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View Full Version : I'd like a palm tree or two


TrailGaiter
01-11-2012, 08:38 PM
My love of palm trees is what got me into bananas....although I've never had a palm. I'm in S. WI, and would like to get a palm tree or two, if anything, to put on or around my deck. (south facing, plenty of sun).

I know the windmill palm is supposed to be most cold hardy, and needle palms, but I REALLY like the looks of three certain ones,

Blue Mediterranian Fan, Pygmy Date, and Pindo palms.

Would any of these be suitable for container growing? I don't know about wintering them outside with protection (I've seen a lot of how-tos on that), so I'd really prefer to have a potted palm and bring it in the house over the winter. Anyone else do that?

Growth speeds, how do these three rate? I did read that pindo palms are suitable for containers, but what about the other two? And are they suitable for house living for nearly half the year?

And...where's the best place to order? I know there are some who go the ebay route...if so, I'd like recommendations. I bought my basjoos off of Ebay, and have been extremely pleased.

A palm isn't my only purchase plan for this year.... I'll be looking into some more cannas, and perhaps elephant ears.

Angie

But....I would really

Bob3
01-11-2012, 09:51 PM
We have tons of cannas that get mulched & usually keep a few pots of them on hand, so if you want some plain old yellow ones I'd be happy to share as soon as the weather out there gets "sane" again.

I'm originally from NE WI & go back to visit kids (near GB) & sister (outside of MKE) every year as soon as it's "safe" for a wimp like me.

As for palms, all we have are Fan Palms, not really suitable for pots.

palmtree
01-12-2012, 01:41 AM
Pygmy palms do great in pots. They actually can come back from some pretty bad neglect. I underwatered mine many times when they were indoors and they would sometimes lose every frond (and even have spear pull) only to grow them all back when they got more water during the summer time.
Pygmy palms are really common here so you can find them at large sizes at nursuries. I would check your local nurseries too because they are usually sold pretty cheap at nursuries so you can save a lot of money buying locally!

Blue Mediterranean fan palms are also good in pots and you can find them on Ebay (I got my small palm off of Ebay and its healthy, but slow growing!).

I also got my pindo palm off of Ebay and it was a large size. I noticed that they dont grow that well in pots for me (very slow growing), but when they are in the ground, they take off. Now I dont have any potted pindo palms and I just keep mine in the ground and protect them during the winter. They seem a lot happier that way surprisingly.

Windmill palms are great palms. One of mine saw 7F last year and survived with little damages. My other Windmill palms that were protected (I have 3, 2 protected with lights in the protection, and one only protected from rain and snow) survived the winter with absolutely no damage at all.

Good luck! Bananas are great plants, but they look even better with some palms nearby!

Dalmatiansoap
01-12-2012, 07:05 AM
My advice is to buy plants from nearby nursery, course if they have them on sale and if U plan to move them inside for the winter and keep them potted for a long time choose some of Chamaedoreas or Howeas. Its hard to keep Pigmy date in the house due all spines:ha:
:nanadrink:

nph
01-12-2012, 07:55 PM
I would go with the Pindo palm since it looks good and have no spines which are really irritating on the Pygme Date Palm.
I agree it grows slow in a pot but in my experience it is not a fast grower in the ground either and I live in Texas.

Windmill in a pot will grow fast and look really nice, second choice would be Pindo. I have grown palms in Texas for 10 years.

Today I have Pindo, Pygme Date, Foxtail and Queen Palm in pots.
Tried with all of them in the ground but once you hit 12F or below these will all die off. Queen and Foxtail cant take much anything below 30F. My Date Palms, had four of them, survived 4 winters covered and started to grow big when a particular bad winter killed them all. That is when I started with bananas and I now stick with hardy palm trees in the ground.
I just love how fast bananas grow, especially my IceCreams!
:03:

LeRoy Tomes
01-15-2012, 11:36 PM
Hi Angie:waving:

You can get detailed information on most Cold Hardy Palms and other exotic trees and plants at the Hooked On Palms web site at HOOKED ON PALMS (http://www.HookedOnPalms.com) . It has been one of the best easy to use sites I have found on Cold hardy palms. Most if not all your questions will be answered at that site. It is geared for the Pasific NW but the information applys to all. Also they do ship plants all over the US.

have a great day. :03:

LeRoy

TRAY
01-16-2012, 03:01 AM
I would like to recommend 2 that i think do pretty good as potted palms. Got a yucca from walmart and a spindle from lowes. Size will be a problem in the future!

Yucca cane
<a href="http://photobucket.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/mm278/LITEBEERBITCH/BANANA%20PLANTS/BP030-1-1.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

Spindle palm
<a href="http://photobucket.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/mm278/LITEBEERBITCH/BANANA%20PLANTS/BP026-1.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>