"Entire leaf" palms vs pinnate palms...what's your fave?

I like pinnate palms a lot and have quite a few in my collection, but I really find myself drawn more to entire leaf palms, those that have interesting undivided leaves. My collection of palms in young, I don't have any plants over about 8-9 years old, so most of them are still quite smallish. All of them are greenhouse grown except for the things that are reliably hardy here (Pygmy date, Trachy, Needles, Sabals, Pindos etc). I chose a lot of them because they were "rare" for one reason or another...mostly I chose the ones that were endangered due to habitat loss, figuring that if I had a specimen, at least I'd know there was still one left somewhere, LOL.

This is one of my favorites, Arenga hookeriana. I think the leaves are just too cool. So far it's been pretty slow growing but I think it will eventually get a big bushy crown, as it doesn't have to contend with wind or the elements. It makes a very good container palm.

Please post photos and discussion about your favorite palms.

I was extremely lucky when I bought my house that I had two mature Canary Island Date Palms already growing on the property. In December of '06 we had them trimmed up and pineappled. I think CIDP's are my favorite because they get so amazingly huge they are just awesome in the true sense of the word.

My next favorite are coco palms but alas, can't grow them here. So we did the next best thing and planted a double Kentia (Howea forsteriana) down next to the pool, replacing two Mexican Fan palms that were starting to outgrow the space. Also transplanted a nice tri-Pygmy Date Palm right next to it. So now we have a pretty nice ensemble of palms in our backyard, including a fishtail, a foxtail, another smaller tri-Kentia, a 10-trunked Phoenix reclinata that's in the process of just now coming back from a horrible whack-session from my gardener's young assistant... good thing it's hard to kill one of those. Also have growing back there several tall Queens, a King and others I can't even remember the names of! LOL

This message was edited Oct 18, 2008 9:22 AM

Now I remember, it's a Rhapis palm! It's in an area that's so overgrown I forget it's there. But I really like Rhapis too! Rather unusual leaf formation for a palm tree. Slow growers too. This one is about 8 y/o I think...

Your place is gorgeous!!
There are a lot of mature Canary Island dates around here, especially over in the historic district. They are gorgeous palms. Our across the street neighbor in the old neighborhood had 3 planted on the easement that had been there 30 years. It was nice to be able to look over at them. Our yard did not have a single palm, but we had 100 year old Live Oaks.
People like to plant Rhapis here next to the front door because they are so slow growing they don;t take over a space too fast. I have a Rhapis relative that I really like, Chuniophoenix nana, and a couple of Variegated Rhapis palms that are pretty cool.
I think my favorite palm is Salacca magnifica. Mine has gotten to the point that it has produced a frond that is about 10 feet long, and has another spike developing that should be equal to that. Its gotten so tall that I can't find a good angle to photograph it anymore, and I had to take its photo in stages, LOL.

#1:

This is #2:

And the very top:

This is the last photo I was able to get it into the frame in an "almost whole" condition, back in July when it was throwing that new largest frond:

Salacca magnifica,
Wow,what a cool looking palm,another name to add to my collection!!

Nice palms, goth. That Arenga hookeriana is very very special. Your Salacca is also quite substantial and very beautiful. How do you keep them so healthy in your zone? Anyway, I covet your palms!

Tropicman- at some point, you may want to bend down/cover the spines on the Sallaca if you get one. I know the way you pot up and move things around....you can sacrifice the bottom few inches of spines and pick it up when it is little. Later you will have to wrap a large piece of cloth around the base of the trunk and then hang the palm with two ends of the cloth from a long piece of wood with two persons on each side to lift and handle it. I love palms with spiny trunks......probably because I had never seen one prior to moving to this zone.

I keep the greenhouse at a minimum of 55 in the winter at night. I also follow a serious regimen for fertilizing, including micronutrient sprays 4 times a year. They are protected from wind and sunburn, so they manage to stay looking good as they don;t have to contend with anything harsh. Coddled is what they are, LOL.

The spines on the Salacca are really, really wicked. It was a single palm when I got it, but now there are at least 3-4 in the clump. I don't know how to remove the babies, and I don;t want to risk hurting the mother plant, so I have left them on.

