Leaderboard

My house has changed after 5 years on this forum…. It’s a jungle out there. (After many holes dug, a truckload of fertilizer and mulch, and a zillion gallons of water) Thanks for all the assistance.

I’ve been observing this palm for probably 50 years now. It was planted at Two Harbors Catalina island around 1920-28. Its looking better now than a few years ago due to the drought ending. It gets only rain, no irrigation.

Many flowers over the years. First time I’ve seen seeds. Will see if they turn out viable. 20’ish years old from a 20 gallon. Dana Point, CA

I have had received some interest in this elegant Malagasy species that I have been growing, and I'll take a little time to present some pictures and comments. Seeds from RPS were sown in July 2008. Good germination, four plants were planted out in April 2014. Here is a pic of the quartet taken a few days ago: I took another pic (in rare full sun) from a different angle with a lawn chair for scale: The pinnate portions of dead leaves tend to break off, leaving numerous very thick leaf bases that exceed in toughness any other genus I can think of at the moment. Here is the largest one. Smaller palms next to the left are Dypsis (still Dypsis) rivularis. For a while, plants of the two species were of identical height. Two larger palms in the distance are Clinostigma exorrhizums. Inflors are two or more feet long, very straight and vertical, emerging from those tough leaf bases. Three of mine have produced them - I'm not sure which sex they are. Here are two that fell off after dying. This species is among my favorites. They do trunk after sufficient time, as I have seen in published photos. But I am in no hurry for that.

So when we do that, the flowers open within about 48 hours and then begin getting some pollination for seeds. Crazy, this is the only species that this is a problem with. Weird. First picture is today’s surgery. The second & third has some surgery that we did about six weeks ago.

Let me introduce you to the Tau Kiani Botanical Garden on Rapa Nui (Easter Island), Chile. I think I’ll have to contribute some exotic palm trees; they have something interesting going on there on the island.

An update at the end of July, 2026.

The bismarck palm is a very fast grower and a good trouble free choice for beginners. This one has 6 new spears at the ready, and will replace the entire existing crown over the next 2 months. aztropic Mesa, Arizona

Floribunda Palms & Exotics Summer 2026 Price List Update Suchin Marcus with Joey altifrons We are excited to refresh our price list for the peak growing season with some new species and updates that we hope you'll enjoy. Thank you for supporting our mission of improving biodiversity in ex situ plantings and preserving these beautiful and rare plants; we have some exciting garden updates. Adonidia dransfieldii A rare cousin of the famous Adonidia merrillii, this species from Borneo is starting to make its way into cultivation, bouncing back from the first discovery of 14 plants in 1998. We are thrilled to be a part of that conservation effort, and now you can be too! Hyophorbe vaughanii Another critically endangered showstopper cousin of famous landscaping palms (the 'bottle' and 'spindle' palms), this palm has been a labor of love to bring to cultivation. While conservation efforts in Mauritius are underway, the number of plants in the wild is shockingly low. Looking for this species for sale online has gone from an impossible task to a reality! Chelyocarpus ulei This gorgeous palm has started to produce prolific amounts of fruit and grows well, so we are currently able to supply it in commercial quantities. It makes a great statement in the garden and has the beauty of a pinwheel leaf palm, without the thorns. Geonoma atrovirens Almost every palm enthusiast has the same reaction when they see this species in the garden: "What is that, and how do I get it?!". As a flagship palm at Floribunda, we are happy to say that it is back on the list, add this holy grail palm to your nursery / garden today! Garden update We are deeply humbled and forever grateful to Royal Botanic Gardens,Kew and Aarhus University for their effort and collaboration in describing two new species of Chrysalidocarpus from the garden. You may recognize these species as they have been for sale for some time, but "sp. 'bef'" and "sp. 'Dark Mealy Bug'" are now officially described as Chrysalidocarpus comptus and Chrysalidocarpus marcusorum, joining the list of legendary palms that have been named with the help of garden material at Floribunda. Read the paper co-authored by Paola De Lima Ferreira, John Dransfield, Wolf L. Eiserhardt, and William J. Baker below to learn everything there is to know about these mysterious species: https://phytotaxa.mapress.com/pt/article/view/phytotaxa.758.3.1 All these and many more, including two new Zamia species, one of which is the rare Zamia inermis. https://floribunda.xyz/pricelist Joey altifrons, Metroxylon amicorum, Euterpe sp. Orange Crownshaft, super mottled Lanonia, gallon size Vonitra and Kerriodoxa, the rare Vietnamese Licuala dakrongensis, and much more! Want to be the first to know when a new price list is live? Sign up for our mailing list! Jeff marcus with Chrysalidocarpus marcusorum Euterpe sp. "Orange Crownshaft" Metroxylon amicarum

