Cabada Palm Dypsis cabadae

The trunks do the work on cabada palm. It clumps, but sparsely, sending up slim smooth deep green canes marked with a pale ring at every old leaf scar, with the arching feather crowns held well overhead and clear space at eye level between the stems. That combination of bamboo like ringed canes and a see through base is what it is bought for, and it makes the palm a screen you can walk into and a feature that takes uplighting better than any densely suckering alternative.

Warm gardens, open ground and a clump that widens

It belongs in warm coastal and subtropical gardens, or a sheltered warm temperate courtyard, since frost ends it and cold dry wind burns the leaflets. Light runs from part shade to full sun, and once established it holds colour at the brighter end, which is more than most clumping palms manage. Water is moderate on soil that holds some moisture but drains freely, with organic matter and a deep mulch. Growth is moderate, so a mid size plant will make a screen in reasonable time. The failure mode is space. Buyers site cabada like a hedge plant, tight against a fence line or a pool coping, and the clump keeps widening at the base; the moment you start cutting outer canes to keep it in bounds you lose the open, spaced trunk look that was the entire reason for choosing it. Give the clump room to spread on all sides from the start, and plan any screening row on centres that allow for that width.

Cabada against the other clumping palms

It is the palm to reach for when golden cane is not enough: taller, cleaner in the trunk and far less dense. Compared with Dypsis madagascariensis, cabada has more canes, greener stems and a lower, fuller profile, where madagascariensis runs to fewer, thicker, waxy trunks and a higher canopy. For a shaded position where cabada would thin out, Areca triandra is the smaller, shade holding clump. Choose cabada for green ringed stems in a bright, warm, open position. Buyers also arrive here from golden cane, and the upgrade is real: cabada holds a cleaner trunk, keeps its colour in stronger light, and takes uplighting at night far better, because there are visible stems to light rather than a solid skirt of foliage to the ground.

Thin the canes, feed the colour

Take the oldest canes out at ground level every year or two so the clump stays legible instead of closing into a thicket, and cut them right down rather than shortening them. Remove browned fronds at the stalk base. Feed through the warm months with a palm fertiliser carrying potassium and magnesium, which is what holds the deep green in the leaflets; pale, mottled older fronds usually mean the feeding has lapsed rather than that the palm is failing. Do the thinning in spring so new suckers fill the gaps through the warm months, and keep mulch thick over the root zone and pulled back clear of the cane bases. More sizes in mature trees.

Choosing a size

This plant is available in 8 sizes, from 180mm up to 1000L, priced from $65.95 to $4839.00 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.