Re: Archontophoenix cunninghamiana

Barry,
I wouldn't have thought that you'd get that cold in
Marina, being so close to the sea.  King Palms do just
find in similar conditions near the beach in San
Francisco, but look their best with lots of regular
watering, fertilizing and some protection from
prevailing winds, to keep the leaves looking less
battered and burnt.  Your stats about essential lows
and cold tolerance sound about right, but young palms
are not as cold tolerant as older palms with trunks. 
The Illawara variety may or may not be hardier,
evidence is all anecdotal.  The confirmed hardiest
clones should come from higher elevation grown seed
collected in areas where these regularly freeze in
Australia, but that's not the case with commercial
sources for this palm in California, except by palm
specialists and collectors.  I find they do best if
sheltered from cool marine breezes immediately near
the coast, and will not put on fast growth without
abundant water, (I've got one planted in a shaded
sideyard with no suppemental irrigation and it is
growing, but very slowly).

If you can't protect this from the wind, a Parajubea
cocoides would probably be better in the long run. 


--- Barry Garcia <barry_garcia@csumb.edu> wrote:
> 
> I cant remember if I've talked about this before,
> but, i'm testing out A.
> cunninghamiana in my front garden to see how it
> stands up to things. I
> know, it may be a dissapointment (being marginally
> hardy, and if we get a
> very cold (for Central california) night (around 22
> degrees or so), it may
> be a goner). I will try to keep it's crown shaft and
> emerging spear leaf
> covered on colder nights (below 27 F or so), while
> it still doesnt have a
> trunk. Here's some stats from the Cold Ratings
> Database:
> 
> It seems they are variable at the temps they can be
> killed:
> 
> - 20 F is the lowest, while 25 F is the maximum
> lowest one has been
> killed. 
> 
> - Around 27 F, they get major damage, but survive.
> 
> - they seem to do OK until about 29 degrees F, where
> leaf burn starts to
> set in.
> 
> Hopefully this all makes sense :).  Anyway, i've
> heard of a fairly cold
> hardy variety of A. cunninhamiana named "A.
> cunninghamiana var. Illawara.
> I don't think the one I bought is of the Illawara
> variety, but i'll test
> it out in my garden (it already is growing mature
> leaves (the largest leaf
> has some remnants of the juvenile leaf at the tip).
> I've also heard that
> if they can put on 1 - 3 feet of trunk a season. If
> it doesn't work out,
> i'll just have to speed up a purchase of some
> Parajubaea (which would do
> well here). :)
> 
> 
> ____________________________________________
> 
> Ancient Goth: someone who overthrew the Roman
> Empire.
>  Modern Goth: a vegetarian pretending to be a
> vampire. 
> 


__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Make international calls for as low as $.04/minute with Yahoo! Messenger
http://phonecard.yahoo.com/
Other Mailing lists | Author Index | Date Index | Subject Index | Thread Index