Dypsis ambositrae - Thriving in Shade

Dypsisdean

Dypsisdean

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28/09/07
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Big Island of Hawaii - Kona
This palm is known to tolerate the hot dry areas of Madagascar and is doing well in some of the hotter areas of SoCal as well. Other Dypsis that prefer full sun, just don't do well in the shade - but this seems to be an exception.

This palm is in a very shady spot, and seems to love it. Is it possible this is not really the "true Ambositrae?" This already has four heads on it and is starting to really grow fast now. This was the D. ambositrae that had the bright red new spear as a smaller palm.

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All your photos scream warm and humid. Do you take requests? Bottle Palms for one. I saw a Hawaiian Garden that had a half dozen huge bottle palms with a groundcover of Monstera. wow.
Dypsis baronii. One day that would be nice to try here. I've never seen a photo of one large.

Have you tried the more tropical Ceroxylons? One called C.amazonica sounds like it should thrive in higher Hawaii. Same for my dream palm- C.ventriccosum.
I have a feeling none of the California D.ambositrae are as green as the above .Its hard to top 365days a year fast growth. But,we try!
 
Stan said:
All your photos scream warm and humid. Do you take requests? Bottle Palms for one. I saw a Hawaiian Garden that had a half dozen huge bottle palms with a groundcover of Monstera. wow.
Dypsis baronii. One day that would be nice to try here. I've never seen a photo of one large.

Have you tried the more tropical Ceroxylons? One called C.amazonica sounds like it should thrive in higher Hawaii. Same for my dream palm- C.ventriccosum.
I have a feeling none of the California D.ambositrae are as green as the above .Its hard to top 365days a year fast growth. But,we try!
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Humid - yes. Warm - not really. It is extremely rare to have the temp climb above 80ºF. Low 70s are the highs in winter. And mid-70s in summer. I think it is the nights almost always above 50ºf that makes the biggest difference. The soil temps never get cold.

For example, palms like bottle palms, coconut, lipstick, etc. grow slowly here. I have one lipstick for experimental purposes. And none of the others. But many of the palms that come from some elevation in Madagascar and So. America love it. I have one C. amazonica in a pot still. And would like to try more Ceroxylon. But after my experiences with them in SoCal - they are so slow from one gal to a 15 gal at which time they start to take off. If I could find some with some size, I would plant them.
 
edric said:
It's not D. ambositrae Ron, that's why, Ed
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Even so Eric - whatever this palm really is, most growers have it in full sun, and it is growing well. So I remain surprised, because in my experience, most Dypsis that are thriving in full sun don't tolerate the shade this well.

Do you have any theories about what it could be?
 
Hi Dean, sorry, I was just kidding with Ron, we all know there's a few different species vieing for that spot, you'd think by now they'd figure out which one it is, so I guess this is one of the Ambositrae's, as much as I hate to admit it, Ed
 
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