Rhapis excelsa - Lady Palm

I have that in a ceramic 16" pot. It was a little plant from an Oakland store that sold hard to find tropical plants and was also a home supply store in Claremont. It grew well over the years and was constantly tipping over in a 12" or so pot and was about 4' tall. So,I planted it in the backyard. Well in a short order of time gophers found it and ate all the roots. I knew something was wrong and when i tugged on it,it came right out of the ground. After that, i put it in a smaller pot,some stems died but a few did not. It took more years and is now larger than ever. A plant with a strong will to live.
This reminds me too that I always wanted Rhapis humilis and do you know I've never found one for sale in the bay area? Beautiful palms also.

I have a Raphis excelsa story, also. My Palm Society friend (in Hayward) gave me a section of his huge plant from the ground when he moved in early spring of 1991. The stems did well for years, then in the last 5 years (when my father was ill and passed) it majorly got neglected. It’s now only one 3 ft stem and another that’s only 6 inches tall. It survives and is doing very well now. It appears to be putting out another stem.

I had a Raphis multifida for years which always looked sickly and died about 5 years ago.

We are not perfect. I get that neglect that usually kicks in big with our long dry summers.
R. multifida is near super rare to find. UC Berkeley has a short row of them. I doubt very much that what they propagate even makes it to the sales. Snapped up by members pre sales or employees/volunteers. Great looking plants

The Raphis multifida most likely was in way too alkaline soil. It was always very chlorotic looking. I use horticulture sulfur in all my plants now. It makes a huge difference in pretty much all my plants.

I think the R. multifida was purchased at Jungle Music Palms many years ago. It’s the largest Palm Nursery in the U. S.