My coldhardy tropical gardens...an experiment in the works!

it says the T. martianus k. hills will tolerate mild frosts-that doesn't sound very cold hardy if they won't even put the word "freeze" in there. Very nice looking palm though. I think all Trachys are pretty cold hardy though. That one is worth trying.

I was pleasantly surprised by the size of this one, I am going to repot it and wait a year or so before I put it in the ground. I think you should see silver on the backs on any of the true leaves, or at least I got that impression from Tony. Like I said, it was very obvious looking at the two different ones which was the princeps and which wasn't.
Yes, Wallaby, you do need to start a new bed!! There are about 10 or more bananas you could have in the ground right now, 6 or more palms, I can't even begin to count the different gingers ( besides the hedychiums) etc. lol get that shovel out!

Here is another picture of the princeps











v

I'm off to take a pic in a moment, it hasn't got true leaves yet but should have by now!

My T. fortuneii was very quick to grow from a small seedling, I put it in the ground autumn 04 after growing in a greenhouse since getting it spring 1999.

Look at this stem, it's at least 6" diameter, I put my hand around the edge and couldn't reach half way. The pink bit on the right is a leaf, it looks like fingers!

thats a fat boy! Can we see a picture of all of it? Now you have me thinking about the width of the trunk in ratio to the heighth of the palm! Not sure how or why it matters in terms of growth and coldhardiness but I love research...lol . I have four different size Trachys here, and yours would be a fifith to look at and see if the trunk width remains consistent to the growth/heighth of the palm. I think all of mine are fortuneii.

I just took some pics, and got waylaid with fuchsias that needed taking too, I did take one of most of it when I took that but it's buried in die-back poppies. I thought the stem has fattened much nore than the height has progressed as yet, it has got new leaves. They say once established in the ground they can grow a foot a year. I have a pic of it in PF from December last year, when everything around it was more bare.

This I took yesterday from an above angle

well, when you get a chance, would you mind going out and putting a tape measurer around the base of the trunk , and measure the diameter and then measure the total height-to the top of the highest leaf, I guess. I am going to do the same with all of mine and then see if there is anything interesting to see. Yours is defintitely a fortunei, the way those leaves are bending. I think I will do this every year as well.

Done that, the base diameter is spot on 5" diam (don't they look fatter!), height from base to where the leaves first split out from it is 10", height to tip of the new leaf 42".

This is T princeps in front, I put autumn 04 on the label, I think it was early October, I imagine it was germinated early that year. You can see the base spreading, there is a white root just coming through the bottom. The plants behind are T. wagnerianus I grew from seed, sown Sept 04, germinated in 30 and just over days. It was 31 Dec or 1st Jan 05 when they germinated.

I suppose it is on course for growth, one leaf is split, the new one not but it should throw some proper ones soon.

TigerLily,

Just how hardy is the T. princeps.... I haven't heard of that species before (although those pics of it hanging off high mountian cliffs are strikingly simmiliar to what they showed for M. sikhimensis), and how much shade can it take?

The reason I'm asking is because I'm 1 (possibly 1.5 zones colder) than you, and my garden area is in the woods behind the house, and rather shady (although now I cleared the poison ivy out of the Yucca bed in the front yard, I happen to have enough space to plant something there).....

If it is hardy, and tolerant of some shade, then I'll be willing to try it.

BTW, are you trying any Cordyline australis? I am, because I've seen some that almost made it through a normal winter (with -5 temps) in fully exposed containers, and according to the 2Lazy2P alpine test gardens in Colorado Springs, they are reliably root hardy in Zone 5b..... I know that they aren't exactly the same as a Hawaiian Ti plant, but they are a close relative, and a really pretty plant.

Wallaby, have not forgotten about the measuring of the trachys-got sidelined by starting a new bed-the one with the Crepe myrtles...I took all but one out. These dwarf youpon hollies are really tough to get out of the ground-they have been there for 20 yrs and have a root system that is really developed. We are putting a come-along on them today to pull them out. There are over 20 of them! I also started the pansy seeds for the fall crop Friday, so I am getting a little overloaded! It is also hot as hades outside here and the humidity is really bad this year. I am determined to get these plants from Plants Delight in the ground this week though!
Wallaby, I hope that you start seeing that silver coloring on the backs of that buddy soon, cause right now it looks pretty green to me, and that isn't a good sign. The true princeps stands out right away as different -the silver is very obvious-even on the younger leaves.

Hikaro, I really don't have a clue about the cold hardiness of the princeps....lol I saw it and thought it would be a cool Trachy to have here-very unusual silver color to the backs of the leaves. Anything is worth trying, but have you put a needle palm in yet at your house? I would think that you are going to have the most luck with those and the minors.

Heres a picture of the mess I am dealing with right now. Since this pic we have taken out the last of the hollies and the grass in the top right hand corner of the pic.

heres the first load of soil that I have to put into pots...did I mention how hot is it outside ??? lol its supposed to go over 100 this next week.

We're getting hot weather too, and no rain. Not quite over 100 but expected to get warmer, having close on 80 now.

You look to have a BIG job on there! That's a lot of bags of soil.

I am already of the opinion that my T. priceps is likely not to be one, so no disappointment when it shows not to be!

Tigerlily,

I have 4 Needle palms; two small seedlings I got from Tony, and two 3-gallon plants I got at a nursery outside of Either Seneca or Clemson, SC, near where my uncle lives, for $30 each. That nursery also has all sorts of interesting plants, including 3 gallon T. fortuneis, what appeared to be 3 gallon T. takils, and some Washingtonias (I think they were either Filiferas or "Filibusters" (W. Filifera X Robusta), in addition to som phorimums and other plants.

I actually picked up 3 needle palms there, and gave 1 to my best friend's mom (who is an avid gardener), and told her to protect it the first winter (they have some southern magnolias that they've been successfully growing, so they should do okay with the needle palms).