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A couple of gifted seeds of nitida have proven to be a success. A new palm to me in the collection taking around 8 months to get the one leaf stage and be ready to pot up. I will see how this little batch goes in next few years and plant a nice little grove of them in the garden somewhere.

A palm that’s not meant to live in my climate (none in the ground yet) but so far 3 winters in a protected hothouse and surviving well. The only 4 alive out of a batch of 20 seedlings I germinated. Hopefully being germinated in the subtropical climate it has given them the cool tolerance they need to live. Iam not sure if they will ever get planted in the ground but iam sure one will go in the ground sooner or later when it’s in a 200mm container if they live that long but so far it’s looking good time will tell.

@Swolte / @MarcusH / @Chester B / @Allen….. Here’s some photos from protection methods I’ve implemented today. Some stuff is just too big to protect. What’s wild is the temp difference between protection and no protection. Check this out… You can see It’s 28.9 degrees outside here in New Braunfels TX… The Trachy sensor is just open next to trunk…. Tree is wrapped in mini lights but no frost cloth… but the CIDP… is anywhere from 12 - 13.5 degrees warmer. WILD… CIDP - Mini Lights, Several Layers of Frost Cloth. Butia / Pindo - Mini Lights and several layers of frost cloth. Jubaea X Butia - Mini Lights and several layers of frost cloth. Trachy - Mini Lights and frost cloth.. Partially protected. Random Photo of my large Washy, Needle, Mediterranean, and Trachy.. Just to share.

So I mulched mulched mulched as high as gravity allowed and covered the plants I care about. My kings, queens and raveneas! I ripped out my monstera from the ground. I know it will come back if i leave it but I want it to be big again next season. Also ripped out my areca palms. Didnt cover the elephant ears but mulched the bulb area... meh dont really care for them. I only mulched the bottom of the bougainvillea and left the rest uncovered, same with hibiscus. They grew too big anyway. The bananas are on their own... not worth even protecting as they do grow back. Good luck everyone. Lets hope those lows on wed dont go too low and lets hope we dont get freezing rain on electrical lines so we can keep our power on.

Short video from yesterday before I started wrapping. Everything had gone unprotected so far this winter...thought this was going to be the year . (sorry I didn't realize I shot it vertical till after LOL)

Does anyone recognize these? I would describe these seedlings as robust and bullet proof, they look great after 2 years of complete neglect. I think these get real big. My own guess is Raphia farinifera.

You saw them too? I remember standing near them and being completely stunned at their beauty (esp the largest one). It felt like they were somehow out of place though... like nothing that tropical could possibly live here in San Diego. Sadly my gut feeling was right, as the large one was almost dead when I went back to Rancho Soledad later on. 🥲 There was ("is?") a glorious one indoors in a protected building at the San Diego zoo. I'm pretty sure I have a photo of it somewhere, and really hope it's still there (as it's proof that one of these can live indoors in San Diego, under ideal conditions). I've tried three times to raise one of these for indoor display, and currently have a couple that I've raised from seed which are still with us. But I'm not optimistic about their long-term survival chances here in San Diego (even indoors with a humidifier nearby). Which is too bad, since that palm at Rancho Soledad (RIP) was so incredibly moving for me.

The cold air in the eastern half of the US is going to flare up the jet stream and send a powerful storm with hurricane force winds in our direction. I am seeing 150-160mph winds off the Atlantic coast later next week. Maybe 130mph at landfall. Not ideal at all. Also I have seen more people online (specifically on Twitter/X) who are saying that snow will protect their plants and garden. What they don't understand is that it will turn a dry freeze into a wet freeze for starters, and it will also lower temps by a good 5-10F under clear skies with laying snow cover. It could potentially even lower the temp gradient by 15F even. The coldest nights always happen with snow cover. I believe that is why Houston is seeing the coldest temps out of the big cities in TX, because they will have a decent amount of laying snow cover, followed by a clear night. All of my coldest ever temperatures here have coincided with snow on the ground and then a night with clear skies.So go figure.

