Looking to trade bamboo from my plant list for a

Bismarck Palm (Bismarckia nobilis) or possibly other palm types. If local I can swap larger size specimen.

I have quite a few of those Mike, but they are all in the ground. They are hard to grow in pots very long because of their long tap root. Bismarkia palms sure are pretty... kind of like a Chungii palm.

Photographed these at a nursery in Maui in 2006 and wanted one ever since. I wonder if these are the same or a variation? But then again, as I believe you have been there and know, everything grows so much better in Maui.

How low of temperature can they take?
Those are Freakin cool looking Palms.
That's why I know I won't be able to grow them here!

Just looked them up! 27 degrees! I'm out! Dang those are cool looking.

The ones growing here are a little bigger with a little more blue in the fronds. They are simply gorgeous. All of mine are kind of small. I planted them from one gallon containers about 3 years ago. I hear they take about 4 or 5 years to start taking off, then they grow much faster. You have to really be careful with these because any damage to their tap root and they can just sit there or eventually die. You don't see a lot of these here... I suppose that has to do with our big freezes back in the 1980's. I saw one in a yard that was only about 9 feet tall, but it occupied about a 16 foot in diameter area where the fronds touched the ground. It looked like a huge blue ball. Definitely something your eyes go to. I bought 24 from her. They definitely liked all the rain we have been getting. I hope they get taller this year. Mine are still around 1-2 feet tall. I have one about 3 feet tall. I would think they would do much better in your soils than mine. My soils can get very hard in dry times.

mike, I found the bismarks at a local nursery, bought 2 last year this time and boy are they pretty...how big of a palm are you looking for

We go on spring break to North Captiva Island every year and they have a huge one growing there. It is shorter than the one in the picture, but the base is HUGE.

From my michigander point of view the best looking plam i have seen.



I also brought home a growing coconut from the island and it is still alive but is does not seem to be growing, does anyone have experience with these? It is in the house right next to my dwarf citrus trees.

When buying Bismarck Palms, you need to be aware that there is a green version and also the silver version. The good thing is that the silver one is more cold hardy than the green version. I have a seedling that I bought in a one gallon pot a few years ago. It's now in a 7 gallon pot and I still can't figure out where I want to plant it. There is a large silver one growing at Leu Gardens in Orlando which is beautiful and definitely stands out against the greens trees.

Talk about karma.

Amazingly I ran into one last week at home depot for lowest price I have ever seen, $16.00!

It was about 4 feet tall so I snatched it up. Seems they are unloading allot of palm varieties at good prices right now.

The tag just says Bismarck Palm (Bismarckia nobilis) and does not specify green or silver though the leaves look to me to be greenish silver in color.

And if that was not enough, at Target just today I ran into a 5 foot tall one that had a clearance sticker of $39.00 on it. But I have known a little secret for a long time that if an clearance item on the shelf does not move in a certain amount of time then the computer will automatically mark down the price each week till it goes below 75% off sticker price and sometimes faster than the price changers can manually change the sticker price.

So I manually scanned it in and low and behold..... $7.36!!! It was 85% off or something like that![/u]

Hey Mike!

I have quite a few Bismarkia, Caryota Maxima 'Himilaya', Chamedorea sefrizi and a bunch more I can't remember! They are at my brother's property about an hour from Orlando, right about where the turnpike ends.

If you're still looking for some trades, let me know!

Webgator,
I love your quote at the bottom!

"Someday maybe I'll find a bamboo my wife likes...in the meantime I'll keep planting more! "

Sounds like my wife. Although I did have our master bedroom patio in total darkness from the 20 or so 30 gallon pots of large bamboos. 20 feet tall.
But I'll keep Planting until I don't wake up some night due to a beating with a large piece of Bamboo I left laying around.

Webgator that sounds great, lets do some trades. Take a look at my boo list and let me know what you are interested in and let me know. Many on the list are getting full size.