think it's one of the decades-to-trunk types, but I might be wrong on that.

[ncimino]

10 minutes ago, Merlyn said:

@ncimino I have Acoelorrhaphe Wrightii 'Azul' and Chamaerops Humilis "Cerifera" here on the NW side of Orlando.

Any pictures? And the age of each?

 

[Fusca]

My climate is similar to Central Florida except for less rain.  Very humid.  I'm growing what I believe is Nannorrhops richiana 'arabica' which is not native to Afghanistan but coastal areas of Iran.  It is growing well for me but I'm not sure about its cold hardiness - supposedly it's much less than the green form from Afghanistan but that shouldn't be a problem here.  The palms at the nursery had some black spots on the oldest fronds which I assumed were from high humidity but I haven't noticed any more of it since planting this past May.  It's silver color is what attracted me to it and it's similar to my Bismarckia.

[Eric in Orlando]

Also these;

Serenoa repens  (blue-silver form)

Leucothrinax morrissii- plant in a group

 

[kinzyjr]

7 hours ago, Merlyn said:

Nannorrhops is a desert palm and may struggle in the swamp of Orlando.  I think @kinzyjr was growing this one? 

I lost a seedling, but have another in the on-deck circle. I know they are possible in Florida as I've seen a decent sized one at Selby down in Sarasota.  This go-around, it will probably stay in a pot to see if I can get some size on it before it attempts to tackle the cruel world in the ground here.

For the others, Chamaerops humilis 'Cerifera' and Trithrinax campestris are definitely hardy and make appearances in Central FL.  Watching Trithrinax grow is like watching paint peel, though.  Overall, the nod goes to Acoelorraphe wrightii 'Azul' for easiest of the bunch to grow here.

[ncimino]

1 hour ago, kinzyjr said:

Watching Trithrinax grow is like watching paint peel, though.  

Interesting, actually the Trithrinax intrigues me the most of the group and seems to have the least amount of people trying it. 

Do you think it grows slow because of incompatibility or that it grows slow in it's natural habitat as well? Maybe we haven't discovered the right trick it responds to or I guess if it grows slow in it's natural habitat there is no trick.

[kinzyjr]

10 minutes ago, ncimino said:

Interesting, actually the Trithrinax intrigues me the most of the group and seems to have the least amount of people trying it. 

Do you think it grows slow because of incompatibility or that it grows slow in it's natural habitat as well? Maybe we haven't discovered the right trick it responds to or I guess if it grows slow in it's natural habitat there is no trick.

I think they just grow slow by their nature.  You wouldn't have to worry about cold with them, so if you have the time and are interested in growing one, no harm in it.

[tim_brissy_13]

5 hours ago, Fusca said:

My climate is similar to Central Florida except for less rain.  Very humid.  I'm growing what I believe is Nannorrhops richiana 'arabica' which is not native to Afghanistan but coastal areas of Iran.  It is growing well for me but I'm not sure about its cold hardiness - supposedly it's much less than the green form from Afghanistan but that shouldn't be a problem here.  The palms at the nursery had some black spots on the oldest fronds which I assumed were from high humidity but I haven't noticed any more of it since planting this past May.  It's silver color is what attracted me to it and it's similar to my Bismarckia.

Now formally described and accepted as N baluchestanica I believe. 
https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:77164305-1

[ncimino]

In terms of the blue/silver coloring, which of these palms would be most likely to maintain their silver color in Orlando's climate?

 

I believe I saw some posts here that mentioned rain washing the silver color off of some of these palms.

[aztropic]

Rain diminishes the blue/white coating on all of them over time. Newly produced fronds always display the best color.

 

aztropic 

Mesa, Arizona.

[Eric in Orlando]

Although there are nice specimens at Fairchild and Selby I have never gotten a Nannorrhops to grow well here in Orlando, either at my house or Leu Gardens. I have tried lots from different seed locales. Also have never gotten Trithrinax campestris to grow well either.

A couple other larger single trunked palms with good coloring to plant in groups are Copernica alba, C. prunifera and C. hospita. 

 

[SeanK]

11 hours ago, ncimino said:

In terms of the blue/silver coloring, which of these palms would be most likely to maintain their silver color in Orlando's climate?

 

I believe I saw some posts here that mentioned rain washing the silver color off of some of these palms.

Serenoa

[ncimino]

1 hour ago, Eric in Orlando said:

Although there are nice specimens at Fairchild and Selby I have never gotten a Nannorrhops to grow well here in Orlando, either at my house or Leu Gardens. I have tried lots from different seed locales. Also have never gotten Trithrinax campestris to grow well either.

