What is yur favorite palm tree or 2 or 3 if you cant decide

[Palmerr]

My favorite is Sabal Palmetto (With dead foliage and that signature circle that ends at the bottom look) Second probably Foxtail palm just such a pretty palm!

[Darold Petty]

Hedyscepe

[ahosey01]

Juania australis

Dypsis marojejyi

Caryota gigas

Acrocomia crispa

The first two I cannot grow in hot, sticky, 10A Texas.

[Palmerr]

Mk! some variety

[Harry’s Palms]

Wodyetia

Roystonia

Caryota

Dypsis/ Chrysalidiocarpus

Harry

[ASHCVS]

Neoveitchia storckii

[Palmerr]

You guys ike a lot of exotic palms guess it makes sense but. yeah!

[SeanK]

Mature Brahea armata are very attractive.

[Kim]

Clinostigma samoense (aka warburghii)

Kerriodoxa elegans

Chrysalidocarpus pauciflora (I think that is the correct name -- aka "Orange Crush")

All these photos are a few years old now, palms have grown. Ask me again tomorrow and I'll have 3 different favorites. 😄

[DoomsDave]

Hmmm.

For starters, for now…

Chambeyronia hookeri.

 

Chysalydocarpus leptocheilos aka Teddy Bear

[Harry’s Palms]

I could imagine favorites of palms I can’t grow here. There is a list! Harry

[idontknowhatnametuse]

Acrocomia aculeata, the ones with dead folige look the best too.

[DoomsDave]

Pant pant LICKY!

There’s more. I’m with @Kim on this one: maybe different tomorrow.

Archontophoenix Slapsie Maxie

 

Chambeyronia hookeri again!

[Jim in Los Altos]

This is a tough question since thee are so many I love. Here’s a few that are at the top of my list. 
 

Chambeyronia macrocarpa and hookeri (Flamethrower palm)

 

 Chrysalidocarpus decipiens (Manabe palm)

 

Rhopalostylis baueri 

 

Howea forsteriana (Kentia palm) and Archontophoenix genus (King palms) 

[DoomsDave]

45 minutes ago, Harry’s Palms said:

I could imagine favorites of palms I can’t grow here. There is a list! Harry

Bet you can grow any I can!

[greysrigging]

Normanbya normanbyi... the Queensland Black palm.
I have one that decided to branch about 5 years ago... no idea why... lol
 

[greysrigging]

I love these guys... extremely rare in cultivation... a Top End of the Northern Territory, Australian native species - Hydriastele ramsayi

 

[Neil C]

Chamaerops humils vulcano

[happypalms]

Do you need to have a favourite they all are. But my top three are as follows.vonitra utilis chambeyronia macrocarpa And my absolutely favourite Kerriodoxa elaegans 

[ChrisA]

Here’s my current list as of this second, subject to change of course any second now!

Brahea brandegeei

Washingtonia robusta - well cared for and well trimmed

Copernicia baileyana

Sabal mauritiiformis 

Coccothrinax readii - the tree on the left side of the photo. I believe the most obvious tree in the photo is Thrinax radiata. C. readii was so thin and slight, and looked great next to this patio at Fairchild.

Doing this from my iPad so not sure what order the photos will show, but anyhow…

Edited November 20, 2024 by ChrisA
Explanation

[flplantguy]

Mine are always what i cant have, its been that way everywhere i've lived.  Socratea, Dictyocaryum, anything from the seychelles, that kind of stuff. "holy grail" plants. But i also love very common plants that arent palms, so i guess im a bit palm (tree in general) picky.  That being said i will grow almost any palm as long as thorns are minimal and its not a queen lol.

[Jonathan]

12 hours ago, greysrigging said:

I love these guys... extremely rare in cultivation... a Top End of the Northern Territory, Australian native species - Hydriastele ramsayi

They really are the bomb...bright green crownshaft, tight curving leaves, perfect...like an improved H belmoreana (no offence to Howeas but a good crownshaft is hard to beat).

Lucky buggers up there!

[ahosey01]

12 hours ago, greysrigging said:

I love these guys... extremely rare in cultivation... a Top End of the Northern Territory, Australian native species - Hydriastele ramsayi

 

Where in NT do these grow specifically?

[greysrigging]

8 minutes ago, ahosey01 said:

Where in NT do these grow specifically?

The grow in the seasonally wet country east of Darwin and out towards Arnhemland
From Palmpedia:
"Distribution:—The central northern portion of Australia’s Northern Territory including the Cobourg Peninsula and Melville Island. Also reported from the north eastern portion of the territory (Dowe 2010).

