African oil palms in California? Or the desert?

[kylecawazafla]

I wouldn't really call it a garden, but I'm semi-experimenting with palm trees in El Centro, CA, in the Sonoran desert. I don't have any land, so am planting them at one of my works and unfortunately it is under construction and irrigation is frequently cut off when I'm out of town and I return to many dead palms. It's very frustrating.

Anyways, I've had fun experimenting with palms, and have unfortunately had many untimely deaths due to irrigation being cut off or getting run over by construction machinery. 
 

I'd like to highlight the African oil palm, however, and ask if anyone else has tried them in California or Arizona. This palm is 2 years old from seed. It has spent one summer and one winter in a pot and one summer and one winter in the ground and has been tolerating FULL SUN from noon to sunset on a west facing wall without any issue! I am so shocked. It is frequently 120 F here. 

[idontknowhatnametuse]

There were some doing well here in northern Mexico (Monterrey) that even set fruit several times some years ago, most of them died in the 2021 freeze but one survived. They are hardier than you might think they are.

[kylecawazafla]

That's interesting! I'm surprised I haven't seen any random ones in California, considering they are such a common palm in other parts of the world. I have two in the ground right now, however the other one is currently next to a construction project at my work and I'm pretty sure it will get trampled soon 😫

[Fusca]

  On 10/23/2024 at 9:16 AM, kylecawazafla said:

That's interesting! I'm surprised I haven't seen any random ones in California, considering they are such a common palm in other parts of the world. I have two in the ground right now, however the other one is currently next to a construction project at my work and I'm pretty sure it will get trampled soon 😫

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Maybe you could surround it with some cinder blocks. 

[mnorell]

Dent Smith famously kept this species alive for many years in his garden in northeastern Florida. There is a perception that it is very tender, but it is hardier than a coconut, if Dent Smith kept it going for that long. So I don't think it's a stretch at all that it would survive in California. I haven't seen plants or seeds for sale and so I haven't tried it myself, though I have certainly been tempted. Your results certainly look encouraging, with that deep green color in full sun in the desert. Maybe I will start looking again more earnestly.

[kylecawazafla]

I never heard of Dent Smith's palm! Which town was he in? I lived in Gainesville, FL for 6 years so am surprised I never heard of it.

If you are in the Southern California, I could probably bring you one or two next week for free. I will have to double check that my friend who is watering my plants hasn't killed my  "extras", but I believe I still have a few in pots.  

I think the deep green is what surprised me the most. It is so weird to see such a delicate looking palm with deep green foliage, as a seedling, to receive full Sonoran Desert sun from noon to sunset on a westward facing wall. 

[bubba]

Dent Smith's garden was located in Daytona Beach, Florida. Dent was the first President and founder of the IPS. If the African Oil can be grown in Daytona, I see no reason that it cannot be widely disseminated throughout many regions of California. It is colloquially referred to as the poor man's Canary Date.

[mnorell]

  On 10/24/2024 at 3:43 AM, kylecawazafla said:

I never heard of Dent Smith's palm! Which town was he in? I lived in Gainesville, FL for 6 years so am surprised I never heard of it.

If you are in the Southern California, I could probably bring you one or two next week for free. I will have to double check that my friend who is watering my plants hasn't killed my  "extras", but I believe I still have a few in pots.  

I think the deep green is what surprised me the most. It is so weird to see such a delicate looking palm with deep green foliage, as a seedling, to receive full Sonoran Desert sun from noon to sunset on a westward facing wall. 

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As Keith mentioned above, Dent Smith was the original founder of the Palm Society, and he included as inaugural members the most famous names in 20th-century palm studies and horticulture (including Fairchild, Montgomery, et al.). His property was in Daytona Beach, occupying four acres or so on the Halifax River. He was able to grow a large collection of marginal tropical species despite the occasional destruction from bad winters. He died in the mid-'80s but his wife, Doris, kept it going for decades until she passed away. The property was sold in 2013 but I think may still be relatively intact. He was highly involved in the planning and execution of the Florida Institute of Technology Botanical Garden. This brochure explains some of the species at that Botanical Garden today, largely due to his efforts. You can find much info on his gardens and his trials and tribulation by searching old issues of Principes/Palms on the palms.org website.

