Leaderboard

These pictures were sent to me today by a friend in China of the habitat of trachycarpus nanus who collects the seeds. China is such a beautiful country there pictures I would never get to see as tourists in China absolutely beautiful place. The snow covered mountains are near the nanus habitat. Amazing to see enjoy.

Arenga engleri

Define Cold Hardy, it means different things to different people. That's a small list for me - Needle Palm, Chamaerops and Serenoa. That's it.

I just used Google Street view , and found this view. Image capture was Oct. of this year . There is some construction happening along the roadway . Looks like various irrigation etc work in the Right of ways . The orange barrels seen along the road tell the tale . The Boxes are probably there to help to protect the trees .

I am closer to the epicenter than Jim, didn't feel a thing, typical over-reaction by the mass media.

@jwitt I was not aware of the RR2 weather station location. I will need to look into the stats further. With that being said, I believe that there is a microclimate on the hillside between 528 and the pump station. The area has almost completely filled in over the last decade since I planted my first palms. I’m not sure if they are male or female, but I get these flowers on my two larger trachys. you are welcome to as many minor seeds (or seedlings) as you would like.

@jwitt I made my way to the future palm oasis of central New Mexico. It’s about a mile from house and a beautiful walk ok this pleasant sunny December day of 60 degrees. I didn’t find of your seedlings, but I planted many more Sabal Minor seeds. I did the same in the flood reservoir that is behind my neighborhood in trinity estates too.

Potted up a few Ernest Augustii seedlings from rps seeds. There is about 240 Augustii along with a few lacospadix in there. A tray of adscedans and some Calpytrocalyx spicatus up the back. I love chameadoreas one of my favourite small palms to grow

It is sad, but amusing how few different palms are commonly seen in PR nurseries and how little information is there. I saw this one a few days ago with no label and no price. The nice employee said it was rare and had been there a long time. She called someone to get a price of $40 quite pricey by PR standards. Funny when I asked the name she put her phone in charge and let whatever app identify it as Trachycarpus fortunei. I am thinking Coccothrinax and I like the stiff thin leaflets regardless of the name-if that trait persists into adulthood. They have put it aside for me to consider. I explained about hybridization and how if I got it I would need to at least plant it far away from others that I hope are species. They are considering a lower price if they can’t name it. What’s your guess? The owner of the business will return tomorrow and he MAY remember more.

For those curious about the root structure,this appears to be a VERY deep rooted species. Habitat is almost desert like,so it makes sense. Roots would mainly go straight down in search of water, without much side rooting. Looks like they should have been grown in deep stuewe or citrus pots instead of standard 1 gallons,but who knew...?🤷‍♂️ aztropic Mesa, Arizona

A late wonder around the garden starting at the house walking up the backyard. There is a transition from the tropical wet section of the garden, to a dry rocky area moving back down the hill towards the house again the garden changes again with dry tolerant plants on a north west facing slope so plenty of hot afternoon sun up there. It’s a complete transition in comparison to the bottom section below the house with joeys, licualas and all sorts of tropical palms and water loving exotics all within about 25 meters distance from each other its amazing what you can create with a canopy and a bit of irrigation if I was to irrigate the top section it would be a lot of water to create what is in the bottom section.

My good friend Phil who is retiring from all his pot plants and hanging baskets, has kindly given me a rather large clump or should I say a Ute load of dancing lady orchids. There a fantastic display when in flower and this lot will go as a huge border in the garden somewhere iam sure there is a spot somewhere out there in the jungle that has a bright hot sunny position that will accommodate them.

Hope this part of the forum is appropriate for this. California people check in. Hope all are well.

@DoomsDave that’s where I got mine and I saw many more there . When I make it back down there I will get a few more! Now that I know how well they do . Harry

I have some Ernie augies, too!

I don't think it works quite like that - the 25/50/25 ratios work for specific genes in an F2 cross. But then multiply those probabilities across all the genes that are guiding the plants' growth, and it becomes much more interesting! Also, this tree itself might not even be an F1!

I almost gave up on needle palms after the main trunk froze and died the first winter. The pups survived and have grown great since. It would probably be much healthier with more acidic soil and more water, but I’m happy with it.

I have 16 Rayado seeds, collected the end of October. I am currently germinating 5 of them to see if they're viable. I have about 80 Filifera seedlings going now, between 1-2 months old as well. More in the germination process.

@NMPalmjunky Save me some minor seeds and I'll work on getting some filifera seed. Give me a couple months. Ps. Does your Trachy bloom? Needing some pollen this spring....if male. Pss that pump station in your neighborhood was the Corrales weather station for some time. I think it really confused the NWS, so they returned it near the river and created another(RR2) near the future palm 🌴 oasis.

This is the flood area closer to my house and the mother Sabal.

I got hopes for that spot. Gonna come down to timing and luck!

Didn’t feel a thing here. 7.0 on the Richter scale is a big one but several miles off the north coast in the Pacific so minimal impact on land. My phone blasted a Tsunami warning but none occurred.

Large pure unhybridized Phoenix species are pretty much instant death around here now. Feral Phoenix hybrids seem unaffected most likely because they have Pygmy date genes in them. Pygmy dates seem to be more resistant to LB

I have two 1-gallon starts of this calla for give away, no shipping, you must visit my garden ! https://www.plantdelights.com/products/zantedeschia-aethiopica-white-giant

Wow! Cool looking plant!

Fresh Clinostigma sp.

Here are current pix of my Zantesdeschia aethiopica (striped Calla lily) at the start of winter here. Where I am it has a very brief dormant period then sends up new leaves fast! I grow it in a pot, under the shade of my pergola.

