Chambeyronia Species, Blushing Palm, Flame Thrower Palm, Houailou Red Leaf Palm, Red Feather Palm

Great palm! Only downside is the slow growth. Smaller seedlings in my unheated greenhouse produce 3-4 leaves per year, but my larger Ch...Read Moreambeyronia in the ground only gives about 2. Mine is happy with 1/2 day sun, but would probably be a deeper green with more shade.

This beatiful palm thrives in the San Francisco Bay area, and survives well inland in the Sacremento Valley. There is a great specimen in...Read More Modesto California, although it is still.

Probably the best of all the New Caledonia palms for the USA. Not a fast grower, but faster than nearly all the other New Caledonia palm...Read Mores, and relatively easy and hardy... relatively.. .does NOT like desert heat, dry winds (or winds of any variety for that matter), blazing hot inland sun, salty air or soils or severe frosts. Mine always damaged in So. California when temps get down below 30F... Will survive temps down to about 26F but much below that will often kill plant outright unless extremely short period of freeze and quickly warms up well the next day. Relatively common in cultivation now, though still not a palm likely to show up at a garden outlet store.

Prized for its long arching leaves of deep green and wide, oval/lancelote leaflets somewhat leathery in consistency. The crownshaft is prominent and very ornamental and comes in various colors (see below). And the best thing is the new red leaf for which it gets its silly common names (recent nursery inventions... not 'official' names to be sure).

There are forms of Chambeyronia, that do not spout flaming red new leaves like the 'normal' variety. There is a 'green' form, that looks just like the new red-leaf form, only the new leaves are green. Still an attractive palm, but without that extra bit of fireworks once a year. There is also a yellow trunk/petiole form, called C macrocarpa var. hookeriana... I think that one is described elsewhere, but basially it is the same palm, only having a yellow trunk instead of a green one. THen there are some forms in between... like 'watermelon' variety (has green trunk, speckled with yellow linear dots, making it look sort of like a watermelon rind). And last, but not least, is form Houaliou. This form is unique in its seedling leaf formation having very large, wide, fused leaflets (bifid leaves) with ornamental yellow-gold midrib. Eventually this palm's leaves begin to split with age and it ends up looking a lot like a regular Chambeyronia except with an exaggerated arch or recurving of the leaves. Highly sought after form as it is still fairly rare in cultivation but pretty sure it's just a fad, as soon as folks figure out nothing unique about the look of this palm as a big palm, except NO red leaves.

Does very well on both coasts of the US, and exceptionally well in Hawaii of course (as do about all the New Caledonian palms).

This mostly tropical tree is grown for it's very wide 'feather' (as opposed to palmate) leaflets, and brilliant red or pink new leaf, as ...Read Morewell as its very tropical looking ringed trunk and smooth dark green or yellow crownshaft (leaf base between trunk and leaves). It is one of the hardier tropicals grown in California and Florida, though I don't know if it's growing in any other states on the mainland. It is also one of the most beautiful palms in cultivation.

It takes cold down to around 28F and has significant leaf damage below that. Temps below 25F will usually kill it outright. High temps will also stress it out, and it cannot grow in climates like Palm Desert or Phoenix. It is mostly untested as a house plant, but is not very tolerant of very low humidity or very low light, and it is especially attractive to white fly.

This palm is a slow grower, taking up to 10 years to get to maturity in California, and perhaps 8 in S Florida. It takes a lot of water, though the soil doesn't have to be kept constantly moist. High winds will shred the leaflets, so plant in a protected area.

Varieties of this palm occur: C macrocarpa 'hookeri' is a yellow-trunked form, and there is a 'watermelon' form that has a spotted green and yellow trunk (rare). Most specialty palm nurseries carry this palm, or it can be ordered bare root from Hawaiian nurseries.