{"product_id":"rigid-fan-palm-livistona-rigida","title":"Rigid Fan Palm - Livistona rigida","description":"\u003cp\u003eStiff fans are what set this palm apart. Where the other Livistonas in this range let their leaf tips hang in loose threads, rigid fan palm holds leaves divided to about half their depth, with a whitish waxy coat on the upper surface, so the crown reads grey-green to blue-green and keeps a crisp outline even in wind. It is an Australian native from the river country of the Top End and the Gulf rivers of north-west Queensland, known as the Mataranka palm or Gregory River cabbage palm, and it grows along stream banks and flats with a permanent water supply, in country that stays hot for most of the year.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThat combination is the case for planting it. It gives the silvery, architectural fan palm look people often buy an exotic palm to get, on a native that handles heat and dry air, provided its roots have water. With age it builds a single trunk, straight or slightly curved, on a swollen base.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eA river palm, not a desert palm\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe common mistake is to treat it as a dry garden palm because it comes from the hot north. In its home rivers it never stands far from water, so a garden plant needs full sun and deep, regular watering through the warmer months, above all in the first two or three summers after planting. A long, slow soak once or twice a week beats a daily sprinkle, because it wets the soil deeply enough to draw new roots down instead of holding them near the surface. Deep soil with a thick mulch over the root zone holds moisture between waterings. Drainage still matters, because it likes moist ground, not stagnant ground. It grows well beyond the tropics, and established palms take light frost, though a hard frost marks the leaves. Growth is slow to moderate, and noticeably quicker in heat with summer water. Feed it through the warm months with a palm fertiliser that includes potassium and magnesium, the two nutrients whose shortage shows first as yellowing and spotting on the oldest fronds.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eSpines, fruit and where not to put it\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eSharp teeth line the edges of the frond stalks. Set the palm at least a frond's length back from anywhere people walk or swim, and wear gloves and long sleeves when you cut fronds off. Male and female flowers are borne on separate palms, and you cannot tell which you have until it flowers. Only females fruit, and the glossy black fruit falls straight down and sprouts in whatever lies beneath, so plant it over lawn or mulched garden, where seedlings are easy to pull, rather than over pale paving. Remove dead fronds with a pruning saw while you can still reach them, and leave green fronds alone, since the palm draws on them; cutting them for tidiness only weakens the crown.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eChoosing a fan palm from the range\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eAmong the native fan palms, \u003ca href=\"\/products\/livistona-decora\"\u003eRibbon Fan Palm\u003c\/a\u003e is the opposite in mood, with segments that hang in long ribbons and move in every breeze. If the blue-grey colour is the attraction, \u003ca href=\"\/products\/bismarckia-nobilis\"\u003eBismarck Palm\u003c\/a\u003e gives a bolder silver crown with much larger, heavier leaves, but it needs far more room and comes from Madagascar. Rigid fan palm sits between them: a similar grey cast on a narrower crown, with the stiff leaf that gives it its name. Over the decades it becomes a tall palm, so plant it clear of eaves and overhead wires. The full range of fan and feather palms is in the \u003ca href=\"\/collections\/palm-trees\"\u003ePalm Trees\u003c\/a\u003e collection.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3 class=\"pd-size-guidance\"\u003eChoosing a size\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis plant is supplied in one size, 160L, at $1389.00 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 \u003ca href=\"\/blogs\/news\/when-to-plant-trees-and-shrubs-australia\"\u003ewhen to plant in Australia\u003c\/a\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Plant Drop","offers":[{"title":"160L","offer_id":67672707531121,"sku":null,"price":1389.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1017\/1049\/6113\/files\/rigid-fan-palm-livistona-rigida.jpg?v=1791527096","url":"https:\/\/plantdrop.com.au\/products\/rigid-fan-palm-livistona-rigida","provider":"Plant Drop","version":"1.0","type":"link"}