Chamaedorea hooperiana

Most Chamaedorea sold in Australia is either the single stemmed parlour palm or the reed thin bamboo palm. This one is a different proposition: it suckers steadily from the base into a multi caned clump and carries much broader, darker leaflets, so it reads as full and leafy rather than wispy. It gains real height over years while staying narrow at ground level, which suits the awkward shaded slots in a build: narrow courtyards, lightwells and strips along a south facing wall where nothing else holds a leaf.

Height in shade, without width at the base

It grows in warm temperate through subtropical gardens under canopy or built shade, and frost is the limit, so cold inland gardeners should keep it in a tub that can come under cover for winter. Light is shade to part shade; direct summer sun bleaches and then scorches those broad leaflets, and the wider the leaflet the more obvious the damage. Soil should carry organic matter and drain freely, with moderate water and regular watering through summer. Growth is slow. The failure mode is a dry root zone in a hot, still, reflected heat position. Narrow courtyards and wall strips get hot even without sun on them, the soil volume is often small, and the leaflet tips brown off and stay browned. Mulch heavily, keep the root zone evenly moist through summer rather than letting it swing between soaked and dry, and where the palm sits in a built in planter check the moisture by hand instead of trusting the surface. Wind matters less than heat in these positions, but a draughty breezeway will still brown the leaflet margins.

The leafiest of the shade clumps

Against bamboo palm Florida Form, hooperiana carries broader leaflets again and pushes higher over time, so it is the pick where a shaded screen has to reach past a fence or window line; Florida Form is the denser, lower, more widely stocked option. Chamaedorea atrovirens stays lower again and goes darker, for ground level planting under the taller clumps. Take hooperiana when a shaded slot needs vertical cover with real leaf substance. There is a stock reality to weigh as well. This species comes through in small numbers and in one size here, where Florida Form and plain seifrizii are carried across several, so a large planting is easier to build from those and easier to match later if a plant is lost.

Ground level cuts and a light feed

Remove old canes at ground level in spring, never by shortening them, because a topped cane stands as a bare stump for years. That thinning keeps light into the centre of the clump and encourages fresh suckers. Cut browned fronds off at the stalk base. Feed twice through the warm months with a palm fertiliser containing magnesium and potassium, keeping the rate light on a shade palm. Under air conditioning, check leaf undersides for mite through dry weather and hose the foliage down. See more in palm trees.

Choosing a size

This plant is supplied in one size, 400mm, at $269.00 per plant. The size shown is the pot it arrives in, which is the rootball, not the height of the plant. Not sure which to choose? Read our guide to when to plant in Australia.