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The PSSC had its banquet today and a grand old time was has by all! @BS Man about Palms among other Palm Talkers was there, and Lordy such a hell of a garden. Pandanus roots by the path.

A couple of my favourite pictures over time. I like photography iam always looking for the photo that seems to capture the moment. Sometimes you get it other times it’s not really what the eye sees. Different times of the season and light can give you a completely different picture.

Dypsis species

One holy grail palm to me is the darinii for obvious reasons. My one and only darinii had to go in the ground I couldn’t wait any longer. I thought best to getit in asap and get in the best possible spot in the garden that’s the wettest area I have. Basically in the drain from the driveway where it will get a lot of run off and be in a prime position for viewing. Some good soil amendment went into the spot with a bucket full of good topsoil from the tractor and some coco coir perlite. I will protect it this winter it has survived 3 winters in the hothouse so time to see if it will live in the ground I will cross my green fingers if all goes well 5 years time a nice little feature palm.

Seen from outside:

Starting to fill in to the point you can’t see the two houses

I’ve been all over today and am spending the night in Corpus Christi. I’m playing tour guide and am the driver so sadly I haven’t been able to snap any good pics. I was on Padre island and was shocked to see a yard full of coconut palms. They were all planted post 2021 as they weren’t huge. One might’ve been 8 feet or so. I think it was Caravel drive if anyone is in the area. I saw a few Bismarkia at a hotel but they were recently planted. In general the CIDP down here are huge and are the best I’ve seen in Texas. Ocean drive is very reminiscent of California to me with the abundance of robusta. Stopped in at Neuces Brewery and their beer was pretty tasty.

2024 update on the Abbey Gardens at Tresco… Archontophoenix The oldest Washingtonia in the UK and younger Washies Juania Australis Brahea Armata… Jubaea… Norfolk Island Pines… Here are a collection of old photos of the gardens from 1890 - 1930 compared to modern day… 1890 vs 2024… 1895 vs 2024… 1910 vs 2024… 1910 vs 2024… 1915 vs 2024… 1920 vs 2024… 1920 vs 2024… 1920 vs 2024… 1920 vs 2024… 1920 vs 2024… 1920 vs 2024… 1930 vs 2024… 1970 vs 2024… 2002 vs 2024…

The question is whether the flower spathes on Chrysalidocarpus saintlucei are known for being stubborn about opening to bear the internal spadix. I seem to recall prior posts about others experiencing this phenomenon. I expected the first spathe would be open by now based on how long since it emerged and now have a second coming out. I am not in a rush but just curious if my recall is accurate or if I am confusing it with a different palm.

Spring is upon us in Australia so now is the best time to pot up any plant including palms. I purchased these ones from RPS with 67% strike rate so pretty good. I have one in the garden that is 23 years old and growing well although slow. So they will grow in my climate the one in the garden has gone through a few dry times and a couple of long droughts and when Australia gets dry it gets dry that’s for sure with the gum trees drinking every bit of water available. They take cold temperatures down to 2 degrees Celsius with a good canopy. So time will tell how these little ones go this winter in the hothouse.