Hey all, here’s something I can’t quite figure out. My neighbor and I have a couple of this species and they throw out flower spathes regularly. But they simply never open on their own. So… We’ve taken to performing surgery to free up the flowers.. The thickness of the spathe is just crazy thick. We have found that if we simply allow them to sit, eventually the contents of the spathe will just get moldy-and yet never open. We are generally perplexed at why this is happening, but it is what it is. It actually requires a combination of a sawzall, a vibrating saw, and some clippers deftly used to remove the woody section without damaging the flowers excessively. The walls are thicker than my thumb is wide.

mine produces lots of fertile seeds

If you want a palm that’s easy to grow and fit into any reasonable small space, the feather palm, wedding palm or the lytocarum weddlianum is the one. Easy to grow and germinate, single plants will set viable seeds. Quite cool and dry tolerant. Perfect understory or bright light palm. An absolute beauty of a great palm that’s gives a lot of effect for little work!

They're fast! I'd already grown them from seed, but I didn't remember they were fast,second leaf and germinated at the beginning of May.

What is killing them? I have one here on O'ahu for about 25 years. Planted next to a leaky lily pond so it get lots of water from the pond. Have not taken a picture in about 5 years.....Coconut Rhinoceros Beetle attacked once but drove them away from this palm.

Some color…

Macrozamia johnsonii I grew from seed is now coning. 1996-2026. These are large plants with 10ft+ leaves.

This is a big boy. Thick, heavy trunk 25 feet from the soil line to the top of the tallest branches. Dead knock off for a cocos, if it wasn’t so thick at the trunk!

I wax walking up the front entrance to my home and noticed the boot was ready to drop off my Chrysalidocarpus decipiens. Here it is after removing the old boot.

Trithrinax brasilensis growing in my Jax FL garden

This is one of those palms that keeps on giving. Tim

I originally bought this copernicia alba from Ken Johnson. It had 3'+ of trunk in mid august 2011, with a tiny crown due to sitting in 90 gal pot for years. Ken said nobody wanted it and he recommended it to me. It was delivered with a few other specimen palms(C oliviformis). Over the years I notice that each year a bunch of spears(~10 or more) at the same height rose up and pushed the previous years leaves down towards the horizontal. The new leaves open pretty quickly when the palm is ready. They can be seen separated against the sky fromt he old ones in a cluster. It reminds me of a new flush of flowers. SO I use the term "flush" when a good number of leaves open is quick succession( a couple weeks). A couple days ago against a story sky but some sun peeking through at my back I took a pic to show the "flush". The only other palm I have that does this is P, rupicola. The rest take a week or more between the opening of spears. This palm was hit by Hurricane Milton and lost some was as leaflets were bent. It was one of the better performers of the well exposed palms in my yard. Here it is with the dead leaves from Milton still hanging on. You can see this years flush is separated from last years by angle to the horizontal. As you can see its in sandy soil and has a little clay underneath at 2'. Its not in a wet spot irrigation or soil wise, and it did suffer in this drought but looks ready to go after the recent rains. The leaves are now self shedding to a smooth trunk the latest 3' of trunk(out of view here). Does anyone else out there have an alba story or a newly planted alba?

Arenga micrantha and Engleri, two species that grow very well here and are also resistant to light frost

A species that probably doesn’t get much attention on here - Gaussia maya. It’s been bulletproof for me on a north facing brick wall which probably helps with additional heat retention. Love the chunky base, will look great when the leaf bases start to fall off.

Hey there everyone. Its been a while. Had a rough NYC winter this year. Lots of snow and cold wet weather. Windmill Palm took a little beating!! But still thriving! 16ft to top of crown, 12ft to top of trunk. Just gave her a prunning. Unfertlized seeds avaliable.. not sure if you can pollinate them? Good luck to all this winter!! Bobby

Time to weed the lava and misc AM light…

I have two satakentias from ken johnsons farm, planted out in early 2019 with 2-3' trunk. I also have a smaller one I grew from a 4" seedling in 2021 that was planted in early 2025 is now 6-7' overall. They are great palms and the trunks are pretty thick. I will quote ken " ythey are emergent palms so they like shade when young but with size they take the sun well. The trunk at the crownshaft is about 8-9" caliper, definitely more than my archies and all my other crownshafted palms except for the royals. They hate frost with a couple upper leaves burning a couple years ago. They do look a lot more colorful in sunlight after shedding a leaf. Here is one of mine, they trunks/crownshafts glow in the distance in sun. No sign of inflorescences yet. closeup of the same palm to see the crownshaft color a week or so after a new leaf was dropped Easily my prettiest crownshafted palm. I checked the trunk measurements, 8 1/2' clear trunk as of today.

M amicarum seems to be building some momentum…

After over a year of waiting, some Butia lallemantii is showing activity!

A few R. Sapida in SF

Chamaedorea cataractarum Who decides if something is rare? I no longer had Chamaedorea cataractarum, so for me it was rare, especially if the seeds were given to me by one of my best friends on this forum.

Dioon mejaie flushing in Jax FL

My only Pritchardia is P. Hillebrandii brought home from Maui years ago in a 3” pot! It has survived for at least 15 years here in Santa Paula . Planted next to my house for protection , although I’m not sure it needed it. Harry

Veitchia

Kerriodoxa elegans, Johannesteijsmannia altifrons, Geonoma atrovirens, iguanura wallichiana var major, Areca vestria red form, sabinara magnifica, reinhardtia gracilis, chamaedoreas are must have, variegated rhapis. Then there are Zamias, Cerotazamias they all compliment palms and there are many of them to collect. Good luck once the palm bug bites you it’s a whole new world of plants!

Thanks for looking

Lehmannii and whitelockii

Here’s Jayne Mansfield my big Roystonea oleracea. Makes my heart sing to look at that lovely thing. And my big regia in the background.

Some blueberries on the dreadlocks. Also my breakfast raspberry substitute fresh off the guava tree. Yellow.

Hydriastele splendida living up to its name. Tim

Chambeyronia macrocarpa var flavopicta on a rare sunny Melbourne winter day - this show never gets old. It produces exactly 2 new fronds per year for the last few years. Every late July it will open a frond which stays red longer in the cooler weather than the one that opens in summer.

@Meangreen94z the Pearland palms are nuts, great work. Amazed by the majesty palm, very jealous of the A. totai. My yard is neglected and much less palmy these days, but a few things are chugging along: Sabal uresana from Barton Springs Nursery. Not as silvery as the John Fairey palms but still pretty nice. I am not sure what this one is. Also bought from Barton Springs Nursery in a 1 gallon pot years ago. I remember the pots and signage had different labels, some said Sabal bermudana, others Sabal domingensis. It has grown nearly as fast as my Sabal causiarum and looks very similar. The causarium is unfortunately dead... a transplant casualty during our yard remodel.

Just a few midsummer yard shots from today: Starting with the biggest and the fastest...my filifera continues to grow larger by the day: Next, we will see the smallest and slowest growers I have in the ground, a couple of Trachycarpus fortunei x waggies: Both are growing fine...just quite slowly. They sit on the east side of my home and I am planning to remove the grass in this entire area in the fall to create a nice bed. Right next to the back porch I have a corner with 3 C. radicalis in it. One mature non-trunking form, a juvenile trunking form, and second year from seed non-trunking form: The rest of that same bed is occupied by my Rajapuri bananas and some dypsis lutescens that I grew from seed my daughter collected on a past vacation: My Sabal mexicanas that both spear pulled last winter after 20F and freezing rain (had to trunk cut the second one) : My Butia that also had to be trunk cut after the freezing rain: Silver Chamaerops, P. sylvestris, and second year mule seedling: From left to right C. radicalis seedlings, BxJ, and S. mexicana community pot. And the mule that replaced my Butia in the ground after the spear pull and trunk cutting: I know it should be less hardy than the Butia, but it is definitely getting established quicker. Fingers crossed for a winter or two of zonal average lows and no freezing precipitation so it can really get going strong.

Pinanga insignis on a rainy day. Tim

Gaussia palms are actually quite showy when old boots are trimmed off. Here's some of mine... I've sold about 2 dozen of these to fellow Arizonans - just based on their unique looks. aztropic Mesa, Arizona

This Cycas is now hardening the flush I posted a few weeks back. The leaflets don't start until about 5 feet up the rachis.

For vacation for few days in Punta cana I saw rows of Pseudophoenix vinifera (commonly known as the Hispaniolan Wine Palm) unfortunately some are dying but others looks super healthy… They lost a lot of them … Some still looking good I hope the city will do something to preserve them they might be very old here … IMG_2776.mov

Pritchardia

They grow by the thousands in my area. Just about every part of the subtropical rainforest you go into they are there. Often seen growing with Livistona Australis and linospadix monostachya and lepidozamia peroffskyana in their habitat. You have some great Australian palms there !

Arenarius flush hardening off

Yet another photo of Prestoea acuminata var montana in bloom. Opens pure white, then becomes pink, and finally dark red with green fruit. Never fails to draw in visitors to the garden. I'm not sure if the geckos are hunting the many bees attracted to the flowers, or something else. But you gotta love those blue eyelids. Geckos were introduced in Hawaii decades ago and now number in the billions. The Kalij pheasants love eating them, but don't put a dent in the population. Plenty of geckos make themselves at home inside my house. And my first Pinanga speciosa has gotten too tall to appreciate the colorful crownshaft, so I've planted some babies. Just starting to hint at the coming show.