Palms & Dracaena
Palms
Palms are probably the most important element in the garden with 45 palms planted to provide structure, shade and colour. I will probably plant more as I find interesting varieties.
Cyrtostachys Renda [Red Wax Palm]
Red Wax Palm. Planted in September 2014, Cyrtostachys renda and can grow to 16 meters. This palm type has been the 2nd slowest grower in the garden which surprised me as was under the impression that they would be a rapid grower. This plant does not need a lot of space initially, it is a good compact clumping variety that puts out multiple offshoot trunks from the base of the plant. It is also a palm that likes wet "boggy" conditions.
Be careful when looking to buy these Red Wax palms, there is a similar kind with soft pinkish stems; which is probably not what you want. The sellers are not motivated to be precise, so bide your time, if in doubt, don't buy.
Dypsis Lutescens [Yellow Palm]
Dypsis Lutescens - Yellow Palm. Planted in September 2014 and expected to grow between to 6–12 m. This variety has powdery, yellow golden crownshafts with green / yellow leave spines making it an attractive addition. Grows quickly, probably only 6 months between pictures.
When the fronds get old, they can change to orangery gold colour before drying up.
January 2018, this one plant surprised me and started to flower.
Progressively tiny small flowers begin to appear from their hard grape like coverings. When I see the flower stalks, I cut them off while they as small before they get too their maximum size of 1.5 meters as not interested in letting the plant seed and prefer that plant spends its energies on growing taller, also they begin to become so numerous that the plant looks untidy.
Many palms in the garden have already produced multiple offshoot trunks that are beginning to splay outwards. The Yellow palm and the Red Wax palms have each been planted as singular specimens with about 3-4 meters of space on either side to give them ample space to spread out and to be appreciated. The Yellow palm palm stems will splay out significantly; whereas the red wax trunks tend to point upwards in a tighter configuration, the Rhapis Exselsa Palm produce multiple stems and tend to get dense / bushy rather than tall.
Rhapis Exselsa Palm
Rhapis Exselsa Palm. Planted in September 2014 and now only established in three groups, I had more plants, but they perished for unknown reasons which is unusual as this type of palm is known for being super tough. I have read that they can grow to 4 meters tall, the thin stems are covered with a fibrous material which overtime falls away to reveal a thin stem that looks a bit like a bamboo cane.
This palm is a bit like bamboo, in that is sends out "runners", so that stems can appear quite a distance from it original spot. As a consequence of spreading it can expand widthwise faster than it grows taller. This palm is the slowest grower in height in the garden, my tallest if probably just two meters tall. I have a couple of variegated versions in the garden as well.
Wodyetia bifurcata [Foxtail Palm]
Foxtail Palm [Wodyetia Bifurcata] sometimes known locally as Hawaiian Palm, even though it comes from Australia, which sort of typifies the low level of horticulture knowledge locally. I have 60+ of these in the property, initially 26 of these palms became the cornerstone of the garden outline. While they were short they sat in the garden and it was tempting to plant them close together, but as they grow they become less obtrusive at ground level; but spread out above. They will get to a height 10-15 meters and carry about 8 - 14 arching fronds at a time. Planting distance between each palm was about 3 to 3.5 meters.
As the palms mature the base will swell and the trunks expand in thickness, with prominent leaf scars leaving rings on the trunks. 13 palms were planted in the garden at the front of the house in September 2014 and 13 smaller ones at a later date in the back garden, followed by another 5 in 2017. Interestingly the smaller 2014 plants are not far behind the others after 2 years.
Not to be forgotten, these palms cleanly let go of their fronds when they are finished, which is good no need to climb to remove them. I have had to replace about 6 palms as they died because a beetle that burrows into the crown and eats the base of the growing tip, which kills them. The lack of growing tip means the palm dies over a long period as there is not fronds replacing the ones that fall off, so it might take a year and your left with only a trunk.
In January 2018 several plants surprised me and started to flower, then over the next year almost all flowered The flowers are dainty and miniature coconut like fruit are held like bunch of grapes on large stalk. The fruit turn bright red when ripe with and add an extra bit of colour in the garden. Apparently the peach/nectarine like orange flesh is eatable, the hard seed inside is poisonous to eat, although the flesh nor the seed smelt bad or smelt toxic. However I dont see anything really eating the seed flesh, so I guess it is not tasty.
The fruit in the picture were the first ripe fruit that I collected in the garden [October 2019] , the seeds have irregular germination duration and tend to take several months to germinate. I now cut off the emerging seed branches as the seeds germinate so easily that I have lots of them turning up in unexpected places.
Veitchia merrillii Golden Palm
Veitchia merrillii Golden Palm does not like full sun until it is established. I had three which perished and have had to replaced them with three small plants which were put in a better location that gets some shade and more care. It is not known what height they will grow to, I have seen a couple at possibly at 4 meters tall, but most of them seem to be bushy and about 2 -3 meters tall .
They are not fast growers, there is about 2.5 years difference between the two pictures. These palms eventually seeded and those seeds germinate easily, most of them are yellowish , some are greener than the parent plant, thus were discarded. I now have 17 small plants along the road side
Fishtail Palm
I was given a couple of these palms when they were small, they are hardy fast growers and within a couple of years they 4 or 5 meters tall. These palms put out numerous new stems from the base and it doesn't take long for them to dominate. I kept 5 trunks and remove the rest when I see them. The trunks are fibrous and does not shed the old leave fronds cleanly, indeed its a bit of messy, but it does have an attractive leaf shape.
Even though the plants are quite young, they have seeded already.
Dracaena's
Whenever there is an opportunity to get another interesting variety of Dracaena, I will get it. Mine have mostly been bought locally as small plants and now just waiting for them to grow large.
Dracaena Reflexa [Song of India]
Song of India [Dracaena Reflexa] is an attractive plant that will grow surprisingly tall. I bought a tall one [2.5m] and many smaller ones. These plants can survive the driest / harshest of conditions. Leaves are glossy leathery texture. Easy to propagate, if a branch gets broken, just place it in some damp / moist soil and it will probably survive. the root structure of these plants becomes very dense mat surounding the plant.
Dracaena braunii 'Ceres'
Dracaena braunii 'Ceres', likes some shade and it does not grow tall, maybe 1 meter, with only 6 small examples , as received mine as cuttings , it will take some time for them to get one meter as mine have grown very slowly.
The plants are small enough that they could get lost in the garden especially if they are put in a spot where weeds can overtake them.
Dracaena Surculosa Milky Way
I did not know how slow growing these plants were, when I planted them a couple of years ago, I thought they would faster growers, they take months to produce a new leaf. I estimate that there is about two years difference between the first picture and the one taken in October 2019.
I have had to plant them near walls so that people do not inadvertently think they are weeds and remove them.
Dracaena Red Scarlet
I bought about 10 Dracaena Red Scarlet in 2016 from the local garden center and stuck them in various spots where I thought a gap might appear in a few years as they are narrow growers until they grow taller, then they will branch and spread out. I put mine in when they were about 0.3 of a meter tall. It has probably taken a year for the plant to triple in size. In this picture a shaft of morning sunlight is highlighting the plants colours.
In July 2017 bought 20 more to create a group plantings that will take a few years to establish themselves. The plants easily get to about three meters tall, then the branches bend over at odd angles with shoots /branches appearing, making the branches bend over more due to the additional weight.
