I go out to water or weed my potted palms almost daily. Many of them are beginning to outgrow their pots. Larger pots do the trick when I can get around to up-sizing. The specimens that I have planted in my garden are an on-going saga in themselves. I am always amazed when I see the amount of growth that some of the trees exhibit in a short length of time. Then, there are those that are quite slow growing. I was looking at a seedling of Corypha umbraculifera which is barely six inches tall and sports just a couple of leaves that give no indication of what the grown tree will look like. This is a monster of a fan palm when it is full grown, but it is one of the slowest growing seedlings in my experience of growing palms over the last thirty years. I may not see this tree in its full maturity, much less see it flower and seed. Nevertheless, I will plant it in the garden for the next generation to enjoy. I have seen mature trees in other gardens. The adolescent plant is awsome, the leaves are on stout stems (petioles) that stretch at least ten feet from the trunk holding massive undulating fan-shaped leaves close to fifteen feet in diameter; the whole palm spreads across an area forty feet in diameter. It’s as big as a house. I’ll definitely need to plan ahead in locating this tree in the garden.
Corypha umbraculifera (adolescent), Foster Garden, Honolulu
The new nursery area is located where a fishpond will be built one day, hopefully not to long from now. At his time, most of the potted plants have been moved here; there are a few more to move and some benches to be built into the surrounding slopes outside the circle of Pinanga batanensis palms.
Yesterday I was admiring the Pigafetta filaris that is starting to come into its own in the garden. This tree is one of the fastest growing palms in the world. In its native habitat it is know to grow three feet of trunk in a year. My tree is getting ready to start showing trunk. It is quite a thorny devil, I don’t think there are any animals, including man, who are willing to harm the growing point of this tree. I don’t think the thorns persist on the trunk of the tree, in fact, the crown may even shed them when the tree has gained adequate height to insure foraging animals are unable to get to the leaves.
Pigafetta trunk detail
Pigafetta filaris (or elata?) It is a fast grower.
There is a sole specimen of Lemurophoenix halleuxii that I have among my potted palms. It is starting to gain some momentum in its growth. This one is said to look like a massive Majesty Palm. There are two Majesty Palms in the ground out front near the highway. They are not growing very fast. Majesties are water lovers, their botanical name is Ravenea rivularis. The rivularis part of the name indicates it grows near rivers or bodies of water. So I planted them in a spot where the surface water coming off the highway collects. I’m thinking the Lemurophoenix may also find that location suitable. It would be great to see them growing near each other. There is a Caryota maxima growing out front too. They are giant fishtail palms. This one is starting to take off. It will reach a height of 100 feet or so with leaves extending out some twenty or more feet in all directions. The leaves make me think of the leaves of a maiden hair fern plant my grandmother called the Chinese lantern.
Pa Kanu Ola, Garden of Life Essence 