Archontophoenix alexandrae - Alexander Palm

They have a nice stepped-ring trunk design. IF this drought thing does end..maybe a purple since they are supposed to be hardier. Alex palms are very frost sensitive,to let readers know.

This one doesn't have a stepped-ring trunk, yet. I have seen them when the get larger have the beautiful trunk.

Archontonphoenix purpurea is suppose to be hardier. That's what the experts have been saying for so many year; however, they're not much hardier. For the Bay Area the safest one is going to be Archontophoenix cunninghammiana. I have seen A. alexandrae grow for many year there, then a freeze knocks them out, unfortunately.

Agh...my King palms look terrible. Shredded by the bay breeze and just not quite enough water. Last year at this time they were pretty good looking.

I'm so sorry to hear about your King Palms! I know they love water and we should get a lot more rain this year...so hopefully they will recover. Luckily, they grow fast with lots of rain, even during winter.

This is one of two in the my back yard the third one died a couple of years ago. I'm going to put another there soon.

This one in the photo is growing so quickly pushing three fronds at a time constantly even with little water. I'm hoping it'll do even better when we get rain. It's also aborted 4 inflorescences over the last 5 months. I'm sure that's due to not enough water.