There are so many different varieties of palms to see in Bali, that sometimes it can be confusing when it comes to choosing the right one for your garden. You can see palms growing everywhere in Bali, from roadsides, to villas, up in the mountains or down at the beach.
One of my favorite palms is the Lipstick Palm or palem merah, (Cyrtostachis lakka). This palm has a beautiful bright red trunk, and looks good anywhere in the garden. The red trunk and bright green foliage create a nice contrast in any garden. It is a medium sized palm, to about 6m, and grows in clumps. This is one of the most spectacular and colourful tropical palms and extremely popular as a garden and landscaping plant. In the tropics it’s very easy to grow, though it needs lots of water and semi shade. It does not like full sun and don’t place it in a position where it will be constantly exposed to the harsh midday sun. It will also grow well in a pot, indoor or outdoor. They look especially nice when grown in groupings in the garden.
The Golden Cane Palm, or palm kuning, (Chrysalidocarpus lutescenspalm), is another attractive and versatile palm. It has colourful golden stems that make ideal as an accent plant. It can also be used to good effect around swimming pools where the fronds can provide shade for the pool and its root system won’t cause damage to the pool either. It will also grow very easily in pots, and looks good near doorways and entrances. The Golden Cane Palm is one of the more popular clumping palms and when grown in the ground it will reach a height of about 4 metres. It will tolerate full sun, and drier conditions.
The Ruffled Fan Palm, palem kol (Licuala grandis), is a very sought after palm by collectors outside of the tropics but it is easy to get in Bali. It is especially good for growing in a large pot anywhere in and around the house. The unique foliage is the main attraction of this tree, it has glossy, dark green leaves. It is very beautiful and grows to a height of 2 metres, with a slender trunk, and almost looks like a large bonsai. It is a rainforest understory palm so it will do best in filtered light. It has bright red fruits, and is quite slow growing. Keep it protected from full sun and sheltered from strong winds, as the trunk is quite thin.
The Cabbage Tree Palm, palem jari, (Livistona australis), is becoming very popular around mall and villa developments in Bali. This is one of my favorites and originates from eastern Australia. It is very slow growing, usually about half a metre per year. Most of the specimens that you see around Bali are mature trees already around 20 years old, which have been directly transplanted from the nursery. This plant though is quite beautiful as a young specimen and looks more like a shrub, sending out large fronds from the ground, with foliage shaped like a traditional paper fan. The trunk can take a few years to develop and become visible. When mature it has a large spherical crown. The plant has red fruits which mature to black. It likes full sun when mature, but in infancy needs a shady position. It likes lots of water and can tolerate windy, salty conditions, so it is ideal for growing near the beach. The growing tip of the young Cabbage Tree Palm is edible, though harvesting of this tip kills the plant because it cannot re-grow from another point. The Aboriginal people of eastern Australia would utilise this growing tip for food, hence the name ‘cabbage tree.’ They also used the leaves as roof thatch and for weaving baskets, and the fibrous bark to make fishing lines. This palm can grow to forty metres. A similar looking, and closely related palm is the Chinese Fan Palm (Livistona chinensis)
The Alexender Palm, palem alexander (Archontophoenix alexandrae), is another palm of eastern Australia, that is very popular and grows well in Bali. It is very beautiful and so well regarded around the world it is commonly known as the King Palm. It is very hardy and tolerates full sun once mature, but needs filtered light when young. The flowers are cream, with bright red fruit. The leaves are shiny green. It looks particularly nice around pool areas and water features. It can be planted together in a clump of two to create a jungle effect as the trunks curve away from each other. The same can be done in pots. This is another favorite in the villas and shopping malls. This palm is fast growing, at about a metre per year.
The best palms to grow are those that are easy to maintain, and are self cleaning. For example the Cabbage Tree Palm or the Alexander Palm, which have fronds which self clean, meaning that they drop on their own. The popular but untidy Cocos Palm (Arecastrum romanzoffianum), is an example of a palm which has to have its dying leaves removed by hand, so maintenance can become difficult as it grows. Most palms like a shady spot with filtered light when young, but will tolerate full sun as they mature. They need regular watering and can easily dry out in hot conditions, so make sure you keep the soil moist. The great thing about buying palms in Bali is that plants that are sought after and rare in western countries, such as the Lipstick Palm, and the Ruffled Fan Palm, are easy to find and quite common in nurseries in Indonesia.