[bubba]

Very interesting Michael. I never knew Dent’s Daytona palms ended up at the FIT Botanical Garden in Melbourne, Florida. That stated, it is no shock and testimony to his growing prowess that these specimens would be relocated nearly 100 miles south of their original home.

Dent was an intrepid adventurer. A forum member (Bob Johnson?) delivered an unpublished autobiography detailing his background and some major time spent in Mexico, including a late 1950’s exploration of the Baja and his search with other padres for a rare blue Brahea.  This was a riveting treatise!

You are also correct about the amazing chronicle of Dent’s Daytona palms in the Principes/Palms on the palms.org website. Several amazing articles detail this palm garden, which included Cocos nucifera and many edgy specimens. These were largely decimated by the 1989 freeze. I believe that forum member, Richard Travis, visited the property numerous times, including post 1989, and had tremendous insights before and after. Dent’s wife, Doris, was obviously committed to his palm garden and continued to actively care for the specimens after his passing for many years.

[Chris Chance]

Wow I find this very interesting! Seems like the dry heat doesn't hurt this palm but I know they're pretty tender to frost. I'm in Southern California but I really don't think it would survive for me but in El Centro I would imagine frost isn't so bad. Heck people successfully grow coconuts in Palm Desert area. 

[Fusca]

I believe the first Elaeis I ever saw was at the FIT campus in 2003 when I briefly lived in Melbourne.  I germinated a seed collected there but lost it when I moved back to Texas.  I'm hoping to plant a seedling that I have here perhaps sooner than later!  It's about the size of the one posted here.

[mnorell]

  On 10/24/2024 at 11:19 PM, bubba said:

Very interesting Michael. I never knew Dent’s Daytona palms ended up at the FIT Botanical Garden in Melbourne, Florida. That stated, it is no shock and testimony to his growing prowess that these specimens would be relocated nearly 100 miles south of their original home.

Dent was an intrepid adventurer. A forum member (Bob Johnson?) delivered an unpublished autobiography detailing his background and some major time spent in Mexico, including a late 1950’s exploration of the Baja and his search with other padres for a rare blue Brahea.  This was a riveting treatise!

You are also correct about the amazing chronicle of Dent’s Daytona palms in the Principes/Palms on the palms.org website. Several amazing articles detail this palm garden, which included Cocos nucifera and many edgy specimens. These were largely decimated by the 1989 freeze. I believe that forum member, Richard Travis, visited the property numerous times, including post 1989, and had tremendous insights before and after. Dent’s wife, Doris, was obviously committed to his palm garden and continued to actively care for the specimens after his passing for many years.

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Keith, I don't know if FIT has any of his palms from the Daytona property, I think he just helped them to plan the collection back in the '60s (and perhaps he did donate palms at that time...that part's not clear). FIT has a page dedicated to his life and activities here. I think it's tragic that he suffered the very punishing wrath of the '83 and '85 freezes just before his death. 

I know Doris's daughter, she was a neighbor of ours on Big Pine Key. One evening while out on a walk, she was outside her house and I asked her about a large, trunking Arikury Palm in front of her place, as I knew it was a very unusual palm. She replied that it had been given to her by her stepfather, who was the founder of the Palm Society. I looked at her and said, "Dent Smith?" You could have knocked her over with a feather!!! Interestingly, another neighbor (halfway between our house and hers) was Stanley Kiem, who was longtime superintendent of Fairchild (and a close friend and co-adventurer of David Fairchild) and also one of the small group of inaugural members of the IPS when Dent Smith created the society. When I informed her of this coincidence, she said she had no idea he was her neighbor, nor his relationship to her stepfather and the IPS. It just goes to show that the world is a lot smaller than we think, and sometimes people with strong links may coexist in close proximity and never even know the significance...

[Jonathan]

A great bit of history there, thanks for sharing Michael and Keith.

Stories like these colour our relationships with both the palms that we adore and the people we share them with...a rare respite from an increasingly polarised world.

Cheers,   Jonathan 

[bubba]

Michael that is an incredible story! The double dip of Dent Smith's step-daughter combined with Stanley Kiem in such close proximity to you defies coincidence! In fact, I would argue it proves that our life is completely without coincidence and palms are the cement that binds.

[Bekind]

I’ve been looking for this palm for weeks? Is there anywhere I can buy some seedlings?