Palms
Episode: #17 11/08/07
Presenter: Phil Dudman
If you would like to create a tropical look in your garden, then palms are the ideal choice, just the way their leaves hang, so gracefully, pop a few of these around through out your planting scheme, and instantly you begin to get that relaxed resort feel. Another thing, they are excellent for creating shade, especially in small gardens and narrow walk ways, and their tall clean stems allow plenty of space for all those colourful understorey gems, including cordylines and bromeliads.
Most of us associate palms with warmer climates, so how can you create such an amazing look in a cooler area? You may be surprised; there are quite a few palms that do really well.
The Bangalow Palm (Archontophoenix cunninghamiana) will go well as far south as Melbourne as long as it is out of the frost. With its long slender trunk it is excellent for that mass grove type tropical planting effect it is self cleaning too which means old frons fall off cleanly and easily.
Foxtail Palm (Wodyetia bifurcata) is another favourite; it is also self cleaning and again has a nice slim trunk. Only this one lends itself more to prominent end positions where you can enjoy its shower of foxtail frons.
The Kentia Palm (Howea forsteriana) is a classic selection for cooler areas, popular all over the world it is quite slow growing so put it in a spot in the understorey so you can enjoy its timeless beauty for many years to come.
Raphis palm has a gorgeous kind of finger like look in the leaves it allows you to make some very interesting textural effects in the under story. It is a multi trunked variety as well, so once it gets up it is a really good one for screening.
Golden Cane Palm (Dypsis lutescens), another multi stemmed and clumping beauty that is great for screening. Because of its form it will give you that clumping palm grove look all on its own. It copes with full sun too and that is where it really takes on that golden colour.
So there you go, it is good to know that even in the cooler areas there are a handful of palms you can use to transform your garden into a tropical paradise.
Presenter: Phil Dudman
If you would like to create a tropical look in your garden, then palms are the ideal choice, just the way their leaves hang, so gracefully, pop a few of these around through out your planting scheme, and instantly you begin to get that relaxed resort feel. Another thing, they are excellent for creating shade, especially in small gardens and narrow walk ways, and their tall clean stems allow plenty of space for all those colourful understorey gems, including cordylines and bromeliads.
Most of us associate palms with warmer climates, so how can you create such an amazing look in a cooler area? You may be surprised; there are quite a few palms that do really well.
The Bangalow Palm (Archontophoenix cunninghamiana) will go well as far south as Melbourne as long as it is out of the frost. With its long slender trunk it is excellent for that mass grove type tropical planting effect it is self cleaning too which means old frons fall off cleanly and easily.
Foxtail Palm (Wodyetia bifurcata) is another favourite; it is also self cleaning and again has a nice slim trunk. Only this one lends itself more to prominent end positions where you can enjoy its shower of foxtail frons.
The Kentia Palm (Howea forsteriana) is a classic selection for cooler areas, popular all over the world it is quite slow growing so put it in a spot in the understorey so you can enjoy its timeless beauty for many years to come.
Raphis palm has a gorgeous kind of finger like look in the leaves it allows you to make some very interesting textural effects in the under story. It is a multi trunked variety as well, so once it gets up it is a really good one for screening.
Golden Cane Palm (Dypsis lutescens), another multi stemmed and clumping beauty that is great for screening. Because of its form it will give you that clumping palm grove look all on its own. It copes with full sun too and that is where it really takes on that golden colour.
So there you go, it is good to know that even in the cooler areas there are a handful of palms you can use to transform your garden into a tropical paradise.
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