I chickened out and protected but it’s all passive, just frost cloth. Everything aside from the queens and the Bismarckia should be ok but because it’s their first year I covered a bunch of them. The bismarckia got some Christmas lights. Tomorrow I’m going to stuff some frost cloth into the crowns of the Washingtonia. Citrus were covered in frost cloth as well, the rest of the non palmy things will have to fend for themselves.

The spathes are continuing to push out slowly. Given how long the spathes on my Ravenea glauca are, I suspect these will get much larger before I get the reveal as to whether this is male or female. Any insights from my friends in more tropical environments that have bigger more mature specimens?

Here's a local mule. It's one of the nice looking types. I think it was planted summer 2022? Damaged by two freezes since planting in the mid-high teens but as you can see recovers just fine

C. lanceolatus: C. blackii: C. lanceolatus frond: C. blackii frond: C. lanceolatus inflorescense C. blackii inflorescense

I'm not sure what kind of palm it is. It looks like a syagrus palm, but the branches and leaves have hooked thorns. If anyone knows, please advise. Thank you very much.

Harlingen coconuts ready for a freezing night with 27°F as the forecasted low.

Grown from imported seeds my kerriodoxa are growing well, getting to the stage where I can plant a couple around the garden and look after them. A couple of teething problems with the cold weather and watering in the cold weather grower mistakes. Iam confident they will eventually perform well I have two lots one batch in the greenhouse the other in the hothouse both doing equally as good as each other. They grow quite well in the ground iam looking forward to a grove of about 300 in the future at the bottom of the garden in a dark wet corner of the property.

For now, the models have me in the low 20s, however, I am not taking much for granted. Yes, in my experience, they're not too far off from Palmetto. I had no damage from 12F last year. Not even fronds. I am actually leaving mine unprotected this round.

I still am having a hard time with how this is possible? Like a bullseye right on Houston. ABC 13 right now is saying 3-6” of snow for Houston proper and as you get outside of Houston limits the snow drops off. So much for UHI.

Argh the queen palm commonly known as as the shin breaker Harry. Richard

I'm looking forward to seeing how this reclinata hybrid turns out (parentage unknown). It's about the same size as my former theophrasti when it started suckering. Interesting that its thorns are flexible and fronds are soft. Might have some rupicola in it.

I used 'bungee' cord to tie up the fronds so that they could not fall uncontrolled. Eventually,.. I was at the very top of a 28 foot extension ladder ! (Scary !) When they became too tall for this ladder I had them removed. This was doubly painful, as they were surely the tallest of their kind in northern California, and the tree service charged me $2000 to remove them !

Here's mine in League City planted in 2020.

The monstera will come back up 100%. I only protected the variegated ones

My good friend Phil in town offered a clump of bromeliads for my garden. He’s downsizing his pot plants less for him to look after as he is nearing retirement. But a lovely clump of broms that automatically fits into my garden looking like they have been there from day one thanks Phil.

One lucky bloke to have them growing in your garden. Some palms I just simply don’t entertain the idea of growing them just to cold for mapu at my place. Lucky Hawaii growers.

Such a beautiful palm. If I can get my ones to live I think a hothouse in winter for sure is the only hope they have long term. Richard

You can’t go wrong with chamaedoreas super easy if fresh seeds I love them. Check out rps they have adscendens seedlings from my seeds I sent them 1150 seeds from my garden 🪴

these are mine,I have many, I like them a lot,they even produce seeds! live without even burns on the leaves, at - 5.7 degrees celsius, in January 2017

First post on the site. Been following a long time, and learned a lot over the years. Sharing some great NC Palms! Washingtonia in Clayton, NC - Saw the google maps link was shared, and was at the brewery this weekend. I never miss a chance to see this one in person. (Photo from Jan 2025) Butia odorata? - This is on hole 4 of the Oak Island Golf Club - I'm assuming its 50 years old or more? Absolutely beautiful in person (May 2024)

