Going tropical in The Valley
The following thread was started by Dee on April 19, 2009 at 6:05 am PST
There are a plethora of palms you can grow in the valley, including butia capitada, dypsis decipiens, chamadorea species, trachycarpus species, and the list goes on and on. You can make your garden ultra tropical with these and they are super hardy.
There are a number of understory bamboo palms equally as hardy including chamadorea radicalis, these can really make for a bold tropical look.
Make sure to add bananas to the list. The leaves will burn back in the winter but they regrow fast and will give you fruit.
You can also try some Mexican avos and macademia and citrus, they look good with tropical palms.
The above followup was added by Axel on April 19, 2009 at 6:56 am PST.
Axel is correct, canary Island palms will do well here, they have been planted here in the Central Valley for over 100 years; as well as Mexican Fan palms.
The new thing now and pretty cheep for the sizes, are Queen Palms. Much more tropical looking and grow many many times faster.
There are actually a lot of palms which will grow here in the Central Valley, and a few which will grow in larger cities like Fresno, which don't survive in the rural areas.
Many have a list of hardy palms, Phil in Shafter CA, south of you, pretty much just grows hardy palms for the Central Valley, not much in the way of borderline palms a Phil's place.
http://www.nickelpalmnursery.com/NPNPricelist.htm
This might help you to decide and be aware of that exist and what you might be able to plant. Edith Bergstrom put up this site after the nasty 2007 winter freeze, and she shows plants and tells you how each plant did, the percent of damage if there was any.
http://www.palmgardensbergstrom.com/freeze_2007/06-08-article.pdf
What you can find most often on any given day at say Home Depot or Lowe's or etc, and even most regular nurseries is pretty limited.
David
The above followup was added by David Johnson, Waterford CA, zone 14 on April 19, 2009 at 2:17 pm PST.
I'm no expert on palms, but I can't think f a more unfriendly plant to put in the backgarden. The spines on the leaves make any approach a risk to eyesight, and until they grow above head hieght, the crown takes up an incredible amount of room?
The above followup was added by Nigel(NZ) on April 19, 2009 at 4:17 pm PST.
I'd agree that this palm is not a great first choice for a palm in your own suburban garden. They are messy palms, need a professional to prune them when they get larger, and also can harbor nuisance pests such as pigeons and rats. They also get very large. I'd suggest a more manageable palm such as the various Brahea species, (Brahea 'Clara' is particularly beautiful), or Brahea armata, Butia capitata or B. edulis, and some of the shade requiring understory palms already mentioned such as Chamaedorea radicalis. Chamaerops humilis and the silver form, C. humilis cerifera are also nice.
As to other tropicals, I would suggest you think twice as to whether you really want a whole garden of water thugs such as bananas, which can't survive without a lot of summer water. Heading into a water rationing summer, now is not the time to plant gardens full of high water use plants. There are plenty of subtropical plants and those that look subtropical that can be used that don't need all the water, and the palms I listed above are a good start.
The above followup was added by Bahia on April 19, 2009 at 5:43 pm PST.
I would not recommend water hogs this Summer, but one banana is always a nice exception given they make good fruit in the Central Valley.
Make sure to mulch the garden with cardboard and wood chips on top, that will keep the soil moist and wet through the growing season.
The above followup was added by Axel on April 19, 2009 at 7:04 pm PST.
But tropical doesn't always mean water hog plants. You can create a lush looking tropical landscape with a couple of palms, some big, bold agaves and Aloes (Agave Vilmorniana, Agave Desmettiana, Agave Angustifolia variegata, Agave Attenuata, Aloe Arborescens, Aloe Ferox, Aloe Alooides, Aloe Speciosa, Aloe Marlothii...), some New Zealand Flax, Pachypodiums, Manfredas, Kangaroo Paws and yuccas or dracaenas (yucca Guatemalensis, Dracaena Draco...).
Another plant that i'd recommend is Beschorneria Yuccoides. It is available from several mail-order sites.
The best part is i've found all of these at Lowes, Home Depot and OSH.
Here's a picture of what I'm working with here in Chowchilla. Everything is on a drip irrigation system. The system is off from October to May and during the summer only goes on a couple of minutes a week. The succulents throughout this area are very young and should be filling in this summer to make a nice ground cover of succulents.
The above followup was added by Jdiaz on April 19, 2009 at 9:35 pm PST.
I Should have mentioned that the White Bird of Paradise does get extra water. It is also about a foot deeper than the surrounding area so all excess water drains into that spot. Here's another picture from November which is when the yard is always at it's best (at least I think so). After this picture was taken, I took out a lot of the herbaceous plants and added the succulents you see in the first picture above.
I'd also like to mention that if you allow yourself to plant one or two water-hogging plants, you can plant a majesty palm or a brugmansia. I grow them both in Chowchilla and I've seen them in Fresno as well. In Fresno they do much, much better in the winter than mine because we are more rural.
The above followup was added by Jdiaz on April 19, 2009 at 9:46 pm PST.