I have a few other very very spiny palms, a Ruffle Palm and a V. splendida. I have backed into the Ruffle a couple times, its pretty large, and its pretty painful when it sticks you in the bum.

This is my "baby" V. splendida. I love its leaves, they are just so architecturally cool

I have some Joey Diamond palms that I really like, they are finally starting to get some size to them but still infants

And for ones that stay smaller (and could be suitable for houseplants) you can't beat the Chamie Ernest August's Palm

We had a discussion once on this forum about pinnate palms versus palmate palms.......but, to me entire leaf palms blow them both out of the water. They are rare, tropical, and splendid when in good condition. Your palms are so beautiful!

A second caution about loving spiny palms.....not only does it hurt when you back into them, but you always get a welt or some sort of minor or major infection with a prick. Double the ouch.

LOL I know...I also have very nasty reactions to the scrapes you get from Bromeliad spines. Nasty enough to require antihistamines. I was looking for a photo of my ruffle palm but can;t seem to locate it.

This is a kinda busy photo, but I think you can pick the palm out

Those Salacca's are unbelievable. Real stunners! Awesome spines on those petioles. Looks like the spines have spines! I got stuck one time when I tried to trim the CIDP's the first year I lived here. A good one in the ankle from a frond that was on the ground. Never again, I will hire professionals from now on.

I have a few favorites.. .this is Bactris milataris... sort of a 'poor man's Salaca magnifica, but the leaves are actually neater and tidier, but it suckers a lot sometimes nullifying the impressive effect.

as they get large they sort of lose some of their appeal

Some Calyptrocalyx have nice color to the new leaves.

Some Dypsis have nice leaves (lantzeana)

this is Dypsis louvellii

Hard to beat this Geonoma epetiolata!

Licuala cordata is also one of my favorites.. unlike all the palms previously mentioned this is an entire leaf form of a Palmate leaf, not a pinnate leaf.

But probably the most magnificent of all the entire leaf plants is Marojejya... nice color and massive size (leaves up to 15' long)

Here's a Salacca from Hawaii

Here's another nice palmate whole leaf: Licuala orbiculata

Here's a palm that I can actually grow here in California, though not for more than 3-4 years (it eventually fades and croaks): Dypsis sp. Monalingo

almost forget this species: Asterogyne... great palm (again, can't grow here in California.. .sigh)

Phoenicophorum is a nice one if you like large wide 'mostly' unsplit leaf palms

Pelagodoxa is supposely an entire leaf palm, too, but it also is usually split a bit from winds and age.

by the way, Phoenicophorums have nice new leaf color, too (sort of like Verschafeltiis only darker)

will end this with another photo of Bacrtris militaris... nice (but spiny) palm!

FOF,being a welder I have lots of pairs of leather gloves!!!
Some very nice looking palms!Bob!

I have a few of those you posted. I have a Bactris miltaris but its very very small. I also have Licuala cordata and Licuala orbicularis. This is my L orbicularis...its a baby

I also have a pretty nice sized Pelagodoxa henryana, not as big as the one in your photo though

You could grow an Asterogyne martiniana in So Cal if you had a greenhouse, LOL. This is mine, its one of my favorites

This is a very young Iguanura wallichiana (did I spell that correctly??). Its pretty neato

Neat! My favorite out of all of these is the Licuala orbiculata!

Goth, nice Aiphanes. In fact, nice all of them. There is a lock on the greenhouse, right? ...... ;-)

PB- you are spectacularly organized. Thank you for introducing me to 2 new genera. Yes, that Phoenicophorum color is too much. Reminds me a little of a burghundy form Areca vestiaria.

palmbob, I love those Licualas. The L orbicularis is wonderful! I have a fond memory of a favorite "French" restaurant in Puerto Vallarta Mex. with some kind of Licuala (I think it was a cordata) growing as a parlor palm in the foyer. I had never seen anything like it before and since then I have wished I could grow a Licuala here in my 10b, but most of them I guess there's no way. Except the peltata which my gardener's young assistant also accidently chopped off the only growing frond with a weedwhacker. I think it's dead although the tip of it is still green. I hope I'll be able to keep it going somehow... Licaulas are expensive.