Rare Alex. palm.

How many 5 headed Alex. palms have you seen in your time ?

It looks like 5 palms that were in the same pot and not separated when planted in the ground. Is that the case? It also looks like a few of the trunks are splitting from being so close to each other.

This is pretty common in SoCal. If you have the room in your garden, you can get them. The odd thing is I always see them in 3s and 5s. Hardly ever 4s.

Is that a seedling on the ground in the last picture?

I think they are splitting because they are crowding each out at the base. I wonder what the long term effects are from this method of planting them? Does it comprise the strength/structure of the palm at the base?

I think you usually see them in 3's and 5's because landscapers plant in groups of odd numbers.

There are no real dangers from this. I think it is natural for this situation. Also, this split is nothing compared to what I have seen in other palms. I have seen Kentias and Queens with 3 foots splits down the middle. It is more aesthetic then anything else.

This message was edited Nov 27, 2006 2:09 PM

I wish I had a picture of two clumps I saw that made me park and get out to check them out. They each had 8-10 trunks and looked to be naturally conjoined and not planted together. I was amazed!!

Ditto on most of the above comments... this is a very common and popular way to plant kings, as they curve naturally like this away from each other to get maximum light, and it makes for a wonderfully tropical effect (like a coconut palm, I guess). Trying this with most other species is a little less satisfying as most don't arch like Kings do. I have seen some queens arch, but barely, and most queens planted in clumps like this end up being a mass of closely spaced columns and impossibly messy head of leaves. Parajuabeas planted similarly, similarly end up straight up and down and not an attractive sight. Howeas will bow out a little, but more often, one just gets most of the nutrition and outgrows the others, and eventually they all end up different heights. Washingtonias will also grow messily, but they eventually seem to outpace each other, at least giving themselves some room for a crown of leaves that is not buried by another. And when growing really tall, they too, finally start to bow out a bit away from each other. But nothing beats kings as solitary plants for this look (there are a lof of suckering palms that do this naturally, but not too many solitary ones that do).

As for the odd number thing, that is a very common philosophy in the landscaping world- think it goes back to the Japanese idea of 4 being a very unlucky number, while 3 and 5 are the opposite. Sometimes palms are planted in pairs... but 3 and 5 are by far the most common.

Here's a genuine branching King Palm at Helga's Nursery in Julatten, Queensland. She has many of these around her parking lot. Some branch so much that they die (10-20 or more branches). All are from a palm that she had in another part of Queensland years ago. About 10 to 20 percent of these 2nd generation plants exhibit the branching habit.

Here's two foxtails that I got growing side by side, when I procured them for this condo south of Daytona, these were all field grown in south Florida

Another branching palm at Helga's.

Whoops...here it is

Hi edric,
Like palmbob said ."Trying this with most other species is a little less satisfying as most don't arch like Kings do."
So it is unusual to see your Pic.
They are lovely Foxes you planted there.

OldNed, I have seen many palms do this before. Chamaerops humilis. Many Phoenix. I have never seen Archontophoenix do this.

Phoenix roebelinii is another that can be planted close together that will look good. I think they look better planted that way as they curve so beautifully.

I think that the odd numbers comes because landscapers plant in triangles and need the odd numbers to make it look right. Straight lines are generally discouraged in the landscape unless its a hedge. Will have to ask some landscape architects if they ever heard that about 4 being an unlucky number. Interesting.

Even though it is not a clumper, P. roebelenii tends to be a multi-trunking palm (like P. reclinata). You can even get suckering roebelenii's.

Archontophoenix is solitary.

This message was edited Nov 27, 2006 6:28 PM

Pic of biggest split in one of my palms.
Thats a biro [ball point] pen stuck on tree.

Ginger, did you move to the spot with all the palms, or where you the one who planted everything?

WebInt
When we bought these 10 acres,
It was one of four dairy cow spelling paddock, side by side.
Cows would graze for one week in one paddock, [ours]
Then one week in number two paddock and so on.
There was not 1 tree on the front 8 acres.
On the back 2 acres there is a very large dam and 8 very big trees.
Our house and my Studio are at the front of the block.
So you can see I have planted every thing. Except for the grass. lol

I don't know about anyone else, but I think those ramified kings are gross. If I wanted a tree that branched I wouldn't plant a palm. I've also seen the photos of robelinis that look like menorahs.

