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Horse hockey - Archontophoenix cunninghamiana

The seeds will be a genetic lottery! I have only one washie from that lot that I dug up from the lot which was mowed down but after it recovered it grew up to be skinny with quick vertical growth and long pentitols but seems to take freezes pretty good so far.

Now that should be quite the show when they all bloom!

I have two examples from that Washingtonia. One is skinny, stretched out and has very pronounced robusta reddish petiole bases. The other is very filifera, scarcely a trace of color in the petioles, stout, much more hefty trunk and paler green dull fronds. You'd never guess these were from the same seed lot. Polar opposites.

Any pics posted on the forums?

This app doesn’t show the city center but it’s likely that London will see widespread frost everywhere for a couple of nights.

The London UHI effect in the city center doesn’t make a big difference in these conditions, with the city center at 1C around midnight. The next couple of nights will be several degrees colder.

Happy New Years!!!! Been awhile since I've seen your coconuts!

What a beauty. Especially appreciate that contrast of the bottom ruffle of the lip.

I have a 3 yo macroglossa in Pensacola FL 9a-9b. It’s inside now for the latest cold snap down to 29 but I’m thinking in a year or 2, it’ll do just fine in the ground. As long as it’s near a south facing wall of course

I think it may have to do with the length of the cool season. They dont do so well here in mid coastal florida either until a few months after winter. They seem to come out yellowish and get a nice green mid summer. Rain in summer probably also helps in florida as opposed to rain in the cool season. They look great in miami but not so great 40 miles south of tampa. We are 4-5 degrees cooler in lows than miami in winter.

Good to hear from you Alex, prayers and best wishes for a happy new year.

Much of the above mentioned “ differences “ are pretty on the ball. “ Heat / lack of it in CA, in many areas, this time of year esp. “ ….yada yada yada Other big + player in fl is proxim. to constantly mild / warm water, on both sides, esp once down in Miami. … and Florida's size … much smaller area compared to CA .. no mountains / mountain valleys that can trap cold air either. while the Pacific off the warmest portion of CA is just a touch chilly ( …adding to the lack of warmth, particularly in winter, at times angle ) They are warming… While they may never get quite as warm as FL anytime soon, they could reach “ just warm enough “ status in the not too distant future. Any ( and all ) deniers be damned.. Back to mountains, …Same lack of any mountains is one big factor that exposes FL to major arctic outbreaks ..so … Pick your poison / minus factors carefully, in either area. All that said, of all the varieties of Coconuts out there that stand the best chance of survival anywhere in CA?? .. it will be those from Hawaii,( shown to be a good candidate already ) and those from Mexico …particularly sourced from areas of Mex. close to S. TX. ..and / or areas like Baja / coastal and any near coastal areas west of the Sierra Madre Occidental ..esp. north of Mazatlan that i’d be squarely focused on if i were going down the Coco Rabbit hole out there ( ….or here ) Possible too that coconuts sourced from higher elevation spots in Mex. ( like the fruiting specimens i’ve found around Lake Chapala ) might br CA - trial worthy material too. if you live in San D, you need to have friends in Baja roll ( or toss ) some nuts over the wall. .. if you can’t get them through yourself. Regardless, my “ bet “, placed in another CA Coco - nutty thread, stands. ..even gonna up the final ante mentioned to 20$ ..and i’ll place it in my will …if that is as long as it takes… to see / hear of.. a legit, with - viable - fruit (s) on it, Cali - grown Coconut. How confident are any nay sayers.

yeah they look nothing like my alexandre, trunks/crownshafts way to thin, but I cant see the white undersides so well on mine these days at 30'+ tall triple in a thick canopy of other palms. As the ring spacing of my alexes is greater and the light green crownshafts shed very cleanly with green left on the trunks for the last few rings below the crownshaft. My (2) myolensis and maxima look very much like my alexandre. These look a lot like cunningnamiana here, skinny trunks(maybe due to shade grown?) close rings smaller crowns etc. But cultural conditions could have a big impact on these and because only cunninghamiana are uncommon here I doubt my ability to identify. California archies have more stepped trunks down low with the rings it seems than the florida ones.

