I wish you had bought two,too. One on a heating mat and the other without. I think you would see the difference quickly.
Oh,I know the west isn't tropical or humid at all. The one in San Francisco was in a warm and cozy atrium and lobby,what the temps were outside had no effect.
The San Diego plant I think was in somebody's poolhouse. Almost a greenhouse. And he still had to use heating cables in winter.
In all honesty those palms are worth the extra effort..I've met people who don't know much about plants..but THOSE they get big eyed about when they talk about visiting the tropics.

@ tropicbreezent, when I made the comment about the west coast of Australia being similar to the West Coast of the US, I was thinking the southern parts of the coast like Sydney and Melbourne.
I can only speak from numbers though so I am sure you know MUCH more than I do having actual experience living in Australia.
As far as numbers go though, Sydney and Los Angeles have almost identical temperatures (Los Angeles a little bit warmer), but Sydney has a lot more consistent rainfall than LA which was basically a desert before humans settled there.
Once you get north to Brisbane, it is definitely a bit warmer (and also rainer) than most of the western US (probably more comparable to parts of Central Florida over there with warm and rainy summers and mild, drier winters, although still quite different from central Florida with much milder record low temperatures in Brisbane).
The northern parts of coastal Australia on either coasts are definitely tropical by any definition, and there isn't really a comparable climate to that in the continental US.
I'm only comparing Australia's climate to the US since I have never been to Australia (although I'm hoping to one day!), but I know what grows where around the climates in the US.

I agree with that they do not necessarily need humidity, but since they are swamp plants as mentioned, you don't want them to dry out much. (They probably would not like to be as wet in cool weather though). I saw some on the dry side of Maui growing perfectly fine in low humidity. It was growing on the edge of a water feature so it had plenty of water available.

As far as wind goes, they should have no problem with warm winds. Cold winds might make it unhappy but they should be okay with anything else.

Good luck!
-Alex

Hi
I killed both my seeds and my plant over time in spite of being kept in a GH lol .Oddly they died during summer.
Anyway that is certainly a healthy looking specimen!!
Couldn't you squeeze out some info from the supplier?? Where were they produced?? They have some gorgeous ones at Fairchild in Miami Florida. and they are outside.
Good luck with them they are fantastic!! gary

Thanks again, all.

I spoke with the local nursery owner today and he said they can be planted in my area, no problem, they just won't colour up and are basically an expensive Golden Cane. I begged to differ but he was having none of it. I went home and called a palm expert in Brisbane who does the landscapes for Botanic Garden's palm garden and he said they'd grow indoors without any problems in winter but not to plant them in the ground and that the nursery owner was talking out of his butt, basically.

He advised not to repot until Spring and that the best place for it was the bathroom but if that wasn't feasible near a window that gets some sun but not to let it get burned and to put it in a little tray of water. The temperatures will get too cold for it in about a month and to keep it inside until the weather warms up again in September/October.

So it's now happily installed on a reflective blanket in a draft-free spot in the lounge room in front of a big north east facing window that has net curtains for the morning sun that streams in, in a tray of water about an inch deep - over its roots that have started to protrude from the pot. I have another big bowl of water with rocks and pebbles to one side for humidity and there's a big bay window facing west that gets afternoon sun all afternoon to it's left and another facing east that gets morning sun 'til about 10am to its right. I have watered it today about six times and misted it about 10, lol.

When it gets colder I think i'll wrap the pot in a doona with a heating pad and maybe a teddy bear for the night. :)

So we're set for the winter. Here goes nothing.

Not to scare you..but I think I did read there is a palm sold as Lipstick that never gets red. You might want to look into that. I was wondering why yours were that golden.

You might look at pictures of Cytostachys lakka aka "Orange Lipstick palm.

A thing to remember about full sun plants, if they're kept in shade the leaves develop and adjust to shade conditions. They can't be suddenly moved back into the sun. So if you keep it inside for winter, come spring it has to be slowly adjusted back to full sun conditions.

Some Lipsticks are normally a bright red, but others can be a much duller colour. And there are some that are plain green. Generally the less colourful are the cheaper.

Be sure to keep the roots wet, it will cope with a drier atmosphere though. Good luck with it, but I think you should be okay with it anyway.

