Blue Cane Palm

Dypsis cabadae

Synonyms: Chrysalidocarpus cabadae

Blue Cane Palm is one of the best palms for Brisbane. It’s slowly becoming more well-known, especially as gardeners are becoming more aware of the problems involved with the more traditional species such as Golden Cane and Alexander Palms. They come from the Comores Islands near Madagascar, where they are almost extinct in the wild.

Unlike Golden Cane Palm, Blue Cane does not clump so aggressively. This means less problems with it pushing on fences and retaining walls. On the flip side, this means they usually don’t have much foliage at the bottom half, so under planting is recommended.

Blue Cane Palms have elegant blue-green fronds, blue-green crown shaft and decorative white trunk rings. They are reasonably fast growing, but not as fast as species such as Golden Cane. They grow well in Brisbane’s climate, taking full sun or part shade without issue. Like most palms, Blue Cane requires little maintenance and suffers few pest and disease issues. They may attract scale or mealybug during warmer weather. Blue Cane palm may also attract borer insects. This can be treated if caught early.