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Came across an interesting Craigslist ad the other day. Seems that a local palm tree farm was split up into a dozen 5-acre lots individually up for sale. One of the buyers wants the palms removed so he can build a house. Very tall Washingtonia and a couple of CIDP offered for free. This area is only about a mile from my house. Anyone willing to dig out some palms will have a tough time with all of the recent flooding (see pics). https://brownsville.craigslist.org/grd/d/harlingen-free-mature-palm-trees/7837838154.html

That's crazy! I thought my juvenile Butyagrus spear-pull at 27°F was bad!

@Harry’s Palms has some awesome looking cold hardy palms - not to mention some not-so-hardy!

Some scenes from an inaugural visit to local Oasis #3 on the last day of March.. While more simplistic and younger in age than the other, better known " Oasis " on this side of the valley, here, you are able to catch a glimpse of what various parts of the valley looked like before many of the C.A.P. canals were cemented in, and most of the Fremont's Cottonwood lining many of them were chopped down. Is also a glimpse of what the middle section of the Gila River ...Section of it that passes through Florence, under I -10, through the Gila Indian Nation/ Reservation, and into Buckeye, ...where the Salt and Gila Rivers unite... looked like before the building of the Coolidge dam and added water diversions caused this section of the river to go dry, at least at the surface. Final nail was human - accelerated demise of what Cottonwood / Willow Gallery forests had held on after a prolonged drought caused massive crop failure, which in turn caused settlers along the river att to chop as much wood as they could to sell to survive. While it looks barren and ..sorta sad.. when passing through this area atm, there are efforts under way, both within and outside the Gila nation, to piece together restored patches of as much of this habitat to the middle Gila as is possible in today's climate. Perhaps in the future, the Coolidge dam won't be needed and can be taken down, thus allowing more water from the Gila to reach, all the way through, once again. View standing among these giants may be slightly different compared to Cottonwood galleries visited further south, but, distinct scent and cool shade provided while sitting beneath on a hot spring day, soothing, flowing water - like ruffle of the canopies in a breeze / countless birds singing high in the treetops is just the same.. Splendid.. For other areas of the valley. bringing back Cottonwoods to the canals would help create more desperately needed urban canopy, and draw more people to the utilize the pathways along many of the canals themselves.. Here, in time, as the park gets established and the ongoing battle against a pretty aggressive Salt Cedar invasion is put down for good.. all shore areas of the recharge ponds that lack them, will likely be lined w/ Cottonwood so that no matter where one stands on a path, these towering jewels on the desert are keeping things cool and inspiring awe somewhere where some might assume that can't exist ..Because it is a desert.. A couple cool season wildflowers encountered... Lupinus succulentus Salvia columbariae

Hi all, I just acquired a tree fern with about 4' of trunk and it doesn't look like Cyathea cooperi. is this Cyathea robusta? Thanks for any help you can provide. IMG_1052.HEIC IMG_1051.HEIC IMG_1050.HEIC IMG_1049.HEIC

Indeed it would! Tim

Copernicias exhibit potassium deficiency from leaf tip down. Spotting yes, but leaf tip goes yellow first and the veins also go yellow. With Mg deficiency, there is interveinal chloriosis where leaflet veins stay green. Here is a hospita with a potassium deficiency on one of the oldest leaves. Note spotting and chlorotic(yellow) veins. It is easiest to see with the leat between you and the sun. This hospita is planted with a good ammendment of dolomite so no Mg issues. K deficiency is easily the most common deficiency in Florida due to sandy soils and rain and the fact K is the most soluble nutrient so it washes away easily.

after seven years in my garden, my variegated fishtail has decided to finally start flowering! A buddy in Southern California shipped me some Caryota gigas pollen so I am going to try to cross it with C. gigas. 🤞🏼

And below a head on comparison between the Rhodes AP and the Port of Rhodes for the same period. Which goes to show that the Port of Rhodes is significantly milder during the winter compared to the Airport. I remind everyone that the 2 stations are about 15 km apart.

36N According to mlovecan they must be around 3-4 years old now. Check his posts for all the details and photos of the cocos.

March Finals.... 3/ 23: Ribbons 3/ 26: Simplicity and reflection..

Wish I could edit my original response to be a bit more inclusive. I wish I could have heard what was argued, do you recall what points you said to them? My approach would focus on these points: Native Palms: They are low-maintenance, support local biodiversit AND visual diversity. Exotic Palms: These add a tropical unique flair, are low-maintenance and can't disrupt local ecosystems non invasive I also have a thread on the cold palm forum about finding hardier saw palmetto populations. Saw palmettos are great conversation pieces for native and conservation enthusiasts, even though they're not native to Atlanta. They support many species and have medicinal properties. Other palms like Sabal minor are valuable for birds and animals, and Rhapidophyllum hystrix are just awesome looking and underutilized. I think pointing out palms are found in the ATL metro (s. minor and r. hystrix) would be a way to warm people up just like they opened up to the idea of yuccas. Yuccas are all over my area so interesting to hear they had to be proposed. Funny how many don't see the beauty around us.