@Foxpalms @gurugu The Isles of Scilly probably have 5 of the top 10 best UK beaches in my eyes. There are only a few others in mainland Cornwall and the western isles of Scotland that could maybe rival these. Even then, they probably still come up short against the top Isles of Scilly beaches. Tresco and St Martin's especially have several world class beaches each. Unfortunately my day-trip to the Isles of Scilly in September was very rushed due to several reasons that I won't go into, and I wasn't able to appreciate any beaches at all. Next time I visit the Scilly Isles, I will primarily focus on experiencing the idyllic beaches and crystal clear waters. Some of these are probably amongst the best beaches in all of Europe, specifically the top 5 below... 1.) Pentle Bay, Tresco (probably the best beach in the Isles of Scilly and one of the best in Europe) 2.) Par Beach, St Martin's (St Martin's probably edges Tresco for best beaches overall, and this is one of the best beaches in Europe). 3.) Ganilly Sandbar, eastern Isle chain (uninhabited) - can reach by boat or kayak from the east side of St Martin's... 4.) Great Bay and Little Bay, St Martin's 5.) Appletree Bay, Tresco 6.) Green Bay, Bryher (during low tide you can walk to Appletree Bay on Tresco). 7.) Horseshoe beach, Tean (uninhabited island) - can be reached by boat or Kayak from the west side of St Martin's. 8.) Pelistry Bay, St Mary's 9.) The Bar, St Agnes 10.) Bar split, Samson (uninhabited island) - can reach by boat from Bryher or Tresco Bonus - Porthmellon and Porthcressa beaches, St Mary's (both are immediately accessible after arriving on the ferry from Penzance). Here you can see all the beaches mapped that are worth visiting. Not all of them are shown above. The top 5 are must visits - Pentil Bay, Par Beach, Ganilly Sandbar, Great Bay/Little Bay and Appletree Bay. All 5 are viewable from Tresco and St Martin's.

Concluding statement from an exhaustive 2024 research article: “In summary, pollination in palms is extremely complex and we still know little about it.” https://www.researchgate.net/publication/381618035_Pollination_Systems_of_Palms_Arecaceae/fulltext/6679aecc1846ca33b84f7f59/Pollination-Systems-of-Palms-Arecaceae.pdf?origin=publication_detail&_tp=eyJjb250ZXh0Ijp7ImZpcnN0UGFnZSI6InB1YmxpY2F0aW9uIiwicGFnZSI6InB1YmxpY2F0aW9uRG93bmxvYWQiLCJwcmV2aW91c1BhZ2UiOiJwdWJsaWNhdGlvbiJ9fQ Stepping back, in the case of the ‘Mule Palm’, I wonder how the mother Butia palm is able to select for its own pollen vs. copious amounts from the related genera Syagrus? As far back as the 1950’s it was established that 5% hybrids/95% non-hybrids was all that will naturally occur: ”… it was apparent that about 5% were different. The original seed came from a street planting in Leesburg [FL] that was heavily planted in Arecastrum and Butia palms. Seed was also gathered from other adjacent counties where the two species grew in close proximity. Ross Lafler made hand pollinations by tying the Arecastrum inflorescence to that of Butia. He placed bee hives under the trees, as well as other methods of producing seed, but was never able to get over 5% hybrids. Butia was always used as the maternal plant;” But most of the article linked above is about the variety of insects that pollenate specific genera/species and how even something like timing of initial flower anthesis (morning vs. ‘nocturnal’) impacts that: “Syagrus may be one of the few examples where the shift between bee and beetle pollination has occurred within the same genus, a shift usually found between genera. This can be seen by comparing two species, S. orinocensis (Nuñez & Carreño-Barrera 2017) and S. smithii (Guerrero- Olaya & Núñez 2017). Both species occur in eastern Colombia and are very similar to one another in inflorescence and flower morphology. Their inflorescence development is almost identical. Syagrus orinocensis has 8–16 days of staminate anthesis, an eight day inter-anthesis period, and 2– 3 days of pistillate anthesis; S. smithii has 14 days, 10 days, and four days, respectively. However, there is one significant difference. Flowers of S. orinocensis open early in the morning and so have diurnal anthesis, those of S. smithii open in the late afternoon and so have nocturnal anthesis. Given the similarity in insect visitors to the two species, especially Curculionidae, Nitidulidae, and Hymenoptera, and the difference in anthesis, it is inevitable that S. orinocensis is pollinated predominantly by bees and S. smithii by beetles. Nuñez & Carreño-Barrera (2017) designated the 43 species of insect visitors to S. orinocensis inflorescences into groups based on their behaviour. Twelve species of meliponid bees were designated as principal or co-pollinators and five species of Curculionidae were designated co- pollinators. For S. smithii, of the 37 species of insect visitor, two species of Nitidulidae (Mystrops spp.) were designated as principal pollinators, but not any Hymenoptera. Syagrus inajai, S. orinocensis, S. sancona, and S. smithii are all in the same clade (Ferreira et al. in prep.). If the basal species in this clade, S. sancona, is presumed to be beetle-pollinated (Guerrero- Olaya et al. 2018), then at least one shift can be inferred from beetle pollination to bee pollination. This shift in pollinators is associated with a change in the time of anthesis, from diurnal to nocturnal. Diurnal anthesis is often associated with nectar production (as in pistillate flowers of S. orinocensis) and nocturnal anthesis associated with no nectar production and temperature elevation (as in S. inajai).“ Eccl. 3:11, Berean Standard Bible: “He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men, yet they cannot fathom the work that God has done from beginning to end.”