Ginger: 10 acres with over 200 palms in Queensland. Wow. I whine about keeping up with my quarter acre.

osideterry.
Yes it is a lot of work.
You should see what I burn each week.
Approx. 5 cubic metres of old palm fronds.
The ashes go back into the ground a few weeks later.


This message was edited Nov 28, 2006 3:35 AM

I would go nuts with 10 acres !!!! i have 1 acre and am going crazy. Could not imagine. Not to mention you live near one of the best places I have SCUBA dove. Byron Bay. :)

Terry, I agree in regards to those Kings. It is un-natural looking. On P. roebelenii I do not mind it. There is a ramified Chamaerops at B&C Tree on the 15. It is a display. It is really unique to see a Med Fan ramified.

Whoa there.
I only have 2 acres of Palms.
The front paddocks also Have 40 Canary Palms lining the driveway.
But they are no trouble.
Once a year I cut 80% of all fronds away.
So I can get the Ride-on around the Palms.
Thats makes life easy. lol

Another Pic of split palm.
It makes no difference to the palm.
Its just as big as its 2 brothers.

What appears to be splitting at the base is in fact the palm lifting its skirt
So another lot of roots can come out to support the ever increasing weight and height.
You can see where I have broken skirt of.
Within 12 months all these roots will be into the ground.

Web, I would tend to disagree with you on the roebelenii tending to be a multi trunking palm. I think the vast majority of them are solitary, and that people plant them together, based on my years of living in Hawaii working with them-installing them in landscapes, growing them and seeing them everywhere there. We used roebeliniis a lot because they are a small palm and go great where other palms would be too big/tall. Everything that I have read on them also states that fundamentally they are a solitary palm.

I guess we will just have to agree to disagree. :)

I can tell you that in CA, and my experience in Maui, HI, that P. roebelenii is almost always used as a multitrunking tree. In fact if you ever come to Cali, you would be hard pressed to find solitary roebelenii's. Understand I never said it is not a solitary palm. I know it is by its very nature. (Unlike P. reclinata, which each year I receive numerous scars trying to cut out suckers.) Maybe where you were in HI they planted them close together. Here in Cali, they are grown and sold at the nursery as multiple trunk trees. So no need to buy a few and group them really close.

I know different places do things differently with plants. I am heading to Kauai this spring. Maybe they do all solitary plantings there. :)

On a side note, I have noticed more and more that Archontophoenix is being sold as a multi-trunking tree in nurseries. When you see Kings in landscapes, most are solitary. In time I guess that will change like how we see roebelenii's here in CA.

I will agree with both of you. First of all, if you ever drive into Los Angeles proper, like through Santa Monica and Beverly hills, where this palm is used frequently as a landscape plant, by far most of them are planted singly. They grow a lot faster and, I think, look better that way. Saying that, however, the 'original' Phoenix roebellenii described from Asia is a multitrunked, suckering palm from which the single trunk form has been cultivated (so it is not a 'natural' form, though probably in the wild some single trunk specimens exist, but they are certainly not the norm). I have to agree that nowadays finding solitary trunked specimens is rare, at least in home garden centers, where they are super cheap and imported from 'hotter climates' such as Florida. But if you get seed off these (if you can find seed that is not hybridized) they will form single trunk plants normally. Not sure where all the solitary trunked palms growing in LA came from, but that style of planting was obviously in vogue 15+ years ago, as most of those palms are at least that old (some are 15' tall!). Finding the 'true' form of this palm today, that truly does sucker, is difficult- makes a 'messy' clump of dozens of stems that is less ornamental than the solitary forms.

That is very interesting. I would have bet it was a solitary palm first and the suckering ones I see at some nurseries were cultivated. But you certainly know more then I.

What I usually saw on both Maui and the Big Island were containers that had 3 seedlings planted together that were then planted in the ground. Or just the solitary-never more than 3 though-and definitely planted as 3 separate seedlings. That was 20 years ago. I have 2 of the roebeliniis now-one is a solitary-about 6' ( I miss the curve that you get with more than one) and a smaller clump of them that has 4 separate seedlings planted together.
I know they are common, but I still think that you get the total "essence" of a palm with these because they stay so small-of all the palms that I have right now ( about 30 or more? hard to keep count isn't it? lol) its the only one that I have two of...well, except for the outdoor palms, and forgot about the caryotas! and the pritchardias....nevermind, but I do still really like them!

As bob said they bow out and grow at different heights.
Pic shows that perfectly.

Another Pic of new seed pod.

As stated in another thread,
Palm looks pregnant When seed pod is under new frond.
Thats the Palm on right.