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I think that's the key for sure, figuring a not too unreasonable climate match. Cloud forest palms, Ceroxylon, Chamaedoreas, etc do well here, so I've been looking for broms from the Andes or high altitude Central America, which is fun! SE Brazil seems promising too...a slippery slope, lol!

A couple of common palms got a bit of attention this afternoon! Dypsis lutescens Howea fosteriana rhapis loaensis wodyetia bifurcata dypsis plumosa

Very impressive Matt! The A. rousselii is a stunner! Nice to see these mature palms in your garden.

Just thought I would share photos of this Mexican fan palm that I have been tracking for a couple years. Self seeded right up in the rocks along a bayou here in Northwestern Florida. Very tough palm, has survived some flooding and a rare Florida snow with a few inches.

Yeah, the rousselii produces viable seed. Last year, probably 5-6000. Its crazy. But germination is really slow and sporadic, starting almost a year after harvesting. And the eophyll is like 1/2" long. I have some seedlings doing well and a bag in my germination box with a few thousand seed.

Here it is, 3 years later. It did surprisingly survive the transplant but has been growing really slow. Oh well, I practically forgot about it I just dug it up , threw it in the ground and it’s still been green

Wow! Awesome idea to have all 3 to compare differences. The A rousellii crownshaft is eye catching! Has it produced viable seed? Nice Tahina photobomb too!

I'm guessing that you have gumbo clay and/or alkaline soil. Butia prefer well draining soil. When I had a Butia in Spring, Texas I had some hard clay but I mound planted it and it did fine. They're pretty variable also so two palms might tolerate the same conditions differently. In San Antonio I had four Butia planted and one in the front yard reacted differently to the others. It pushed yellow new growth after being in the ground several months. It was in an area with more alkaline soil.

Update from Oviedo. All 400 clumps of areca’s are gone. Undergrowth is coming in strong but 10-15ft stalks breaking off dead. 😢. Bismarck burned but ok. 12or so fronds dead. 3 3 headed clusters of Christmas likely dead. A couple heads pushing green but don’t work without the others so no good. Bottle got burned inside garage. One coconut gone. 3 royals, 2 pushing green for now but one not moving. Most underlying gone. Aboricolas are coming back slowly even cut to dang near ground level. Crotons, ginger, ti, gone. Worst part of it all, knowing this would happen eventually, is I moved my nursery back out last weekend. Bottles, Bismarcks, kings, mangos, and the dang squirrels tore out and ate all the kings, ate the spear on the bottles, and generally ruined my appetite to continue on with this.

And here's a trio, rousselii is the big one, crinita front right, and rubra in back

This is in the coldest and most exposed part of my garden

This one is in a prime spot. Trunk is almost a foot across at the base, much more robust than the others, but hard to tell in photos.

I have all three Acanthophoenix growing in my San Diego garden and all grow perfectly. My A rubra are grown from seed off a tree in San Diego (Dennis Willoughby's garden). The only reason not to grow these I could think of is the spines, but in my opinion they are much less lethal than Phoenix roebellinii or canariensis which are all over the place. Photos coming...

That didn't occur to me, but I suppose it is possible. I'm not very familiar with mature Orania, and the 2 I grow do not resemble those in my photo above, but there are several Orania species. Mine *might* be O. trispatha, but I can't say for sure.

No sprinklers. Thank you.

I met Walt briefly at a Fairchild Gardens palm sale over twenty-five years ago. Shortly thereafter, he began posting on the Forum. I always greatly enjoyed his posts. They were deep and thorough, especially after a cold event. The Lake Placid area is beautiful. It is atypical of Florida in. it's rolling hills and numerous lakes. Walt identified with clinical precision the nature of his climate together with microclimates located nearby. At the Fairchild Gardens sale, Walt was not just looking around, but was actively purchasing many many palms. while I am certain that he experienced many disappointments, he was always willing to test the edges. I can remember one time after a freeze in Lake Placid, he could only ponder how is neighbor only miles away, but on the lease side of the lake, did not lose that voluptuous Coco nucifera. Well, he learned and planted under the large oak canopy and tamed the beast. I loved his YouTube presentations. So laid-back, articulate and cool. My heart goes out to his wife, Cathy. I am certain that she is a very special person. God bless her and Walt.

Tis season I guess…

Been pleasantly surprised by my one and only to sprout from a small seed batch last year. Hasn’t been fully exposed to the elements yet but has coped with the cool. Suchan interesting and colourful little seedling. Very rewarding from seed.

Here’s a nice container grown Bismarckia I spotted while travelling in India!

I'll see how it goes, I'm literally doing the Pepsi Challenge on bulbs vs starters right now. Right now I'm team bulb. But yeah, the shipping.... I bought from sellers that advertised "climate controlled shipping" last month and - yeah. eBay sided with me on the refund so it's all gravy.

I will be as soon as I can get these three in the ground, but for now they are quite fast growing and have cool tolerance, another year of growing them and see how I go planting them in the garden.

Do you still have the cycads? If so witch ones?

Almost time for another update. 🤞I have faith that it performed flawlessly through your winter freezes. 😄👍🌴 aztropic Mesa, Arizona

Hello Cathy, Condolences on Walt's passing. The forum members posted a memorial thread for him here: https://www.palmtalk.org/forum/topic/93162-rip-walt-in-lake-placid/

Came out true...I just had one seed I left sprouted to see if it would come true and it did. Picture attached...