Cryosophila warscewiczii

On the rainforest floors of Honduras, Costa Rica and Panama, this slender fan palm grows beneath much taller trees, and everything about it follows from that. The leaves are rounded and split deeply into stiff segments, dark above and close to white beneath, so the crown catches light from underneath. Its real oddity is the trunk, armed with branched, downward pointing spines that are modified roots rather than true thorns. It is a collector's feature palm for warm, sheltered courtyards and protected understorey planting.

A wet tropics palm and the wind that wrecks it

Think a Cairns or Townsville courtyard, a protected Brisbane garden with canopy overhead, or a heated glasshouse further south. It needs warmth, high humidity and a root zone that stays evenly moist, in soil built up with composted organic matter and leaf litter so it holds water without turning sour. Dry air alone browns the leaf tips, and cold will finish it outright. The single thing that ruins this palm is wind. Those stiff fan segments shred along their folds in any exposed position, and a shredded leaf stays shredded until the palm replaces it. Site it in the lee of a building, a solid fence or established trees, never on an open corner or in the funnel between two walls. Give it clearance as well: the trunk spines mean it belongs at least an arm's length back from any path, doorway or seating area, and it should not be planted where children run. South of the tropics a container is the realistic answer, using a coarse bark based mix in a pot big enough that the root zone is not swinging between soaked and bone dry every few days.

Fan palm or feather palm for a sheltered courtyard

Against the feather palms here, Cryosophila reads as a different shape entirely, rounded fans on thin stalks rather than plumes. Pinanga kuhlii is the safer choice for a family courtyard, a clumping palm with nothing spiny anywhere on it and a bronze pink new leaf as its party trick. Allagoptera caudescens is more forgiving of an open position and puts a silver underside on a feather crown. Choose Cryosophila if you want the fan silhouette and the armed trunk as a talking point, and you have a sheltered, out of the way corner to give it. If the palm has to sit in a bed somebody weeds every month, choose one of the others and save yourself the gloves.

Handling the spines when you prune

Pruning is only ever the removal of dead fronds, taken with long handled loppers so your hands stay well away from the trunk, and always with gauntlet gloves and long sleeves. Cut the stalk near the trunk and drag the frond away rather than reaching through the crown. Never cut the spear or open the growing point. Feed lightly and often through the warm months rather than heavily once: a controlled release palm fertiliser in early spring and again in midsummer, backed up with composted mulch over the root zone and kept off the trunk. In dry spells water the ground, not the crown, and watch for spider mite whenever the air around it turns dry.

Choosing a size

This plant is available in 2 sizes, from 250mm up to 300mm, priced from $109.00 to $179.00 per plant. The size shown is the pot the plant arrives in, which is the rootball, not the height of the plant. These mid-range sizes balance establishment speed against immediate presence, and they are the usual choice for general garden planting. Not sure which to choose? Read our guide to when to plant in Australia.