Habitat:—Open eucalypt woodland dominated by seasonal drought and frequent wildfires, on sandstone slopes or flat ground on sandy soil, lowland."
My pics are from near Gunn Point and Leader's Creek about 60klm north east of Darwin.
 

[iDesign]

Easy answer - Dypsis Chrysalidocarpus (that counts as ONE right?)

As much as I love my Licualas, Chambeys, Archies, etc... no one can convince me there's a palm genus with more variety in size, shape, color and cool factor as my beloved Chrysalidocarpus collection.

Only one of these is my palm (the mealybug) - and mine might not grow to be *quite* as glorious as these (since I'm in CA not Hawaii). But I still love all of them - especially the colorful ones - and think it's the best genus of them all, when taken as a whole.

Palms shown: C. carlsmithii, C. baronii "black stem", C. decipiens, C. mananjarensis ("mealybug"), C. hovomantsina, C. onilahensis ("weepy" type), C. leptocheilos ("teddy"), C. saintelucei, C. paucifolius ("orange crush")

 

[Brad52]

In this moment I would say  V joannis, K elegans and Obi Island.

[Emman]

Phoenix dactylifera is probably my favorite palm tree

Sabal palmetto and phoenix canariensis tied as second favorites

Then caryota mitis, archontophoenix alexandrae, livistona decora, veitchia arecina.

I actually like borassus flabellifer much better than bismarckia nobilis.

 

[Merlyn]

As a single favorite, definitely Beccariophoenix Alfredii.  It's a giant coconut lookalike, with hardiness easily to 25F with frost.  The only downside is their hurricane toughness, due to the giant fronds and tendency to be unstable when young.  But my 5x 20-25 foot tall palms went through Hurricane Helene and Milton with no issues.  In previous storms they had a tendency to tilt over, up to 30-45 degrees in a couple of cases.  This is one of my bigger ones, just before I "hurricane cut" the low hanging fronds:

 

[tim_brissy_13]

Difficult to narrow down but if pressed I generally go with Hedyscepe canterburyana. So many others can be a favourite on any given day. I love all Chambeyronia species, all Chrysalidocarpus species, all Basselinia, all Geonoma, all blue/silver fan palms etc etc. I’m up in Cairns at the moment and there’s a whole world of amazing tropical species too that I typically somewhat ignore because I can’t grow them. Well grown specimens of Iriatea, Tahina, Corypha, Metroxylon, Marojejya, Vershaffeltia and Johannesteijmannia are other-worldly. 

[TropicsEnjoyer]

It’s not easy to pick favorites but I have to say my current #1 is Phoenix Dactylifera, they’re what got me into palms and they’re just so stately and regal. 

Close 2nd is the classic coconut. Grew up around these and they’re just the essence of tropics imo.

And third is a tough choice too, i’ll give it the bismarck. I would say medemia or borassus but i haven’t seen those in person yet. Just can’t beat the blue on a healthy bizzy.

[MoPalm]

I love all Howe Island palms, but specifically Howea Forstriana. 

[greysrigging]

2 hours ago, MoPalm said:

I love all Howe Island palms, but specifically

I've worked on Lord Howe Island and there is no finer sight than seeing Howea Forstriana in natural habit forests...

[OriolesRock100]

Love me a nice thick sabal palmetto or phoenix canariensis. Jubaea chilensis is legendary and though I’ve never seen one in person, I’d imagine I’d love them. Adonidia Merrillii are stunningly beautiful and compact which I love about them. If I lived somewhere I could grow them though, the number one is definitely the quintessential palm tree - the coconut palm

[Palmfarmer]

Of the ones I own it’s my Howea Forstriana, Ravenea rivularis and Brahea Armata. 
 

for the ones I want to to find it has to be Parajubaea, Jubaea and a Mule.
Love Butias as well, but I allready own 3.  

[Yunder Wækraus]

Royal palm, Chilean wine palm, and a healthy foxtail in all its vigor here in Far North Queensland (my yard this morning)

[JD in the OC]

My all time 3 favorites are 

Chambeyronia hookeri (far left)

Caryota ophiopellis (far right)

Cyrtostachys renda

[RedRabbit]

Coconut, Satakentia, Rhapis excelsa.

The last one is a weird choice but I think they look cool when you view them up close, while the other two can be appreciated from afar. 

[wimmie]

Everything with a lot of color, so Dypsis lutescens, orange/yellow Cocos nucifera, Cyrtostachys lakka(photo 2), and also Chamaerops humilis(photo 3), Phoenix dactylifera(photo 1), Chameadorea metallica and many, many, many more!

[CascadiaPalms]

oh Gosh...what I can actually grow in my area?  Probably the common but famous Trachycarpus Fortunei.

On my wish list...I like the Queen/King/Royal look.  I could probably grow them in my area, but it's a tad risky.