A couple other larger single trunked palms with good coloring to plant in groups are Copernica alba, C. prunifera and C. hospita. 

 

What usually happens or what is the issue? Speculation on the problem?

[Fusca]

15 hours ago, tim_brissy_13 said:

Now formally described and accepted as N baluchestanica I believe. 
https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:77164305-1

Thanks Tim, hadn't heard that name before. 

[Merlyn]

@ncimino full sun will help to develop the best bluish waxy coating, but it also means full rain exposure too.  So then the waxy color washes off faster too.  They'll never look as silver-blue as you'd see in AZ or CA. 

As far as Nannorrhops goes, it's probably just the constant oppressive humidity and daily thunderstorms in the summer.  Some plants are just susceptible to root or crown rots in constantly wet conditions.  Some Dypsis/Chrysalidocarpus, for example, grow great in CA but wither and die in FL.  Many "desert" type plants hate FL.  I found that out the hard way with several Encephalartos species, like Longifolius, Trispinosus, Arenarius, and Horridus.  They do ok in pots if given no supplemental water, but rot and die in the ground after the first or second wet winter.

[Merlyn]

@ncimino here is my Chamaerops Humilis "Cerifera."  The new fronds are a pretty good silver-blue color, but by the time they are a few months old the rain has washed them to only have some silvery highlights.  The older fronds down low are mostly green.  For color reference the palm on the right is a Coccothrinax Argentea, and the agave below is Decipiens.  I bought this with about 2 feet of trunk, so no clue how old it really is:

This is one of two Acoelorrhaphe Wrightii Cerifera, bought as seedlings from Texas Cold Hardy Palms (TCHP) in January 2021 and planted here in February 2021.  It's not particularly silvery, but more of a slightly bluish green color.  It's definitely more blue than a "normal" type, but nothing really dramatic.  And it needs more magnesium, thus the yellow tips.  For reference the plant on the right is a deep green Encephalartos Sclavoi x Ituriensis, and the light green plant on the bottom left is a Dioon Edule.

[Merlyn]

This is a picture of the same plant from the opposite side, in June 2023.  It was a bit more blue at that time, so probably the magnesium deficiency isn't helping the coloring:

[tim_brissy_13]

11 minutes ago, Merlyn said:

@ncimino here is my Chamaerops Humilis "Cerifera."  The new fronds are a pretty good silver-blue color, but by the time they are a few months old the rain has washed them to only have some silvery highlights.  The older fronds down low are mostly green.  For color reference the palm on the right is a Coccothrinax Argentea, and the agave below is Decipiens.  I bought this with about 2 feet of trunk, so no clue how old it really is:

This is one of two Acoelorrhaphe Wrightii Cerifera, bought as seedlings from Texas Cold Hardy Palms (TCHP) in January 2021 and planted here in February 2021.  It's not particularly silvery, but more of a slightly bluish green color.  It's definitely more blue than a "normal" type, but nothing really dramatic.  And it needs more magnesium, thus the yellow tips.  For reference the plant on the right is a deep green Encephalartos Sclavoi x Ituriensis, and the light green plant on the bottom left is a Dioon Edule.

Your C humilis looks like the standard European form rather than var argentea. The unique characteristic for argentea (aside from the colour which can be variable based on environment) is the thorns on the petiole. Var argentea has larger, darker thorns with are perpendicular to the petiole but your appears to have thorns more like the standard form. Even the standard form will have silvery coloured new growth and most retain colour on the abaxial/underside frond surface. 

[Merlyn]

1 hour ago, tim_brissy_13 said:

Your C humilis looks like the standard European form rather than var argentea. The unique characteristic for argentea (aside from the colour which can be variable based on environment) is the thorns on the petiole. Var argentea has larger, darker thorns with are perpendicular to the petiole but your appears to have thorns more like the standard form. Even the standard form will have silvery coloured new growth and most retain colour on the abaxial/underside frond surface. 

It's entirely possible it is not Argentea.  The thorns on it are more-or-less white with a bit of tan coloring permanently.  The other from the same purchase has similar white thorns on brand new fronds but turn black after a month or so.  This one is in too much shade from a Butia on the left, Alfredii behind it, and Causiarum to the right.  It's super stretched out but has more of the silver-blue, and is about the same blueish color on the top and bottom of the leaves.  However it's not silver-white like a Bismarck or like pictures I've seen in CA, it's more like Butia color.  It may not be Argentea either:

I found a photo of the black thorns on Argentea from Agaveville forums.  The thorns on my above plant look similar but are smaller.  The frond color is pretty close.  Maybe in CA or AZ it would be more white.