Suitability
You can see this species growing outside in Bournemouth town centre and at the RHS garden at Wisley.
In 2007 we supplied two specimens to the BBC which Monty Don planted on the BBC program Gardeners World. He planted them in their ‘Dry Garden’ at Berryfields in the Midlands.
This palm requires full sun, very good drainage and it grows well in poor alkaline soil although better soil conditions present no problem.
It is considered to be hardy in milder parts of the country and for the collectors and enthusiasts it is well worth a try. However it can be difficult to propagate and is of a slow growing disposition, which combined with its rarity makes it quite an expensive palm.
Additionally, it is an ideal conservatory plant as it grows very slowly and copes well with the extreme temperatures and arid conditions of a conservatory, also it will happily grow in containers.