Mexican fan palm, Washingtonia robusta, sprouted by the 100s for me and grew vigorously all last summer. I harvested the seeds my self from the mature seeds bracts and from the ground, so I know they seeds were fresh.

California Fan Palm will germinate just as easily and grow just as fast (Washingtonia Filifera). They are also about 5 degrees more cold hardy than the Mexican fan palm. I have include a picture of a California Fan palm I germinated about 12-13 months ago. You can see the incredible rate of growth. One of the keys though is you have to give the roots alot of room. These palms grow like weeds in the right conditions.

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:1179803}}

Andy
I am glad you posted that pic...
I have some seeds coming and was wondering
how fast they would grow !!
Good job !!

They do grow fast, conversly that sabal minor behind it I got via mail back in May. It pushed up a couple of fronds over the summer but it has not gained much height. Of course their trunks grow under ground so I'm sure that has put some size on.

Wow, those do grow like crazy! I plan on growing some of the California Fan Palms and am also going to try some Filabustas. Thanks for those pictures and keep the suggestions coming!

andy
Those sabal minors g....r....o....w very, very ,very
s l o w I would guess about 4 ft in 10 yrs
but i know where they grow wild so i just go
and dig mine up. : )

If you really mean it when you say "something more exotic"...I have 2 that seem to grow almost as fast as the speed of light:
Dypsis ambositrae
Pinanga batanensis

I have been able to see them growing over the last 6 months. Its pretty wild.

Yup, thats what i'm looking for. I know most of the cold-hardy varieties that i'm growing are fairly slow, so I want to grow a few things that I can actually see some results while the others are barely growing. Even if I can't keep some of the more tropical palms alive, i'll try or give them away whenever I can't handle them anymore.

bihai
What are the common names of these plants ?

How about Bismarckia & Foxtail palms? Queen Palms?

I'd suggest the following palm species:

Washingtonia robusta
Washingtonia filifera
Phoenix canariensis

These palms are good on two counts. They are faster growing but also more cool tolerant (important if your going to be germinating them in winter). Of course, growth will be accelerated with some bottom heat.

Not sure about their growth from seed, but adult Bismarkia, Foxtails and Queens are among the faster growing palms. Good luck!

jrod,
the Dypsis ambositrae is called the Ambositra Palm. Its from Madagascar and is currently highly endangered due to habitat loss. (My info is coming from the Rarepalms site). It gets 20-25 ft and comes from higher elevation forest (4200-4900 ft elevation) and can handle cold and some light frosts. Its a really pretty feather palm with white on the trunk.

The Pinanga batanensis (Batan Palm) is extremely rare, it comes from only one tiny island called Batan Island which is located between Phillipines and Taiwan. There is almost no info on it that I have been able to find in the literature. I don't know how tall it gets, or anything, but I know that my seedling has about tripled in size in 8 months.

But then, almost ALL the Pinangas I have installed have been going at an accelerated clip. I planted some of the "Sarawak" blue fruit and "Thai mottled" in April and they have already started to sucker and are almost 3 ft tall. I fully expect that they will be absolutely GORGEOUS in a very short time.

I have read that Pinangas as a whole are very underutilized as landscape palms in both So Florida and California, but that some of the more common species have been making inroads into the market as landscape plants. I doubt that any would be really hardy here, so they will all remain greenhouse plants for me.

I actually like the phoenix sylvestris. Compared to the CIDP, it's growing a lot faster as a seedling. They're pretty easy to germinate and the best method I use is a few day soak, a big pot with potting soil the first 3/4 down, than a 50% mix of perlite and vermiculite. If you have a gas stove, just put em on top. That's where I do most of my germinating. Or actually put em in your stove. Washingtonias are always easy though, and said to be somewhat cold hardy. If you don't mind a smaller palm, I suggest going with the chamaerops humilis var. cerifera. Pretty fast growth, and they germinate well.

Oh...

The silver grows faster I did not know that !