help needed bought 2 palm trees majesty palm and a banana

Discussion in 'Outdoor Tropicals' started by newbee gardener, Jun 28, 2009.

  1. newbee gardener

    newbee gardener Member

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    Location:
    fraser valley, canada
    I was told the majesty is a bird of paradise as I was leaving the store? are they the same? can these be planted out doors? I am in fraser Valley... are they both good in direct sun or is one better in part shade
     
  2. newbee gardener

    newbee gardener Member

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    Location:
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    update a neighbour tell me the one I thought was a banana is the bird of paradise - does that have broad leaves? the other is labeled majesty palm Do they both winter outdoors if planted? are they both good in the sun?
    I do have an area with part shade If one can tolerate it?

    THANK YOU FOR ANY HELP
    newbee gardener
     
  3. LeftCoastAngler

    LeftCoastAngler Active Member

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    Hmm. Your in Canada
    I don't think either one of those can handle your winters outdoors...
    The BOP will burn around 29F unprotected.
    I've got two in the front yard under oak canopy. The neighbor around the corners got a huge one under oak canopy aswell... But as for frost, and snow. NO WAY. It'll melt away! :(
    I seriously think you need to container both of those.

    ~LCA.
     
  4. newbee gardener

    newbee gardener Member

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    oh no, I called the local nursery, they said yes they are fine for out but wrap in burlap for winter. I went ahead and planted them. The BOP is in a protected corner, sunny with part shade. I will keep an open line and let everyone know what happens. I believe we are in zone 8. The BOP did not even have a label and I did not know what it was or any care instructions. The other only had the name on a sticker on the tub. :0 Seems I will have my hands full and will need lots of luck.
     
  5. LeftCoastAngler

    LeftCoastAngler Active Member

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    AttaBoy. Push it.
    I do too with alot of palms I grow. I'm in a 9B zone, but I've tried to grow 10B plants, knowing I can't.
    Were called zone pushers!
    I've had to just watch alot of things die a slow death after one night of frost...
    We average one lousy night of frost every few years, and that one night will do it.

    I just can't bear to container anything. Other than seedlings...
    I put just about everything in the ground. I feel that's where a plant should be; ya know.
    Another possibility would be a Archontophoenix cunninghammiana... It ought to be just as hardy as a Ravenea rivularis...

    - If you like palms; that is...

    ~LCA.
     
  6. newbee gardener

    newbee gardener Member

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    thank you , I appreciate your understanding, and your reply. I can not believe how much I do not know at age 57.
    Now I have apparently 'really cooked my own goose" I thought I was doing a good thing to mix bark mulch right down into the soil with perilite mixed in as well (clayish soil). Did not know I should not use cedar mulch and now find out it creates acid soil. So looks like I have to did out plants and start over, or the roots will ? burn or something very undesirable...?
    I am still smiling though - although my back is not happy. ( : I am only 5 ft tall and 120 lbs so moving plants that are 5 ft tall with a heavy root ball is a challenge. I am not giving up.
    I am told if this unknown palm is a bird of paridise and not a banana - the leaves will be thick - the leaves have splits in some, so I would not say they are very thick - like a rubber plant? I am heading off to a nursery after work today, to see thick compared to thin leaves of tropicals...then I believe I will be home digging out 2 black bamboo and two palm trees.......
     
  7. davina

    davina Member

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    well tropical plants in canada. very interesting. hard to keep them happy with the cold.
    bop is like a fan, slow grower, and has beautiful flowers. but, in canada.... hmmmmmmm good luck! palms are tropicals too. but hey, you might just invent a mutated tropical garden that learns to like cold. darwinian huh? lol
     
  8. newbee gardener

    newbee gardener Member

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    thank you I was tempted bec I have seen some growing in our province
     
  9. Keke

    Keke Active Member 10 Years

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    Location:
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    Newbee, if you got a hardy palm such as Trachycarpus fortunei (Windmill Palm) you might be able to keep it alive in the Valley. I've seen them as far inland as Maple Ridge, but pushing the envelope is good so try it. The palm you got may in fact be the above if the label is wrong (or it was repotted at the nursery; I've seen that happen). Why not Google Majesty Palm and see if what you get looks like yours? Windmills and true majesty palms differ quite a bit in how they look. True majesty palms are great for patio all summer, but not winter hardy here.

    Bird of Paradise (Strelitzia) is not hardy here either -- even Southlands Nursery (a known "envelope pusher") keeps theirs in a greenhouse over winter. But again, nice for a patio all summer and keep in strong light all winter indoors. But if you have a banana (probably Musa basjoo) you might be able to keep it over winter outside if you protect the trunk/crown. Ask Van Dusen or Minter Gardens what they'd do.

    If you have black bamboo, I am here to tell you... it RUNS. Don't forget the bamboo barrier or you're going to have more of it than you want. The dang stuff got out of our "bunker" this spring and we've been in hack and chop mode since.
    Good luck!
    keke
     
  10. newbee gardener

    newbee gardener Member

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    man oh man am I happy to hear from you.
    you sound very knowlegable and I hang on your every word.
    The BOP/Banana yet to be ID has large leaves that all have splits pretty much. So on that I suspect it is a banana -It was completely unlabelled. I am told by Cannor nursery staff BOP leaves are thick. I am picturing rubber plant? Although I have not found a BOP to see. and google has produced unclear results.
    The black Bamboo was pulled out of a neighbour bec it was so invasive, I potted the plant which I love the look of, then sat the pot on largest cement patio block 36x36? So I should see any little shoots escaping out the bottom. HOWEVER, the whole 6 ft tall plant frons are turning brown (not the stalks) the young stalks are green the mature are black. Do not know if it is failing or if the root sustained damage in the neighbours frustrated eratication of it, does it take direct full hot sun. I assumed it did? I put bone meal in about a hand full?
    I will try and learn how to take photos and post them within the week.
    The other palm says majesty but I will google both Wmill and MJ to see if I can detect a difference and I hope it is windmill however I believe windmill -each fron has a rounded semi-circle look to it this does not. so I believe it is as labeled majesty which means I need to dig it up and winter it INside mr living room. Will its frons die back? It will take up a large corner space. There goes the recliner, I think my husband will object ( :
     
  11. davina

    davina Member

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    Location:
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    neweby, it is really easy to find photos of the trees you are asking about.

    just put palms in the search bar of your internet explorer.
    i first put majesty palm.
    then i looked up bop
    then areca palms. they look like majesty palms. areca palms grow to be over 30 ft tall and spread to make a privacy wall. the majesty is more for home or small palm for show. ·

    the bop is flat, like a fan. it looks like a fan on a stick. and the banana plant looks like a stem with huge leavers that tatter and split, and wave in the wind, and it forms around the stem like any tree. a circle of leaves.
     
  12. newbee gardener

    newbee gardener Member

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    Location:
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    Yes it is a banana palm, one strong trunk large leaves that are almost all split ANd the other IS majesty palm... So I guess I have to dig them up and
    repot for winter, AHHH the life of a gardener, YEP thats is me for a week or two now. I am even enjoying my mistakes
     

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