Re the climate, the east coast of Australia has rainforest all along it. In Cape York it's ultra tropical, and further down just tropical. In the south east of Queensland (Brisbane area) and northern New South Wales to near Sydney it's sub-tropical rainforest, transitioning into temperate rainforest in southern New South Wales and far eastern Victoria. There's year round rainfall but predominant during summer. Spring is generally a bit drier.

Melbourne across to Adelaide and Perth is a mediterranean climate similar to southern California, lower rainfall than the east coast and predominant in winter. Melbourne has a slight maritime influence, as has the area further to the south of Perth.

Thanks for the info on the climates there tropicbreezent. I realized that you got more precip on the east coast of Australia than the US west coast but I didn't realize things were so much more forested, although it's not hard to believe since Southern California is basically a desert. Temperatures are only one factor so while those are probably similar between the 2, Australia's west coast would probably have much more luck with tropical palms than California would with it's drier climate which is definitely great since Cali can't get away with too many tropical palms.

-Alex

Redland's Gilly, there is a Cyrtostachys hybrid that has been circulating for the last few years and it looks a lot like yours, based on the crownshaft color. It is a hybrid between Cyrtostachys renda and Cyrtostachys elegans. Maybe that is what you have?

I have two Lipstick palms in my garden in Brisbane. Purchased in Cairns (December) I planted these in the ground. One has not changed since planting however the second has some leaves that seem to be drying out. This is not to dissimilar to a golden cane in terms of leaf dryness.

3m when purchased I am monitoring these daily hoping these will survive as they are much more matured. With newspaper and sugarcane mulch and an abundance of nitrogen fertiliser I am hoping these will survive.

There is a resort in the hinterlands of Byron Bay that have these growing which is why I have purchased against the odds. I will keep you posted on my success or not :-)

Good luck, but I still think your chances of them surviving are somewhere between zero and nil. They are slow growers so nothing much happens fast. It's unlikely anyone would have them growing around Byron Bay, let alone the hinterland, unless they're in an enclosed space during the winter. You'd have far more chance of growing a Coconut in that area, they can take much more cold than a Lipstick.

How will I know if they are dying or not?

With a dead of winter Brisbane average night of 50f...that sounds about 15f too cool for that palm. As i posted above 2 years ago..most ultratropical's are that in the low temperatures more then they are in very high day temperatures.

The one in the tepid Atrium looked good. Never went below 72f,or above 75f I bet.

It can take a while to realise a palm is dying because the crown shaft will often stay green when all below it is quite dead, particularly in wet conditions. I suspect that the crown shaft acts like a cut flower in a vase and gets moisture from the wet parts of the plant below. If you pull gently on the crown shaft it will come away fairly easily. You can't do that easily with a healthy palm so there's no harm done trying.

Because they're slow growing you could always repot them and put them into protection in winter. It would take them a long time to outgrow the pot. The ones used as street plantings in Cairns have the advantage of time and climate, that's why they're so big. They're such a beautiful palm it would be a shame to see yours die.

Mine from Cairns are also well established and are 13 years old. They are 3m tall with numerous red seedlings. Two on each plant are 75cm in width surrounded by peat and always kept wet to encourage humidity. Is there any chance they will survive?

I am willing to take the chance given the maturity of the plant and will see over the winter period how they will react.

Better to divide and save what you can inside. It really sounds like you will find the plant can't take long cool and then die.

Although Brisbane seems nearly tropical to the rest of the world,even Miami can't grow them as shocking as that sounds.

My relatives live in Miami and it seems PLENTY hot!

Unlikely to be seedlings, they are clumping plants so those will be suckers off the older stems. Some people cut those away because they block the view of the colours on the rest of the stems. You can't really compare Brisbane and Miami. It snows in Miami but never in Brisbane. But when it does warm up in Miami in the summer it stays consistently warmer for longer periods. Lipsticks like it hot all year and even if it's dry (no rain and low relative humidity) they're still okay provided they get watered a lot. 3 metres tall, I shudder to think what you would have paid for them. Keep some covers handy that you can use to protect them over cold nights. You can string Christmas lights under the covers to keep the temperature up a bit. If you have cold fronts come through try to stop any cold rain from penetrating the ground near the roots. Heavy mulching will help keep the soil temperatures up as well.