Suh, I do bee-leeve that is a Serenoa repens.

Here's my tree in Miami. It's in full sun and is a joy all Spring, Summer and Fall.

kinda looks like an oil palm with the spiney petioles and dark green foliage

An interest fact is the white sand beaches are caused by shells from the Caribbean being carried to the west coast of Cornwall by the gulf stream, resulting in crushed corals and shells forming these white sand beaches. There are also cold water coral reefs. Even sea turtles (usually the leatherback rarely green sea turtles) during the summer months can occasionally be spotted.

Well, I have seen very palmy yards in places that are considered "cuspy". I think if you get enough dedicated growers in the area, that will help things. Lots of areas of California now have a lot of palms when they once didn't. In your state, a look at Las Cruces or Alamagordo many years ago would also look different.

It's cuspy... if Abq was 5f warmer it would prolly be a palm town..

Berlinia grandiflora is a small shrub-tree native to several Africa countries that is not uncommon there, but seldom shows up on seed ordering lists. Over the years it's become one of my sought-after plants. At least now I can try to grow it and discover it doesn't like conditions here! Ha ha! DM me if any of you want to know the supplier.😉 I hope someone is either growing it already or will have success getting it to bloom.

Speaking of agaves…they make excellent companion plants for palms…both in pots and in-ground. The agave Ovatifolia is extremely cold hardy…even outdoes the Trachy in resilience, at least in my backyard.

A little garden color a few days ago. I really enjoyed the view. Dypsis rosea, Chrysalidocarpus carlsmithii, and C. paucifolius. Tim

You know, as this Sabal mauritiformis keeps growing, though slowly, I'm always impressed and loving the leaves this guy spits out. Slow, but enjoyable every leaf that I'm so fortunate to get. I get to stare at this from my front porch swing. Beautiful!

An updated photo after cleaning the inflorescence up a bit. Hasn’t grown much, which is nice, but always a nice habit and carefree. Tim