February, the 2nd half of winter, could be interesting. I think that after this current arctic push we snap back to warmer than normal, and possibly wetter than normal, for a few weeks. The longwave weather pattern has been shifting westward the last few weeks. The PNW and intermountain western US should start getting into seeing the next set of strong cold fronts. While that happens Texas can get a good thawing before winter gives another round. However, I don't think the next round of "winter" for TX will be till late February / early March. ... and then it will not be the bitter cold that we are seeing now -Matt

This graphic shows me never really getting below 33F which I'll take lol

I saw some Verschaffelta growing in Maui . Beautiful palm , but need a tropical climate according to the guy that had them . Slender , stilted trunks with large fronds , growing in a valley near a stream. The only other ones I have seen were in a huge greenhouse down near San Diego at Rancho Soledad Nursery. I hope they survive for you , worth the effort if they do. Harry

Hello all, I have 170 windmill palms growing in my Fredericksburg basement. I’m learning by trial and error and want to learn best practices to ensure best seed purchase, soils, and germination practices. Any knowledge already known would be appreciated. FYI: I have a 20+year old windmill pams I planted in stafford Va that survives.

The models are all in agreement now that my house will hit approximately 30F here in Brownsville. I'm seeing a far amount of data indicating Houston stays in mid-20s despite the snow, so hopefully you guys don't get nailed too hard. Snow looks bad though lol

And here’s the culprit creating all that work 🐀

Forgot the Montana only 3 from a batch of 100 rps seeds so not a good strike rate on that one but they got potted up as well. I might get a few more to germinate but being an Areca they should have come up by now. Iam happy with 3 so far.

I still have three adult Rhopalostylis, and will just live with the frond drop. Where the two tall ones were I have now planted a Brahea edulis, it won't get tall in my remaining lifespan !

Iam building another greenhouse 5 meters by 40 meters just a small one 😂

I know someone was selling Reclinata x Sylvesris seeds on here recently. I'd be interested in seeing what they look like and how they hold up. A Reclinata look with Sylvesris cold resistance would be awesome.

Some of my Laelia orchids still giving pleasure in mid January.

Others may suggest different palms but the prime candidates are also susceptible to the SAPW. I am thinking of Bismarckia nobilis and Jubea chlilensis. Both would take many years to establish. Depending on what part of San Diego you are in, there are some other options, but they too will take time and not provide the same canopy you had from your CIDP. I was just discussing the merits of large cycads with a grower friend as an alternative anchor plant to CIDP. It requires a bigger wallet and patience as they grow slowly, measured better in decades than years to establish significant trunk. With money, you buy time and get a head start.my roughly 20 year from seed Encephalartos laurentianus has erect leaves that are now about 14 to 16 feet long and maybe a little over a foot of trunk above the soil. Granted, my granddaughter in diapers now will be most likely to walk under the trunks of many of my cycads, others, such as my Cycas thouarsii and hybrids ard getting close now. Options which you can grow will depend on your locations specific climate. Climate zones for growing plants here can change rapidly due to elevation differences where cold air settles. In the low spots. Knowing what part of town you are in would be helpful to recommending any species.

Tracy I think i remember that palm when i was there with you and Josh. Very impressed that it is flowering without trunk like Bill mentioned. If i locate a flowering one here in FL I'll see if i can get pollen. Btw the small variegated brom you gave me is doing well. Thanks! JD

I saw 15f on my patio this morning. Not sure what the low was, but 23 houses away, it was 12f. My highs run a bit above RR2 usually, lows pretty close. But my temp is my patio, south facing. Slight east breeze forecasted Monday night here, so not radiationial. Just arctic from the east/NE. Lucky no storm to our west!

This is what I do to protect them. I put the C9 lights on a wire cage outside with the palm in the middle after tying all the Fronds back. Then I cover it with frost cloth and maybe a tarp temporarily On the coldest nights. I leave the top open so heat can escape. It stays warmer in there. This is the last year I can do this without a step ladder.

Less evil than magpies feeding here regularly on Livistona chinensis seeds and painting blue afterwards entire balcony!