Hi

They grow them at Fairchild gdns in Miami and outdoors but they were growing them in standing water which surprised me. have never read that anywhere . Was a mature clump also but noted that many in the group did not have the red coloring. They also had the orange variety but were in the rare plant house. I go there frequently but just for the sales so don't tour the garden . Don't know if still there though they often sell seedlings at the sales. They were hit by a hurricane which destroyed much of the garden but has been rebuilt . I have killed both seeds and seedlings interestingly not during winter but following heavy rains !!.

BTW The last time it snowed in Miami was 1978 there was enough to build some 10 minute snowmen lol The garden was mostly untouched because it sits right on Biscayne bay surrounded with hot water. In my area not so lucky

I'm located about 100 miles to the north but close to the ocean so my lows are around 10/15 warmer than in areas just 10 miles away . My last frost was 09

no snow but low was 26!!! Over the last 5 years the low has been 39 just last winter averages around 40/45 but there were several hard freezes as close as 15 miles . Key West only frost free area in the US mainland has set several daytime lows though I believe the all time record low is still 38.

Anyway good luck with your waxies If you don't try how will you ever know?? gary

Miami is a warmer climate then Brisbane. Brisbanes 48f in mid winter low average isn't really close to Miami Beach's 63f...and Miami has plenty of lows in the 70's any time in winter.

Brisbane in winter is closer to San Francisco than Miami.

Yes,in summer Miami is a near steamy 80f for lows.

Bottom line is that it snows in Miami, absolutely no surprises that Lipsticks won't grow there unprotected. And to compare Brisbane's climate to San Francisco's is totally ludicrous. Don't know what you're sniffing but you should give it up!

I grew these very successfully in 10b (Broward Co FL) by essentially building them a very sheltered spot with windbreaks on three sides. On the odd night that it did get too cold I wrapped them with Christmas lights- worked great.

Bottom line- if you are willing to go the extra mile to accommodate them you will be fine, but if you are a "plant it and forget about it" they are doomed.

"Bottom Line is it snows in Miami"... Hey- look it up. Brisbane's coldest month- July49f and 69f.

San Francisco's coldest month January, 46f and 58. Miami 63 LOW, HIGH 73f.

49f Doesn't sound like a MONTHS worth of great Lipstick palm weather.

Interesting discussion. Can a lipstick palm survive in Brisbane? Yes they can but only when certain conditions are met. Personally, I wouldn't plant one in the garden unless I was prepared to allocate a small budget to do so. I keep mine in a designated hothouse which is heated during the winter.

The reality is, it is going to be a small expense to maintain a lipstick palm in the ground but I believe it is possible. You will need to ensure that minimum temperatures are not realised during the winter. To do that you are going to have to cover the plant in a type of clear cover and provide heating within that cover. There are relatively inexpensive clear tarps available from hardware shops that will do the trick. Secondly, you will need to ensure that the ground is kept moist and preferably will not get cold.

To increase the humidity, place a bucket of water inside the covering and place a small fish tank heater in it. Crank up the device to heat the water. Make sure that you top up the bucket regularly so that your water heater doesn't end up out of water! Also keep an oil heater (the safest) inside the covering to moderate air temperature. Once a week hose the plant to wet the leaves.

Come the end of September you should be able to remove the clear tarp and your lipstick palm will be fine until April/May next year.

Good luck.

But,unlike trying to grow some ultratropical tree in Brisbane-like Breadfruit- that you can top- There is no point in a lipstick palm that's held small. Might as well keep it potted. Since those palms get 20' or more...

True, if you have the money and the time, it can be done. I agree that I'd keep it in a pot so it can be maneuvered around to minimise the risk of cold/wind damage. Brisbane can produce some strange weather patterns from time to time but not often. Australia is a land of extremes. In many parts it is either drought or flood, extremely hot during the day and freezing at night. Brisbane is probably the most stable of climates in the country (other than north Queensland). But in saying that, it too can experience sudden drops or rises in temperate. Just last night it plummeted to 7 degrees Celsius whereas the night before it bottomed out at around 15 degrees Celsius. Leaving a lipstick/sealing wax palm planted in the ground is risky for the above-mentioned reasons.

Brisbane is a great climate. But those palms want Fiji warm nights all year. I think the warm (70F+) nights are more important then how much over 75- 80f in the day.