Bauhinia monandra is easily my favorite of its genus. While living in Honolulu many years ago I became enamored of this tree, and I later attempted to grow it in Los Angeles. Alas, I could never get it to survive, let alone flower, in the relatively cool UC/Sunset "zone 23" climate of the Hollywood/Los Feliz area; and I know others on this forum have discussed their disappointments with this one in SoCal. I have been experimenting with it the last few years here in the Palm Springs area, have lost a couple and in both cases had middling results until they died...but last year I planted three small seedlings in a coveted winter suntrap and where the young plants can be under the leading edge of a bit of south-facing canopy. Lo and behold all three survived last winter although two have stayed rather small and have yet to flower. The one in the most perfect position, however, grew well last season and got through the winter in excellent condition, and started back into growth in May, flowered around Memorial Day into June, then took a break for July/August and started up again at the end of August and is still blooming. To me this is a testament to the old adage of "try, try again" before giving up. (I have done the same with the oft-failing Cordia sebestena and finally have a beautiful specimen thriving in the same suntrap area as the Bauhinia monandra.) I have noticed, however, that the coloration of this species' flowers seems very dependent on temperature. This year has featured the hottest stretch of weather in the 100+ years of record-keeping here, with extreme heat from the beginning of June until about ten days ago, topping out at 124F with almost constant 110s and several days hitting the 120s. And with only two one-week "breaks"--if you could call them that--from the worst of the heat. I noticed that the flowers were significantly paler than those I had experienced previously, and at one point they were almost white with only the flag-petal retaining its typical deep magenta pattern. However, the newest flowers, after just a week or two of highs only in the low 100s and now upper 80s/low 90s, have significantly deepened to the color-scheme I think of as "normal." (And note that the lighter color is not from sun-bleaching, as they were protected from harsh sun under the filtered canopy of Caesalpinia pulcherrima and a nearby Hibiscus tiliaceus.) Has anyone else here been able to successfully grow and flower this species in SoCal, either coastally or in the inland valleys or low desert? And, if so, have you also noticed this coloration issue dependent on weather/temperature conditions? I have also noticed this with my Antigonon leptopus vine, which was a very pallid pink over the summer and suddenly has also deepened into a deep coral-pink color. I know that Plumeria are notorious for changing color based on temperature and sunlight (i.e., whether grown in the fog-belt, inland valleys or deserts), but wasn't aware this was an issue with something like Bauhinia. I did a quick search online and found some studies that showed some other flowers had a reduction in specific anthocyanins in flower-petals under heat, so I expect this is what's going on. Perhaps it is just the compound(s) involved in the pale/medium pink component, since no other colors seem affected, particularly the dark pink/magenta on the same flower; nor on something like my Mussaenda 'Doña Luz,' which retained its deep-colored bracts all summer. Below are some of the color variations I've noticed this year on my most happily placed specimen, from "getting hot" (June) through "super hot" (Aug-Sep) to today, under more moderately warm conditions. 1 June 2024: 29 Aug 2024: 20 Sep 2024: 18 Oct 2024:

The good old town of Grafton in Australia has a jacaranda festival celebrating the jacaranda tree in a grand old fashioned way. A week long celebration with tourists coming from all over the globe to see the flowering trees. There’s even a jacaranda queen competition with a long held tradition of locals competing for honour of miss jacaranda queen. The whole town celebrating with one big week long festival of fun events well worth seeing.

I have 3 plants grown from seeds. They grow in the shade of the native ipê- amarelo trees (Tabebuia alba) and get more sun in winter when the trees loose there leaves. Lately there are some suckers forming on the palms.

Really interesting to read your experiences with all this Crysalidocarpus ( Dypsis) decipiens hybrids. I have mature D. decipiens, D.onilahensis and D. baronii and also a not flowering Dypsis Bef . I think all will make good candidates to try a hybridisation with D. decipiens....

A bit late to this but here is my Sabal Minor in The Newark, NJ area planted in Spring 2022 that has never been protected.

My Dypsis Madagascarensis hybrid finally getting a ring Just noticed Ptychosperma Elegans ringing

That's beautiful, Marie. I have always wondered why this tree is so uncommon in Miami/SoFla landscapes and nurseries. It has all the qualities of a perfect flowering tree for a typical suburban or even semi-urban home/courtyard...precocious for much of the year and arresting in its overall coloration and also color-patterns that invite close examination; blooms very young from seed, often at two feet; not as large as the more common Bauhinias, and it can be maintained at virtually any size, kept in a container or in the ground; and just in general doesn't complain much (although I seem to remember a bit of passing chlorosis on mine in the Keys on the oolitic limestone there). I've discussed this with Jessica Freund (TFTS and Freund Flowering Trees) over the years, as she is also a proponent of this species and I think equally mystified by its rarity in the trade. It's not like it hasn't been around in cultivation for a very, very long time. Perhaps people just get wowed with Bauhinia x Blakeana and look past the other contenders in the genus, it really seems odd to me. Its biggest problem is just its hatred of long, cool winters and thus apparently untenable as a landscape subject in all but the hottest areas of SoCal. And even there, its manageability and blooming behavior makes it a great winter-greenhouse/summer-display plant in a container. But in Hawai'i and Florida, it's a real winner in my own opinion and should be used much more often.