Front yard Sabal before the blizzard Sabal guatemalensis finally made a full recovery from 17F last year S. causiarum

Do yourself a favor and ditch the odd political angle... Ain't going anywhere here.. Keep it ..and anything else aimed at CA strictly to yourself. Thanks. As far as my frame ..not train.. of thought? comes from growing up there and a full understanding of how the various ecosystems in my state / region of the country work.. Big fires have occurred out there for ....eons... They are not something " new " Lexington, 1985, Oakland Hills, 1991, Large fires in the mountains east of San Jose, around Big Sur / within the greater Los Padres National Forest ..Pre 1995.. ...On top of all the others that occurred up to that timeframe across the state ..and west.. Remember many of them.. Absolutely not some new fangled " phenomenon " When the long term weather trend in a region of a country ..or world... tilts in a direction that leads to greater warming / increasing drying, ..and there are more people / infrastructure around that can provide ignition sources, There will be more fires.. Woah! Will never comprehend how this is such a hard to grasp concept for some people.. In a nutshell, despite the odd " theories " swirling around out there like ..Cow " exhaust ", Whatever Uptick in large fires has been seen in the last 1, 2 decades in Ca ..or anywhere else in the West... has very little to do with any " bad " management.. Period. As i said, please learn some things, Factual things ...things based in science, ..not just parroting Faux " theories "

Laughable at best, and a really bad arm chair take on the situation.. #1: California does PLENTY of prescribed burns, every year.. #2: You do realize that when you have 100MPH winds and ember storms created by those winds, On top of the fact that many areas in S. Cal haven't seen any rain since ...last APRIL, anything that catches on fire of this magnitude is likely destined to burn ..To the foundation.. #3: Is this really your opinion? 🤦‍♂️ Might examine footage a bit more closely. PLENTY of " Street Palm " specimens went up ..and contributed firebrands / ember cast into the fire itself.. in both of these fires, and countless others, over and over again.. After this experience, Guarantee discussions among various municipalities out there about inclusion of palms in future landscaping, esp in the really high risk WUI zones will come up.. As far as the vegetation type itself, yes it is dense.. that is called " Chaparral " ..it has always been there, and experienced periodic fire ...Forest vs. Chaparral? Totally different vegetation types... Completely different behavior during... / response after a fire.. Please educate yourself on California ecology..

I’ve recently learned about the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) and they think it might be shutting down. It has in the past. If that happens it’s horrible news for the UK and Europe. They’ll experience the temps we do at each latitude here in NAM. Apparently it will make things hotter in parts of NAM too. Crazy stuff it happens.

I have bad news for you two, Chamaedorea sp. 'Soledad' is most likely a fraud, and just a marketing device. C. radicalis crossed with something to produce suckering stems is the description but Jason DeWees and I now believe that it is just emergent trunk radicalis with multiple plants together. Let me explain; On Wednesday, October 19, 2019 a friend and I were at Rancho Soledad to purchase a few pots of two Aloe species. The nursery was short handed that day and Jesse was the sole employee to work with customers. While riding along in the golf cart he would get the message that some more important, regular customer had arrived. Jesse then would park us in a waiting area while he served the other customer. This happened to us three times, and our attempt to purchase just two species took THREE HOURS rather than 30 minutes. While we were in the holding area I became so frustrated that I took a handful of seeds from a potted plant with this labeling. Here is the result. I obtained 9 plants and potted them three to a pot. These palms are now 5 years from seed. Note the characteristic 'knob' at the base of the middle stem. During my last visit to Rancho Soledad I asked Jerry's grandson, Hunter, if he knew the parentage, but he did not.

If you’re on acreage and plants get swallowed up by the property, Strelitzia nicolai is a great species to add a tropical flavour and create boundaries to establish garden rooms. A bit of pruning every couple of years with the right tools and they’re good for that purpose. Also of all the large banana leaved style plants they are the most frost resistant too. A couple of degrees of frost doesn’t mess em up, but of course heavy frost does, but it doesn’t kill em that’s for sure.