When I mentioned a warm Atrium that has them. Its kept in the 70's day and night. I doubt they ever let it go above 75F or people working in the building might get uncomfortable.

True. The coldest it gets in Thailand and surrounding areas where they come from is 18c (64f) so they would love Fiji nights and places like Cairns in North Queensland. There is a good specimen being grown in the Brisbane Botanical Gardens at Mt Cootha (which really isn't a mountain) - however, it is being grown in an special atrium that is heated and humidified. You walk into that thing and the air feels thick and it is hot! It is certainly very uncomfortable indeed and I believe is kept at a temperature even higher than 75F.

Any updates on the World Famous Brisbane Lipstick Palm?

Hi Stanofh,

• I have had my palms in the ground since December. They are looking healthier than ever with new fongs appearing every day. Winter hasn't really kicked in yet however we have had some cool nights in Brisbane low such as 6 degrees.
• I will keep everyone posted so far so good :-)

July 1st?

Well, it's October now and getting warmer, I'm also very interested to see how the lipstick palm is going and to hear if there is any red coming through yet. I was wondering about the need for shelter away from wind when in tropical Australia they are prone to cyclonic weather and I've just come back from there and the lipstick palms are thriving everywhere I went. I live an hour inland from the eastern coast, say between Byron Bay hinterland and the Gold Coast hinterland where woodlands meets sub-tropical and we're above the frost line. I fell in love with the lipstick palms and would like them in the tropical part of my garden but I'm aware of the dry heat component to our climate; I guess that's why it's sub-tropical and not tropical, and by reading all of the above I might be out of luck.

Hi

well winter has come and gone my lipstick palms survived. I had two large red stems on each of my palms. One red stem died however palm is continuing to grow and it is in the ground. I layed newspaper around the base and mulched with sugarcane. i watered every second day and gave the palm lots of nitrogen throughout winter. fingers crossed they will continue to shoot now it is warmer.

Well done. Don't think you'll have any problems now until next winter. This year Brisbane had quite a 'warm' winter. There wasn't those super cold snaps of 2-4 degrees Celsius - which would have potentially destroyed your lipstick palms. My lipstick palm survived with no die back and growth but it was placed in my hot house throughout May, June, July and August. Let's hope your lipstick palms continue to do well.

Wow!..that's near historic. Everybody whoever wrote about Lipstick palms swore they died in one night in the low 50'sf or 10C+ or so.

Well,Sol,I do much of that zone busting trials myself. You just did one that proved even me ...not so right-lol.

As mentioned i dis lose one stem (fairly well established one) however the rest remained solid. I think looking at it there was a 20% loss in thickness overall but new stems now and is well on its way to recover them:-0

Since you are entering a summer that is very tropical Solrac,I would expect it to really root in,throw out in ground fronds,leaving potted fronds behind.

That means,it will be even better prepared to handle next winter- maybe skipping loss of canes. Hey,congratulations.

Thanks Stanoft, I will keep everyone posted on how things progress! I am stoked:-)

I was recently traveling (Google maps!) through Paddington, Queensland...and I never saw one coconut palm. I saw huge tree sized Plumeria. I saw one yard that could have been in California- Cordy RedStar, Agave attenuata,Yucca guatamalensis...and a Queen palm. Queen palms are taking over the world.

Anybody have a street address for something like coco's,Bottle palms, even Lipstick palms in Brisbane?

Can't think of any off the top of my head but there are plenty of streets around with the palms you have mentioned. Don't know what it is like over there (are you in California?) but here people either love palms or they hate them. About 20 years ago there was a palm craze where people were buying all sorts of exotic palms, most of which were able to be grown in Brisbane. Only the equatorial palms struggled but I have heard of some success with those too in Brisbane. Again, it most likely depends on where in Brisbane one lives, as the difference in temperature can vary greatly from just one side to the other. I.e. (cold temperatures) if you live at Wynnum (right next to Moreton Bay), it can be quite a few degrees higher than say if you live at Oxley (western side of Brisbane), and Ipswich (20km west again) can be significantly colder again. I've added some photos of just some of the palms I have in my yard. I'm at Narangba - north side of Brisbane - close to Deception Bay (in Moreton Bay). In the photo of the wine palm, you will see a dead cotton palm (Washingtonia) which grows in your parts of the world. It died one year when we had a tremendous amount of rain for too long and the ground became saturated. Before that, it was powering. The coconut palm is small and has been in the ground for a couple of year...they grow very slowly in Brisbane. Most of the palms (the good ones I know of) you will find on the Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast (1 hr south and north of Brisbane), as people seem to be more enthusiastic about their palms on the coast. Another interesting thing is the Foxtails palms. These were discovered only 20 years ago in a remote pocket of the Daintree rainforest in north Queensland. They are very tropical but have thrived in Brisbane and grow extremely quickly...tending to buck the trend of tropicals that struggle in slightly cooler climates. The black palms (to the right of the triangles) are also from far north Queensland. They too have adapted nicely to the Brisbane climate (which really isn't all that cold to be honest - it's warmer more than it is colder, if that makes sense)

