Dypsis madagascariensis

Think of this as the tall, open cousin of the golden cane. It clumps in the same way, but the stems are fewer, thicker and far taller, ringed like bamboo and often carrying a pale waxy bloom. The leaflets are the identifying detail, held in loose groups along the frond with a silvery cast to the undersides, so the whole palm catches light and moves in wind. Crowns sit high enough to walk and plant beneath, which makes it an airy screen rather than a wall of canes.

Warm gardens, and a screen with bare legs

It is Madagascan and frost tender, so keep it to warm coastal and subtropical gardens or a well sheltered pocket further south. Light runs from part shade to full sun and water is moderate, on soil with organic matter and free drainage; growth is moderate, and feeding through the warm months is what holds deep green frond colour. The failure mode is a mismatch of expectations. Buyers specify it as a screen and then find the clump lifts its crowns well overhead as it matures, leaving open trunks at eye level and a view straight through at exactly the height they wanted covered. That habit is a feature if you plan for it: underplant with something shade tolerant beneath the canopy and let the trunks be part of the design. If the brief is a solid screen from ground to top, this is the wrong palm and no amount of feeding changes it. Give the clump room to widen at the base as well, since the outer stems keep coming and cutting them back defeats the open habit you bought it for.

Open habit against dense clumps

Against cabada palm, this one carries fewer, thicker, waxier stems and a higher canopy, where cabada holds more canes with a lower, fuller profile and greener trunks, so cabada is the closer thing to a screen and this is the better single feature. Dypsis plumosa is a different texture again, fine and plumose rather than open and grouped. Choose madagascariensis when you want height, light through the planting, and trunks worth looking at. Stock size is worth weighing too: this arrives as one large established clump and lands as a finished element, while cabada is carried from small pots upward for anyone building a screen over several seasons.

Thin, feed and keep the bloom

Take the oldest canes out at ground level occasionally so the clump keeps its open character, cutting right down rather than shortening. Leave the waxy bloom on the trunks alone; scrubbing it off for a clean look removes the colour that makes the palm distinctive. Remove browned fronds at the stalk base in the warm months and leave anything green. Feed in spring and midsummer with a palm fertiliser carrying potassium and magnesium, spread under the crowns, and keep mulch deep and off the cane bases. Similar scale stock sits in super advanced trees.

Choosing a size

This plant is supplied in one size, 350L, at $1659.00 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.