Bismarck Palm

My son bought this Bismarck Palm for the yard..He told me that he hasn't seen this kind with this light purplish maroon color leaves..he has 2 that are bluish gray color leaves...

Close up pic

close up of center..sorry pic little fuzzy...

I bought seven Bismarks with this same coloring. They are still in the containers but after two months the colors changed to a bluish grey coloring. They are beautiful but from what i've heard they are slow growers.

I know I'm not the best on this forum at ID, but I am wondering if that isn't the blue latan palm instead? Very pretty!

No, that's a Bismarckia alright. Nice colors, but the purples won't last. However the great pale blue will. At that size it's sort of marginal in your area and may need to be protected over the first few winters. It is a slow palm, but faster than about 70% of the other palms you can grow (so, relatively, it's a fast palm).

Well most of the small palms he has will be greenhoused for this winter until he teaches me how t take care of them when he leaves for Iraq in January..When he returns sometime in spring for leave, Then we will plant the bigger 2 Bismarck Palms in the ground on south side of the house..front yard...All the bigger palms are in front of my house, so if a frost or freeze is predicted..I can run the plastic across the front which is under the eves of the house and use xmas lights if needed..I am prepared when he is gone..LOL

Your bismarck is nice it looks really sharp!

Heres my Bismarck. It started from seed about a year ago! About a month ago the color was more silvery and showy but now the purple color is really coming out.

Ooops here it is...

Cool looking...

I am considering putting one of those in my front yard. I saw one other day in someone's yard and was in awe and lovestruck. They have very large crowns and huge, beautiful leaves.

Dave your always lovestruck.......if it has a frond you love it........lol.........why don't you come by and pick up one of my seedlings...A Christmas gift from me to you........
HO HO HO
Curt

By the way Moodene nice pic's of the Bizzys........And I know I haven't welcomed you to the forum here yet, so welcome and I hope your boy is always safe while he is away.....

If you are ever driving down Wilshire avenue just inland of the 405, there are several public plantings of Bismarckias that are great... still relatively small plants (nothing with any decent trunk yet)... but some day it will be an awesome sight. IN fact, Wilshire ave is full of cool palms- two huge Rhopalostylis and a bunch of some of the largest Jubaeopsis in the US live on that short stretch between the 405 and San Monica blvd. If you are driving near UCLA ever you should check them out. And there is a great botanical garden in UCLA that also has some amazing palms. All well kept secrets so far.

Thanks for the welcome..I will be here more often. My son will let me take a pic of him tomorrow with some of his palms..It has been raining off and on all day today..We have been burning alot of tree limb debris from Hurricane Ike and the yard is looking better..we are planting few palms tomorrow in the ground..another queen palm and something else..I gotta learn these names if I am gonna talk palm talk..lol..

Thankyou Radman for this gift. You are too generous! It's a way to make sure at least one of your stock survives. haha

These are 2 that I bought a few weeks ago for about $16 each. At Home Depot. I am waiting to plant them out til the Spring, but they have already seen at least 4 nights of 28-32 and done fine. Its the 22-28 I am worried about

very nice gothqueen. I am surprised I don't see more of them in peoples yards since they are so afforable and available now. Anyone down in my area should check out the specimen in front of Garden Grove Fire Dept. They also have some nice Roystoneas too.

we see them at Home Depots too here in California, but a palm that size sure ain't no $16... they are about $50 here (which is good cause they were $80)

I do remember plants being a lot more expensive in Los Angeles than here

My son went back and bought 2 more like his first one..They cost him about $15 bucks each..were $59..I think..so now he has 5 total here..sheeze..this place gonna turn into a palm paradise along with my tropical plants as well...

DOn't worry Moodene...Bizzies are really slow growing so you'll have a long while to enjoy them. But once they get big, watch out...there are some absolutely huge specimens at the Fairchild Gardens in Miami that are so beautiful it makes you cry

my tearducts went all dried up

I had a photo of them on a disc that I can't find from when we visited a few years ago. There is a line of very silver Bizzies, maybe 6? And in front some huge very very orange specimens of Aechmea blanchettiana bromeliads. The color contrast was stunning. The Aechmeas were about 4 ft tall. Just gorgeous.

I know my son said something about visiting that place..but will have to wait when he gets back from Iraq..my daughter and her family I think is moving to north part of Florida to an Air Force base right off the beach..OH BOY..me will be visiting more often..they are currently in Maryland...