Ok a collector plants a archontophoenix cunninghamiana

[happypalms]

Alright I confess as collector of some rare and exotic plants mainly palms. I must say I thought I would be the last one to plant a bangalow palm in the garden when I have so many new palms to collect. It’s funny no care was  taken in amendment of the soil just dug a hole and planted using the heel method. I collected the seed in Dorrigo national park when i visited once i could not help myself picking up the seed thinking one lucky little seed coming home to be grown and planted with all its other cousins. But I do love the bangalow for being such a pioneer palm. The first palms I planted on my property where bangalows as a canopy tree on a steep rocky dry hillside now they are part of the garden standing proud and very tall knowing they did there job well looking down on all the understory palms and plants. 

[aabell]

Not rare but still a nice little palm.

I'm interested to see how much of that brown tomentum this one has. The couple of bangalow seedlings I've grown also have yellowish stems with tomentum but don't seem nearly that hairy. I know it's a variable species with a wide range. My Alex's are all pure green on the crownshaft with very silvery undersides, except for two small mystery seedlings which I thought were going to be alexandreae but they have a small amount of that brown tomentum and also less silvery undersides. Starting to suspect that they are hybrids. 

[Harry’s Palms]

Such a lovely palm. Moderate to fast growing , self cleaning , and tolerant of weather events (cold or hot!) . I only have a few but one of mine produced copious amounts of seed so they are planted around my yard waiting to sprout. The slender , smooth trunks and wide canopy and good shade for whatever is planted under them. Harry

[happypalms]

7 hours ago, aabell said:

Not rare but still a nice little palm.

I'm interested to see how much of that brown tomentum this one has. The couple of bangalow seedlings I've grown also have yellowish stems with tomentum but don't seem nearly that hairy. I know it's a variable species with a wide range. My Alex's are all pure green on the crownshaft with very silvery undersides, except for two small mystery seedlings which I thought were going to be alexandreae but they have a small amount of that brown tomentum and also less silvery undersides. Starting to suspect that they are hybrids. 

I know for sure this one is a pure strain being wild collected from habitat. The tomentum is a good indication to me that the genetics are not mixed up. It did come from a large area of rainforest with no chance of cross contamination. I have others wild collected in habitat and they all show and keep the tomentum well. Interesting there is a big difference between the ones in cultivation and habitat.

[happypalms]

6 hours ago, Harry’s Palms said:

Such a lovely palm. Moderate to fast growing , self cleaning , and tolerant of weather events (cold or hot!) . I only have a few but one of mine produced copious amounts of seed so they are planted around my yard waiting to sprout. The slender , smooth trunks and wide canopy and good shade for whatever is planted under them. Harry

There a great palm I have seen some fantastic ones in habitat. Acres upon acres of them and very tall you can’t imagine that still hold upright. There such a popular palm overseas still used in landscaping but not as much now with all the different varieties of palms the landscaping companies use. The chain stores go for the Alexander palms I prefer the bangalow over the Alex anyday. You will have them popping up everywhere they germinate easy even in house gutters if not cleaned out just look at them and they germinate.
Richard 

[Tyrone]

3 hours ago, happypalms said:

I know for sure this one is a pure strain being wild collected from habitat. The tomentum is a good indication to me that the genetics are not mixed up. It did come from a large area of rainforest with no chance of cross contamination. I have others wild collected in habitat and they all show and keep the tomentum well. Interesting there is a big difference between the ones in cultivation and habitat.

I think a lot of bangalows on the market have varying amounts of alexandrae in them. I’ve noticed that the bangalows I’ve got from wild habitat all have that tomentum but a sure way to see if it’s a true Bangalow is the few little whiskers on the back of the leaflet midrib. Only the Bangalow and Archontophoenix purpurea have them. 
 

They’re a great pioneer species to start forming a canopy and my garden would be lost without them. I’m also planning to plant heaps more for that exact reason. A beautiful palm, great planted en masse, and when we’ll grown and we’ll watered are quite a feature, though quite common. 

[Harry’s Palms]

Good to know about the whiskers . Is this on mature specimens as well? I bought two small pots of them from a big box store when they were on sale 25 years ago . I noticed , just by the coloring , that the double in one pot was lighter in color than the single in the other pot. When I folded over the leaf on the darker one it was very silvery . Now the difference is pretty obvious , the Alexandrea is a much more robust palm than the other two Cunninghamiana . Harry

[happypalms]

3 hours ago, Tyrone said:

I think a lot of bangalows on the market have varying amounts of alexandrae in them. I’ve noticed that the bangalows I’ve got from wild habitat all have that tomentum but a sure way to see if it’s a true Bangalow is the few little whiskers on the back of the leaflet midrib. Only the Bangalow and Archontophoenix purpurea have them. 
 

They’re a great pioneer species to start forming a canopy and my garden would be lost without them. I’m also planning to plant heaps more for that exact reason. A beautiful palm, great planted en masse, and when we’ll grown and we’ll watered are quite a feature, though quite common. 

I could only imagine the big chain store growers collecting seeds from any location other than habitat. Most likely around there nursery as stock plants along with Alexander’s. So definitely cross pollination I see rps offer a albang palm archontophoenix cross. Wait until it gets back into the wild stock be more mixed up then a bitza dog breed. A true Australian winner of a palm in habitat and a# you said grown well you can’t beat them for affect.