Leaderboard

With the tropical heat we are getting it’s a wonderful time for the garden. Having a lot of tropical plant species in the garden it’s now that they look there best, enjoying the heat that they are accustomed to all I have to do is add water.

These palms get almost no love from anyone for whom they're not a zone push, because they're everywhere. But they're everywhere precisely because they grow everywhere. Cold, heat, clay, sand, water, drought.... they'll take it all. There are two Washingtonia robusta in high desert just east of Aguila, AZ, growing on a hillside with <10" of rain per year that were planted in the sixties when there was a rest stop there. After all these years, they're still hanging on with no irrigation. I just dug two up in my yard to transplant. In my mucky, wet clay, they have shot roots in every direction and thrown a new spear a month. There's a reason they're ubiquitous, even if they're boring. What a tough, fantastic palm.

Today I was caught by my punk Bismarckia showing early signs of momentum, and Psychophoenix nucele has interesting leaves as does Caryota - zoom in on the leaves and see their teethy grin.

A transplant from a neighbor’s yard . It was a volunteer that sprouted and he didn’t want it so he left it in a bucket in my courtyard . I planted it at the bottom of my hill. Harry

Check this one out. P. densiflora, which I have posted before, another beautilmeaux palm. 😄 Tim

Well, my P. caesia’s have rocketed upward, but they are still beautlimeaux. (An invented description ) They are the two skinny palms with the orange crown shafts. Tim

From the hill:

Looking to trade for a large blue Cycad will consider cash and or plant combo .This is a very nice plant and rarely found in this size .

I'm adding more and more Pinanga to the garden all the time. Truly amazing colors. I'm only worried that they might get too tall so the wonderfulness is lost in the canopy. Pinanga speciosa just dropped an old leaf two days ago. The purple crownshaft is especially striking contrasted with the white flower buds. The flowers should open early tomorrow morning to a bee orgy that I previously reported in another thread. Just power through the first couple of years of ugliness when they are small. It gets better. My Pinanga caesia has not begun to trunk, so only a hint of the fantastic crownshaft to come as seen on Palmpedia. And yet, the intense color at the base of the petioles is already eye-catching. Pinangas are so much more than great crownshafts and fruit. Many are advertised as having mottled leaves, but in my experience, not all deliver. Pinanga copelandii definitely does. So if your climate allows, I recommend stocking up on this genus. There are 100 to choose from. Also consider staggering new additions every few years so when the older ones get too tall to appreciate, some younger ones are still at eye level.

I found this 15g baby tucked away in my bamboo, I had forgotten to plant it. Our intern helped plant it. This is a very forgiving plant, I neglected it for 4 years, I had bought it during the pandemic shut down, no water no fertilizer and it's no worse off for the wear.

Lol I just wanted to showcase what an invasive sp should look like even in the controlled environment of a public park. Of course one would expect to see a layer of Chamaerops seedlings, instead in reality there is a carpet of naturally sprouted Livistona chinensis young plant in various stages of growth!

Close to a dozen little sanctamaemaria. Slow growing originally from rps. Such a beautiful little palm, cool tolerant having survived around four winters. Time will tell if they are to be successful in the ground.

I grew these from seeds. The first palms I ever grew from seed.

Would love to see some mature Attaleas in gardens. Came across an A. brejinhoensis at leu and it would be nice to see a thread of what you all may have seen. Cheers A. brejinhoensis at leu

A. Cohune

3 Trunking Dioons for sale $300 for all 3

Of the few queens that have been planted at the Riverwalk in the last year or two, some showed minor damage today, while others looked undamaged:

These flowers welcomed me on my most recent return to my Hawaiian garden. I love these little gifts from the garden! what’s blooming for you now?

A few rps goodies in this little clutch of baby sabinara. Around 3 years old, I lost a couple this season at the end of winter. One had spear pull. It is now growing strong. Another winter and i might get around to planting the big one I have. But having them grow so far as nice seedlings it will be interesting to see if they will live in the ground with cold wet feet. Time will tell.

The coldest temps were in Louisiana so the further east the worse the damage. If I hadn’t protected my queens I’m pretty sure they’d be toast. I walked around today in the yard and everything looks much, much worse. Standard Agave Americana is damaged heavily which surprised me. 50 shades of brown minus the Yuccas

FWIW sabal Bermudana was unblemished by 16f and a foot of snow!

None of my 7 P caesia have color like your beauty but one throws nice leaves

So this is wierd... On my batch of Chrysalidocarpus onilahensis 'Upright Form' there is a yellow seedling and a red-stemmed seedling in the batch. Kind of unusual...anyone else getting these?

Here's mine. I got it in about 2007 from Jungle Music as a 5 gallon...

It sounds like your seed might not be good. Fresh viable seed should germinate quickly. These palms are very prolific producing seed and the base of my two palms are a carpet of seedlings, Here are a couple of photos, one showing fresh ruminate seeds. Tim

I also have stubborn hair in the nose...

Snapped this pic while parked at a traffic light on the way hone from work.