Final day of 25: Mid 60s under cloudy …and drippy ( at times ) skies. perhaps a light, wetting rain overnight, then staying sorta sunny / sorta unsettled as 2026 arrives. Temps appear to hang somewhere in the 60s / lower 70s as the week ends / new week, of the mew year kicks off …depending if we dry out, ..or see more rain chances. .. we’ll see if …or when.. any sub - 39F nights show up in the forecasts as the middle of winter ( January ) proceeds. That said, the clock is already ticking on any “ chilly “ nights locally. CanSips longer range forecasts should update tonight / CFS -es thoughts in a couple days so we’ ll see what they’ re seeing for the back half of winter ….and beyond.. later. As for that dreaded P.V.??? todays thoughts…. …Hopefully the current consensus doesn't’ start trending well below where it is sitting right now… Onward to 26..

Blc. Ahchung Ruby Opening just in time for the new year. Reliable winter bloomer. Highly scented, frilly, raspberry colored flowers. 👍 aztropic Mesa, Arizona

Happy New Year! Good to hear from you again.

Deltona, which is directly north of Sanford and sort of in southwest Volusia County. The population here is about 100k, and things are getting built out and commercialized more all the time, so I think the urban heat island effect is only increasing over time. Deltona used to be closer to a warm 9a, and there were some record low temps in the high teens back 35-40 years ago, which some of the old timers still remember and incorrectly, in my opinion, believe is relevant to the current climate and what can be grown. There are a lot of queens and pindo palms around that were likely grown back when the climate wasn't nearly as favorable, but anyone who lives here and drives around will see some healthy, maturing foxtails, royals, and areca palms in people's yards. The coconut palm I posted a picture of is probably the only one I've seen around that looks that good, but I do try to keep in mind that a lot of people buy palms and think they can just plant and forget, so you can't always go off of the very few anecdotes and generalize too broadly as to what can be grown. I don't know how much long-term viability a coconut or Christmas palm would have here, but foxtails, royals, and arecas seem to be fairly safe now. A coconut might need some protection some years but could perhaps survive for 10-15 years or until the next cold front. I don't have the biggest yard myself at the moment, so I am not sure if it'd be worth it to me to experiment on a coconut palm when I could plant something safe.

I sent this Roystonea to a new home in Riverside today. A friend there will give it a better life than I could. Yes! I was watching the forecast with a sort of obsession, waiting for when those storms might blow through. I notice some cultivars are less hardy than others - within a few degrees of course. But some begin to show damage very early on and others can handle the cold better (i.e. less or no rot, slower to take on leaf damage, etc.) Mine is one that I got from you several years ago! I think you had it in a 1g pot back then. Santa Paula is beautiful. The avocado orchards surrounded by dramatic mountains are so spectacular to look at.

Some anecdotal evidence from my part of the state in Fresno (Central, inland California). We are a 9b/10a location with a few nights of frost each year. We've had 10a winters the last 8 or so years. As SouthernCA Tropicals mentioned, we rarely deviate from the average. Winter temps here are usually 60F for a high, 35-40F for a low here, and that's daily. We don't get 70s. certainly don't get 80s. Just cool and wet for long periods. Compare that to a zone 9b in Florida (Texas even?) or a 10a in either of those areas? You MAY get a few nights of 30F, even high 20s, but temps go right back to 70s and 80s with sun. Here are the lowest temps in Fresno for the last 10 years. And this is the comparable data for a 9b city in Florida (I'm not all that familiar with Florida cities so maybe someone can suggest a better comparison). Both cities have temps that on the books would be able to support cocos nucifera in theory - even those high 20s! I'm guessing Tampa has a lot more heat in winter with rogue "polar vortex'-type events that bring freezes and frost. Fresno has more stable, predictable highs and lows, and those lows are sustained for a period of 2-3 months. I mean, just look at what a month of 40F and cold fog has done to Roystonea in this post. 40F is not a threat to Roystonea by any means - but a month of it? With cold fog? and no heat? it'll do in the more tropical stuff. Many tropicals can adapt to that, but some things just can't take those conditions and they begin to die off. Coconuts absolutely hate those conditions.

A Kliene update. 17C 12/31/2025 @ 2:31pm I pray everyone is well. Here's my update. May God bless you all. God willing next year, I won't be a stranger. (It took me a lot longer to rotate the video than it was to record it) Happy New Year! new year 2026.mp4

I'm getting around 2 feet per year for the past three or four years. In the right conditions they are FAST!

Not to say that we (Californians) don’t try.

I meant hibiscus flowers 😆

I am dreading tonight! I had 0 damage hibiscus pullovers and all still perfect after last night. The lack of frost helped a lot.