Bangalow Palm Archontophoenix cunninghamiana

Bangalow palm is the southern Archontophoenix, native from the Queensland border down the New South Wales coast into rainforest gullies. It carries a slim ringed trunk, a clean green crownshaft and arching fronds that stay green on both faces. Its signature is the flower spray, which hangs out below the crownshaft in soft lilac before setting heavy bunches of red fruit. It is planted in staggered groups as a feature and avenue palm, and its cold tolerance is why it turns up far south of any other Archontophoenix.

Cool coast tolerance, and what it costs you

It handles Sydney and Melbourne winters that stop the tropical palms, though hard frost still marks it, so inland cold pockets need shelter. Light runs from part shade to full sun, with young plants happiest under canopy and mature palms fine in the open. Water is moderate to high; this is a gully palm and it shows drought stress quickly on sandy soils. Give it deep soil with organic matter, mulch and steady moisture, and shelter from drying wind. Plant in threes and fives at mixed heights, because a single trunk in open lawn looks lonely. The failure mode is fruit. An established palm drops bunches of red fruit that stain paving, get walked through, and germinate freely; seedlings come up in beds, gutters, gullies and neighbouring bushland, and in parts of Victoria and Western Australia this palm has naturalised well beyond where it was planted. If it sits over hard surfaces or near bush, cut the flower sprays off while they are still green.

Bangalow, Alexandra or a fan palm

Against Alexandra palm, the split is climate: Alexandra for the tropics and the warm subtropics, bangalow for anywhere cooler, and the quick check in the field is the frond underside, silver on Alexandra and green here. If the fruit drop rules it out for a paved courtyard, cabbage tree palm is the native alternative with a stiffer, more vertical fan crown, though it carries spiny leaf stalks of its own. Bangalow is the choice when you want a soft, fast reading tropical group in a cool coastal garden. Where the palm stands over a pool or a paved entertaining area, the difference in fruit and seedling load usually decides the job rather than the look of either crown, since the two read much the same from a distance.

Let the crown drop its own fronds

There is no frond pruning to speak of. Old fronds abscise and fall whole, so keep the palm away from glass, cars, shade sails and pool covers, and never cut a green frond for tidiness, since that thins the crown and slows the trunk. Cut flower or fruit bunches out at the base while they are green if mess is a concern. Feed in spring and midsummer with a palm fertiliser carrying potassium and magnesium, and mulch generously out to the drip line, keeping it off the trunk. See the wider selection in feature trees.

Choosing a size

This plant is available in 16 sizes, from 200mm up to 750L, priced from $41.95 to $8799.00 per plant. The size shown is the pot the plant arrives in, which is the rootball, not the height of the plant. The smaller pots hold younger plants that cost less each and establish quickly, which suits hedges, screens and mass planting where the plant count adds up. The larger sizes carry several more years of growth on the farm and give height and presence straight away, which is what you want for a single feature position or a screen that cannot wait. Not sure which to choose? Read our guide to choosing a tree for a small backyard.