Reviving an old thread. I don’t hear too much about these . I have had mine over 25 years and it is so slow I forget about it. Earlier this year it looked like it was dying but recently opened a couple new fronds. I think it would have done better with more shade, it gets quite a bit of sun. Harry ‘the new frond looks healthy but it may be some time before I see another! I was out and about back in 1995 or so , on my way home from Santa Barbara , when I stopped for coffee in Montecito . I decided to go for a walk and stumbled onto a nursery that looked interesting . I mentioned to the owner that I collected palms . He perked up and said “ I bet you don’t have one of these”. He took me back to a run down , old greenhouse that he was taking down and there it was in a one gallon pot . He let me have it for $25 . I keep it tucked in between rocks because I read that it’s habitat is rocky ledges but maybe I will try a bit of organic fertilizer and mulch just to see if I can kick start it a bit. Harry

Ostrich Fern is another fern that would be suited for the Michigan climate. Ferns have some impressive looks to them, no doubt.

Lady Hardy Fern is perfectly suited for the climate in Michigan. It has a nice look to it.

You see them popping up little by little around town. Yes, 5f warmer would be a really good safe zone for us. We're getting there. We were a zone 7a not too long ago. Yes, we need a lot of people to get on the bandwagon here. The mentality of most people here is that palm trees don't grow here. That's true if you try to plant say queen palms (like a local restaurant did here one year). The thinking is that we've been cold for so long and they never been part of the landscape here. We jumped up a zone recently, even with the 2011 cold snap when we went down to -6f to -11f. Quite a few palms survived that event (mostly Trachycarpus Fortunei and Washingtonia Filifera/Filibusta). I have a gut feeling and faith that they'll start catching on more and more here in the future! Who knows. Maybe when In-n-Out burger comes to town in 2027, they will plant their signature palms here. 🤞🤞 If so maybe more people/businesses will notice it and catch on!

Elaeis guineensis

CC is full of Robustas . Looks like California, you're right about that. Best looking Texas coastal cities in my opinion .

Only a small portion of Robustas at The Rim in San Antonio. They also brought back some Phoenix Dactylifera at one of their entrances. Pretty large ones.

I remember that Patric told me that Dick Dougla's famous Butia odorata x Jubaea wasn't able to pollinate itself (steril pollen). This being hybrids of another butia species and also 3 different plants....maybe another story.

I never knew there were so many palms in ABQ without these pics. Interesting stuff. Thanks for documenting.

It's been stated that both crosses of Jubaea and butia are self sterile, but others have found that some are fertile. However, most growers only have one hybrid Jubautia in their collection. So I share a theory with another....could the hybrids be back crossing each other? I believe the odds of this are quite possible, especially considering the proximity they are to each other. Certainly warrants further experimentation to prove the theory... Thoughts?

These are so common in Maryland 7a/b that I actually wonder if they could survive a warm 6b in Michigan with mulching or something. Here they come back with a vengeance every spring and go wild by summer

Hoping this M amicarum is on the way to creating canopy here.

Probably my Royal and queen I think queens can be great if treated correctly and mixed in with other palms to get some variation.

Opening up some more.

Also some beautiful chamaerops cerifera at Sea World's Discovery Point:

Nice San Antonio butia:

Just posted an update of this one in another thread.

Chrysalidocarpus leptocheilos planted June of 2022 from a 3 gallon finally showing some scars. A little earlier than intended courtesy of Milton.

Here’s a 3 year old from a 1 gallon, not fast but steady growth.