Bismarck Palm Bismarckia nobilis

Bismarck palm carries big, rigid, costapalmate fans on a heavy solitary trunk with no crownshaft, the whole crown a chalky silver blue. That colour is the reason it exists in the trade; nothing else in a palm reads as pale blue grey from the far end of a property. It is used as a single feature, an avenue subject on a large site, or the one plant in a courtyard that everything else is arranged around. It is a Madagascan dry country palm, not a rainforest one.

Sun, drainage and space in that order

Full sun is the spec and it means it, along with heat; in shade the crown loosens, the colour dulls and the palm sulks. Water is low to moderate once established, which makes it suited to dry inland and coastal gardens where the tropical feather palms need irrigation. Soil must be sharply drained; sand, gravel and raised beds all work, heavy compacted clay does not. Growth is slow, so the size you buy is close to the size you will look at for years. Allow real width when you place it, because the crown spread of an established plant is far greater than the pot implies, and one set tight against a path, fence or driveway ends up either butchered or dug out. The failure mode is cold wet ground through winter. Cold alone is survivable in a warm dry position; cold combined with soil that stays sodden after rain rots the base, and southern gardens lose Bismarcks that way every year. Raise the planting and drain the site before you plant.

Blue fans against green ones

Cross shop it against the green fan palms rather than the feather palms. Chinese fan palm gives a soft weeping crown at a lower cost and a smaller finished scale, and takes shadier and damper conditions than a Bismarck will tolerate. Canary Island date palm is the other large sun tolerant statement plant, denser and darker with feather fronds and a diamond patterned trunk. Take the Bismarck when the colour is the point, and when you have both the drainage and the room for it. Where the site will not give you those two things, the sensible move is to plant a green fan palm well rather than a blue one badly, because a Bismarck in shade or in wet ground loses the colour that justified buying it.

Handle the root ball, then leave it alone

Plant with the root ball intact and do not tease the roots out; Bismarcks resent root disturbance more than most palms and can take a season or more to move again after it. Once in, pruning is limited to fully browned fronds cut back to a short stub, and old leaf bases can be left rather than shaved. Feed in spring with a slow release palm fertiliser containing potassium and magnesium and repeat once in summer. Water it in properly through the first summer and then taper off, since an established plant asks for very little. Larger stock is grouped in super advanced trees.

Choosing a size

This plant is available in 7 sizes, from 400mm up to 500L, priced from $329.00 to $1879.00 per plant. The size shown is the pot the plant arrives in, which is the rootball, not the height of the plant. Every size here is established stock rather than a starter plant, so this line is intended for immediate effect rather than for growing on. Not sure which to choose? Read our guide to when to plant in Australia.