Livistona chinensis - Chinese Fan Palm

That's a beautiful palm ...

I have to agree TT .........:O)))

:o)))

Wow what a stunning effect

That's a big 'un--they're painfully slow growing!

Tugbrethil:

There's several large Chinese Fan palms in San Diego. I've posted several on GoY in the past.

Some are slow and some are faster...not sure what the reason is for this...maybe more water and fertilizer.

Well, I'vefound that they are hungry plants, but I've never seen even a well-fed one grow fast. I would suspect the fast-growing ones of being a different species, such as L. australis--which this one resembles, actually.

Tugbrethil:

They do grow a little faster here than some other places with the exception of Florida...where people swear they can put on 10ft/3m of solid trunk in 10 years...however, I'm incredulous! I know of many in Honolulu, Hawaii (which is a tropical not subtropical climate) and they don't grow that fast there. There's many 20 -25ft trees here in San Diego and they seem to not grow much taller. The average growth rate here in most of CA. is to 15ft/ 4.6m in 25 -35 years.

There's a L. chinensis at Foster's Botanical Gardens, it's 60ft/18m tall. It must be over 100 years old...as some of the trees there are almost 160 years old.

Usually no more than 6 inches a year, here. I was thinking and researching, and I think I was wrong--a first! (snerk!)--it really doesnt resemble L. australis, though the leaves do look a little stiffer than the L. chinensis I'm used to.

Tugbrethil:

There's many Livistona australis growing here in San Diego...and they're a very different looking tree. Typically, it has larger fronds and is overall larger. I'll post a pics tonight of a very large L. australis.

The biggest I've seen had a few feet of trunk..enough to walk under. But,it was terribly yellow in full sun. They might like some shade in dry climates.

They look good here in full sun. They grow much faster in full sun, also.

Since, we get so little rain here they don't grow as quickly as in the wet tropics.