Chamaedorea Radicalis is one of my "mystery why no one else seems to grow it" palms, the other being C.Microspadix.
Hand on heart, I've only seen this palm get a mention three times anywhere.
Once in the Palm Centre catalogue, from where I bought mine, once on the website of an American enthusiast who was creating a mini forest of them and here on this Blog.
This really puzzles me, because C.Radicalis must rate as the best palm ever for a moist shady spot in the garden.
I might add, that for a few years at least, it also makes a very good house/conservatory palm.
Native to Mexico, where it grows as an understory palm in tropical rainforests, C.Radicalis has turned out to be extremely hardy, shrugging of temperatures down to -10c in my garden.
It's also turned out to be one of the easiest palms to look after, requiring little more than a rich, moisture retentive but well drained soil to succeed.
Although it has something of a reputation for slow growth, plenty of fertilizer during the growing season will speed things up a tad.
It's also unusual, in that it will flower when still a young plant but you need male and female plants to get any berries.
When I bought my Radicalis, it was some two feet tall, now, at just seven feet it's too big to bring indoors, so it lives outside behind the kitchen against a North facing wall.
This is actually a fairly open position, so it does get a decent amount of light.
It seems to like this spot, because this year it's got a bit excited and put on four new leaves and three flower spikes, normaly it's two leaves and two flower spikes, perhaps I've done something right at last.
There's one thing I've learned about palm growing, or for that matter any plant which I think is important, be prepared to experiment, particularly with regards to siting your plant, you might well be surprised at what a little change can do.
Despite my glowing rhetoric, C.Radicalis can have a few problems.
Indoors or out, Red Spider Mite raises its ugly head.
Indoors I give it a dose of "Provado", while outdoors a regular, heavy misting with plain water keeps them down.
Wind can also do some damage, fraying the leaf tips and making them look a little unsightly.
Strong sunlight will also cause damage, giving the leaves a bad case of sunburn, early morning or late evening sun is best.
C.Radicalis is the only palm that I protect for the Winter and this is just a throw over of fleece to give the leaves some protection from the wind and a cover for the roots which are growing well above the surface of the pot.
Despite the niggles mentioned above, this really is a beautiful palm, graceful and easy to look after, well worth the effort. Posted by: Mike.
Note: For a more comprehensive explanation of how I plant my palms, see my June blog: