Chamaedorea atrovirens

Chamaedorea atrovirens is a small clumping palm with slender green canes and soft pinnate fronds in a green dark enough that the botanical name refers to it. That depth of colour holds in light levels where other palms go pale and leggy, which is why landscapers reach for it in the roofed over corners nothing else survives: under decks and stair voids, in atriums, and in narrow side courtyards that get bright reflected light but never a direct beam. Get the position right and it is close to maintenance free.

Dim corners, even moisture, no salts

Warm temperate through to tropical gardens suit it, always under cover or canopy, and frost is the outdoor limit. Light is shade to part shade, and direct sun bleaches the fronds to a yellow green and then scorches the tips within a season. Soil wants organic matter, free drainage and a permanent mulch, with moderate water and regular watering through summer; growth is slow, so buy for the effect you want now. Naming within Chamaedorea is famously tangled, so expect to see this plant shelved under more than one label. The failure mode is tip burn from salts. Hard tap water in a pot, a heavy hand with fertiliser, or slow release prills sitting against the root ball all show up as dry brown leaflet tips that never green up again, and it is far more common on this palm than any disease. Feed lightly, flush pots through with a good soaking every few months to leach accumulated salts, and let a pot drain rather than sitting it in a saucer.

The darkest of the Chamaedoreas here

Against bamboo palm, this is softer, shorter and considerably darker; seifrizii gives upright ringed canes and a finer, airier texture for interiors, while atrovirens gives depth of colour low down. Chamaedorea hooperiana is the one to take if the same shaded position needs height and broader leaflets. Choose atrovirens for a low, dense, very dark understorey layer in the dimmest positions, or for pots in a room with no direct light at all. Against the fan palms in this batch the trade off is texture against outlay: a Licuala gives one broad pleated disc as a feature, while this gives soft, deeply green cover across a whole bed for far less per square metre.

Wipe the fronds, thin the canes

Indoors the standard problem is two spotted mite, which arrives in dry still air; wipe the fronds over with a damp cloth every few weeks rather than waiting for fine webbing to appear on the undersides. Thin the oldest canes out at ground level in spring instead of shortening them, since a cut cane will not regrow a tip. Remove browned fronds at the stalk base. Feed twice through the warm months at half the label rate with a palm fertiliser, and do the thinning and the feeding in the same visit each spring. More of the range is in advanced trees.

Choosing a size

This plant is available in 6 sizes, from 140mm up to 45L, priced from $18.95 to $879.00 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 when to plant in Australia.