This v. Splendida looked great this morning

Pelagodoxa henryana. Actually kind of amazed that they have done this well for having little soil. They must have found fractures in the lava rock. I do keep a lot of mulch as dressing though. A bit of canopy while young and in a somewhat protected spot. Tim

Some of my germinating seedlings followed by my setup. What is everyone sprouting and what kind of setup.?.? Chrysalidocarpus Dark Mealybug from RPS Vonitra perreri from RPS Chrysalidocarpus blackii courtesy of @Josh-O Dypsis confusa from RPS Chrysalidocarpus onilahensis 'Upright Form' from RPS Chrysalidocarpus psammophilus x leptocheilos hybrids from my own tree Always get pretty good germination at 88deg F. I use Vivosun heat pads with temperature probes. On the left are Marijuana grow lights with adjustable dimmer knobs, and EZ Storage gasket-seal containers for palms. On the right are 1015 seed starter trays for my Canna Lily and other non-palms.

Received some Caryota seeds that were thought to be C. Rumphiana but am second guessing now that these are about 6 feet tall. Any Caryota experts out there? Possibly a Caryota No? I know it’s not C Obtusa or C Mitis. Thank you 🌴

My good friend Phil who lives in town has a knack for gardening in his retirement years. He would purchase old houses and renovate them and put a garden in and sell them after 5 houses he has finally settled down in heritage listed 150 years old house. He has done a fantastic job renovating this house it’s been a pleasure to watch him do so. We get together in each other’s gardens and talk about plants and gardening always sharing our gardening knowledge. I have learned a lot listening to my good friend about gardening. He has a great eye for gardens always offering me advice it’s good to learn from a master of gardening.

for konstantinos phoenix loureiroi humilis male

Bellaire queen this afternoon doesn’t look terrible but the fronds are burned at least 50% of the way from what I can see…

I see a lot of work in removing them 😂

I grew some seeds from Patrick in CA. His palm is grown from seed off Inge's palm. Patrick's palm just started producing seeds this past year so he'll probably offer seeds again in several months.

Well, the Chamaerops, I'd have thought. But now you have me wondering. 🤔

? Hundreds of seedlings?

A nice little batch of seeds arrived today. This lot should keep me pretty busy if all goes according to plan (the best laid plans of mice and men can go astray) I will have a couple of palms to pot up. All the seeds arrived fresh and looking good straight through customs within 5 days not to bad considering the rate at which customs work. So now all I have to do is wa a few months to see what happens. The lanonia dasyantha had started to germinate so not to bad iam happy with that. And as for therapist to try and cure my addiction I wouldn’t bother I don’t won’t a cure.

A bit of a side note on Phoenix Roebelini . About 25 years ago when I moved to my new house , a guy who lived a block away saw me planting bunches of palms from my old house . He asked if I wanted a couple of palms that were growing next to his house and over hung the walkway . He said they had thorns and he didn’t like them. He left for vacation and I went over to his home . The Pygmy palms were right against the house with little room to work . Oh , and they were on a steep slope in hard soil and about 4’ tall . I dug and dug but unfortunately had to cut some of the roots. When I got them out , I wrapped the roots with burlap and tied up the crown to keep the thorns from tearing at my skin as I drug it up the slope to my pick up. I really only gave it a 50/50 chance of survival. They grew fast and with out set back . They are over 10’ tall now and beautiful (in the ground) . The experience I have had with these is that they are VERY hardy and easy to transplant. Harry

This particular palm will have little to no set back from repotting. If they don’t come out of the pot easily just slice the sides and pull out. Don’t massage the root ball , leave it as intact as possible. I always line the bottom of the pot with smooth round pebbles or stones then cover with potting soil so that the roots have some room to grow place the palm in the pot as close to center as possible and slowly fill the sides with potting soil , make sure you use a sandy loam soil like you would use for succulents, vermiculite is good as well. Palms like good drainage . Leave enough room at the top for flood watering and you should be good to go. I try to find pots with tapered or straight sides for easy removal when the time comes as the palm will be larger and that much harder to handle (thorny beasts , they are!) good luck . Harry

More than likely it's Chamaedorea elegans

They love moisture. Never let them dry out if you want seeds. I have one lone plant in my garden thats 25 years old and only once it has set seeds (viable).

Definitely the snow lol . Even the queens in league city look pretty bad so it definitely got cold over here… I’m going to Galveston this weekend I’m sure the royals look like A** lol

It appears to still be planted to deeply. Looks like some trunk is below the soil line.

Making my eyes water just thinking about it...

An update to what is turning out to be a nice palm. The crown shaft is really pink. I’ve trimmed most of the inflorescence off, like the cleaner looks. Cindy, yours looks to be another species than P. Ledermaniana, although could be in the same genus. The habit is a bit different, the trunk is way too thin, and the seed is not red and not near enough quantity. Tim

Basselinia glabrata on left, Basselinia eriostachys. Tim

Crysalidocarpus paucifolius. Growing in fractured solid rock keeps the scale of this palm in check…..perfect. Tim