I have seen them twice for sale in Houston. At JRN and Enchanted Forest. The ones at JRN are a decent price and small singles, but the the Enchanted Garden ones are seriously overpriced. There are a few in my neighborhood but they took a lot of frond damage last year.

@Harry’s Palms I have not seen a better looking single trunk med palm than yours. Yours looks very nice and full! 👍 This is the standard fare I am used to seeing.

I don't see this species in discussion much. In my climate, it is an exotic import lumber only! It can be quite beautiful, but it's difficult to work with.

Awesome thanks for the info another quick question I had was regarding bracing or strapping. I have noticed multiple other people have had transplanted queens but I do not see any bracing. Hurricane season is looming, I suppose I may have answered my own question. I know it can take some time for these to establish once transplanted.

So beautiful ❤

A stunning example of a cool palm. Harry

Here is a 25 year old single trunk , never clumped , Chamerops Humilus in a warm temperate climate . Planted as a seedling. Harry South facing , always had full sun and regular watering . Never below 38f. I consider this to be a mature palm , about 7’ of trunk under the canopy. Harry

Yeah, and one of the worst parts is that it's difficult to tell the difference between overwatering and underwatering. Root rot has some of the same visual symptoms as underwatering, because the roots aren't pulling up enough water in both cases! In general though: Underwatering - brown at the leaf tips first, followed by yellowing of whole leaves. Overwatering - fronds drooping, turning yellowish and/or losing color. Since yours is a fresh transplant the brown leaf is just it "eating" the old frond, and likely not underwatering.

@miamicuse my gut feel is that there's going to be some destruction & reconstruction no matter which path you choose. At the very least the shrubberies around there are going to get demolished if you have them stump grind. So here's my initial thoughts: Go over and collect as many of the bromeliads as you can/want. Most transplant easy & grow like weeds. Chop a hole in the shrubberies facing the road, to give them a defined path for the trunk & stump grinder. Have them cut it down & stump grind and take all the grindings with them, but assume it won't go 18" deep. Hope that they don't demolish the rest of the shrubberies and mailbox at the same time. As far as a replacement, I'm sure the center of that will be a giant mass of roots. It might be a pain to plant new stuff in there. But if they take away the grindings you can at least refill with clean sand/topsoil. I'm not sure what makes sense as a replacement. Something not particularly rare (being a rental property), and doesn't rapidly grow tall: Allagoptera Arenaria - curly big shrubbery, doesn't grow much over 10' tall but could be too wide for the spot. Arenga Engleri - never more than 20' tall and typically 10-15' max. Tough as nails and reasonably slow. It might also cluster a bit wide. Butia - might not like getting submerged if it happens often, but for sure slow to gain trunk height. Caryota Mitis - trunks flower at 20ish feet. Fine with water, wind, sun, etc. Copernicia - smaller diameter ones like Gigas, Hospita, Yarey. Might be more rare/expensive than you'd want, but also relatively slow to gain trunk height. Corypha Umbraculifera - because you want it to be bigger than the house. Livistona Chinensis - much slower than a Washingtonia, could take 20+ years to get to threatening height again. Sabal - a 10' trunk would also take a looong time to threaten the power lines. Syagrus Schizophylla - pretty slow and no bigger in diameter than the shrubberies. There's always the Pygmy Date/Bottle/Spindle/Christmas palm option, common and easy to get, cheap and don't grow super tall for a long time.

I have already raised the concern for multiple cities in the north Atlanta area about the lack of native Yucca plants in the area. They told me they would bring up the topic with arborists and try to push planting more Yuccas in the area. For palms though, I would probably need a stronger case. If anyone has any ideas, please let me know. I would love to see more diverse and tropical plants in this area, I love the pines and Magnolias as well, and I think palms would just add to the beauty.

I do not understand how this Butiagrus can be such a wimp when it comes to cold weather. Low temperature recorded in the garden was 34f this Winter. Nearby more tropical palms and plants show no damage. This Butiagrus has shown some damage to cold before, but is otherwise healthy and grows good.

Ill probably change it into some of the fast draining potting mix I have, though i’d like it to have a bit more roots first.

To a be a bit positive at least it wasn’t really a rare palm by any means. Just gotta replace with something dwarf or something that will take 50 years to cause any problems.