Is anybody else growing this species? It's a kiwifruit relative (Actinidiaceae) from the cloud forests of Chiapas, apparently edible. Beautiful tree with big velvety leaves, easy grower if you keep the water up. Seems to be pretty cold tolerant, although mine wouldn't have seen anything below 0c/32f. A couple of them have started flowering this year, will be interested to see if they set fruit, as I'm not sure whether they're dioecious like kiwis, or not.

I planted a clumping Needle palm about 4 years ago. The first year it lost the largest center growth, & only the small off-sets survived. That seems somewhat common for a reason unknown to me. This seems slower than expected, but perhaps faster growth can be achieved once it can bulk up in size. Here it is today, Dec. 06/24 in the rain.

I think that's good advice from @Fusca I germinated a bunch of them several years ago...initially I had them in bags on a heat mat, but after a year, still no germination, so I threw the seeds out into the garden. About a year after that, I found a little clump of maybe 12 seedlings growing happily, so dug them up and potted them. I've had good success with Parajubaeas in Styrofoam boxes (no lid) in pure perlite. Sit the seeds on the surface, cover lightly with sphagnum moss and keep them just slightly damp, when the moss dries out, water them again. I had them in an unheated poly tunnel, so temperatures fluctuated night and day, germination started after 3 months. If I was to try Jubaea again, I would use this method.

Med for me. Survived -10f and zero the following winter. Leaf hardy in my yard to 10f, damage beginning below that. And I don't need to water. A big plus in a climate of 8" annual precip. Hardy for sure.

Yup, they were fine. Although the big fortunei along the fence is in an area that gets virtually no sun in winter....and is about 6-8 degrees F colder in the summer. The ground was literally frozen for 3-4 days straight despite highs being in the mid-40s.

I bet the temperature actually was pushing 70 at the bottom. Your not in Albuquerque anymore. This is the reading at the top of the "oasis" (66f) IYKYK! Even warmer than the official Las Cruces reading(high temp 63f) Rr2 66f Sunport 58f

I haven't seen any Pygmy or Reclinata with visible signs of LB...and there are TONS of pygmy dates here in the Orlando area. I've been keeping an eye on some bigger Reclinata plantings too. Even in areas with lots of Sylvestris deaths, there aren't many (if any) deaths of Queens, Pygmy dates, or even Sabals with visible signs of LB. I see a lot of Sabals with badly yellowed tips, typical of Magnesium deficiencies. Initially when LB made its way into the northern Orlando area I was concerned about the giant forests of them around here. There were areas with very orange-ish color on the old leaves that I thought could be LB. But year after year they just keep churning out new leaves as the old leaves die off. To be honest, I haven't seen a single Sabal here that died in a typical-looking LB fashion. This is the three-month progression of the disease in a confirmed case, from the UFL/IFAS page. It seems to be more Lethal Browning in Sabals instead of Bronzing:

Oh man , that is tragic. Sorry to see that. Harry

Possibly Pritchardia sp. Agree not Sabal. Kerriodoxa would already have intense silver under the fronds which I don’t think I see but photos from underneath would confirm.

Yeah I was actually talking about a specific palm. This palm bloomed, set seed(self pollinated) with no other palms for miles upon miles. Absolutely no cross pollination with another palm. Would the offspring still follow the 50/25/25 or more an almost clone of the f1 parent? Something I have wondered. Blooming washingtonia are exceptionally rare in my locale. Blooming robusta do not exist.

Murphy's Law of rodents: if you have a dozen Sabal seedlings, a dozen Roystonea seedlings and one Chrysalidocarpus hybrid seedling - the varmint will find and attack the Chrysalidocarpus. 😖

There's maps that show the primary origins of coconuts based on DNA 1) Niu Vai type: round, thin husk, early germinating - In the Philippines, Indonesia, & SE Asia which where taken to Madagascar by Austronesians, and across the Pacific to Panama by pre-Columbian people, and later to Mexico by the Spanish. 2) Niu Kafa type: long fruit, thick husk, late germining (floating longer) - In India/Sri Lanka which were taken to East Africa by Arab/Persian traders, & West Africa by the Portuguese, and later from Africa to the Caribbean. 3) Niu Leka type: have characteristics of both Talls and Dwarves - In Fiji/Samoa.

Once again, I am so appreciative of your identification Marie!

Looks Great Jim! Here's my current look https://youtu.be/muGadXcBGp4?t=42

a house down the street has an incredible palm with lights. Looks amazing...I will post here once I get it!

not palms but dramatic

No question, uplighting is dramatic for showing off palms. I put string lights on my palms for the holidays but overall I prefer darkness to see the stars.

I would not feel too bad…had the same issues. Although I’m sure they are among the hardiest palms, at least from zone 6b and up, it seems like it can be tough at times to get needle palms established. Back before 2000, I had THREE die on me in zone 7a/b, having spear pull in April, then complete rotting out by late May. The winters that they died in were not even that cold (above 15 F). I sometimes think it’s even the partially plant itself, some are weaker/stronger than others it seems (some more prone to rot). I would not give up on it if the spear is tight, they can look awful over the cool months (Dec – March), then start growing fronds again in May. I finally got one established in 2014…it seems to like the heat of the south facing side of the house and even pushes up fronds in milder winters. It’s a beast now, approaching 6 feet. I cut the fronds to expose the trunk, but it pushes out about 10 fronds a season.

@Ubuwuntulooks very similar to a phoenix hybrid that I saw awhile ago. This one had one offshoot coming off of it and it was a male phoenix. Definitely dactylifera with either CIDP or Sylvestris.

FWIW my 3 Arenga engleri saw 21 F this winter here in south Louisiana. They are under live oak canopy. Only 1 was wrapped and had no heat. All fronds survived but the new fronds that came out were deformed. They will all live though. They are not the fastest palms but look nice in the right setting