Australia is a conservative garden culture isn't it? In jumping around from Melbourne to Perth to Brisbane..only Cairns had the mass tropical look. Melbourne was heavy on temperate plants like Sycamore and camelia's..then I would spot a 10' Jade plant or Monstera peeking over a fence. Very few palms in Melbourne. Brisbane was better. Perth was very conservative and seemed native plants were abundant. Not many large leafed exotics. I expected Perth to be more exotic plant filled. But,I can see they why not. The dry climate must make water an expensive commodity.

Am I close?

That would be an accurate description. Aussies aren't real big on their plants and like no/low maintenance gardens. Australian natives are arguably one of the toughest plants on the planet, they have to be in order to survive, as Australia is one of the driest continents and has extreme weather - dry then floods, bush fires etc. This why natives are preferred.

Most areas of Australia will not support exotic plants without some maintenance. Google the area between Innisfail and Cook town. This is known as the wet tropics in Australia and this is where you will find the most amount of palms and rainforest plants. The rainfall in these areas can reach up to 4000mm per year. Further north in areas such as Darwin and Weipa is a hot Savannah area of Australia where average day time maximums are above 30 degrees Celsius all year round. The main streets of Rockhampton, Townsville and Mackay also have a collection of palms...mostly coconut.

Have two lipstick palms brought from cairns growing in tubs at tweed heads .continually water them with warm water .have weathered two winters so far

Hi Rod,

I am approaching my second winter ....lost a few fongs and one smallish red stem which was disappointing. I haven't used warm water though so might give that a go.

My two stand at 2.5-3metres and are 13 yrs old.

cheers

Carl

Read about the warm water on the internet it said palms originally came from Thailand or in that area and for a major part of the year had warm rainfall around the roots. Does not seem to hurt them in summer use hose water in middle of day which is quite warm to hot

Thanks for the heads up. Will definitely give it a go. Found a garden centre at Pimpama(gold coast) which is trialling a hybrid of the lipstick palm. Apparently they should be able to tolerate our winters. They have suggested I also use a heap of nitrogen around the base?

Cheers

Carl

Hi Guys, Just came back from cairns with 5 x lipstick palms, have read all of the above, located in Ormeau Hills near dreamworld. Quick question, What garden centre in Pimpama(gold coast)

I am also interested to know this garden centres name.....desperate to get a few to try. On the flip side i am after Japanese Maples.....talk about extreme, trying to adapt warm climate plants in one area of the garden and cool climate plants in the other!!

I was google tripping all over Brisbane,and even though its very lush and the landscaping tropical..I didn't see any Coconut or Manila palms..like you would see in South Florida or Hawaii. Why?

They are around (coconut palms). Not in abundance like you would find in Mackay and Cairns. They grow very slowly in Brisbane for some reason but very quickly in places like Mackay and Cairns. It is probably why there aren't many in Brisbane. They just take too long to get big. The Gold Coast has a few, in their resorts, but a lot of them were either planted years ago or were planted when they were already big.

I see a few near the coast on google. I was told they were planted large fronting a nice and big Hotel. They have the "coconut juuuuust making it look" like what you see in the California desert. Interesting that those Coconuts had tall Howea palms next to them.

But,yes,I would trade for the Brisbane climate. Ironic that here in the bay area we also have a city named Brisbane. Its a very cool ,mild climate..not Brisbane like in summer!

The lipstick palms are very marginal for the Brisbane area. They may do OK outdoorrs at Point Lookout or other warm coastal spots.