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Dioon edule female I've grown 53 years from a 4 inch caudex. Currently pushing 34 leaves. 56 inch pot with 4 feet trunk. Fat!

May 2026.. 13 years in ground

This palm should be a top choice in SoCal. Fast and jaw-dropping.

I can’t believe I managed to get these ceroxylon seeds to germinat. I wasnt doubting the quality of seeds. I was more worried about my climate being to warm for once, pretty well much sown at the start of summer so my fear was was that I wasn’t going to be able to keep them cool enough to germinate. It was a long hot summer, so the seeds were kept inside on tile floor in the coolest part of the house. So nearly 6 months later they are a popping. Not sure what I will do with them I might have to send them to the polar bear growers down south!

Together two sexes of C radicalis Male radicalis Female radicalis Male microspadix Female microspadix

Two easy palms that are always setting seeds.

Two very nice palms for the garden. The Radicalis can take sun but the Microspadix wants nice cool shade . I get a lot of seeds from both of these species. Just push them in the ground and …more palms! Harry Chamaedorea Microspadix fruit Chamaedorea Radicalis Tree Form , Palm is about 8’ tall (out of picture) fruit is hanging at eye level.

Tnx most cool tolerant Dypsis/Chrysalidocarpus spp are pretty easy this way.

The solitary one I have in Leucadia is getting more light now that I removed a Guava tree to its west and a little north. The top of the wall is 6 feet high for perspective.

Baronii and Ambositrae growing in such kind of medium

In Ventura California I have been seeing several Howea Foresteriana around the Industrial parks where my shop is . The Community Memorial Hospital has several mature Livistona Australis , large Howea Foresteriana , Chrysalidocarpus Lutescens, and beautiful Archontophoenix palms . Harry

Two different palms have come in over the years as Dypsis (now Chrysalidocarpus) Sp. Ambanja. The first was a multi trunk palm somewhat like Baronii. The second was a larger solitary palm. Mine has just revealed its first ring of trunk and is a really nice looking palm. Has similar characteristics as Leucomalla (white spear and coloring) and Sp. Dark Mealy Bug with the black flecking. But has a unique look of its own. Anyone else growing this?

Here is a better shot of the whole palm

Close to all day full sun 1.5 miles from the ocean.

Mine is beginning to look like something 🙂

Mine has been a great grower for me. The colors on the crownshaft and petioles are great. I just recently took a close up photo of the trunk showing the coloration:

@gyuseppe those juveniles originate from seedlings sent by @Ampli.

I would like one in the right spot out front. It looks like they handle sun at an early stage . Harry

This isn't entirely palm related, but I wouldn't be here without the love and knowledge I've learned from this community so I'm posting it here. I live in a small town, downtown is like old skool buildings, think Mayberry. A lady bought out an old storefront on the main street downtown, and plans to turn it into a plant boutique. Her mom, her aunt, her baby - they showed up with a squad to buy some colocasias from me. She's seen my social media feed and seen my whole operation now. Welp, it's gonna be early next year, but it looks like Sancho's Green Paws plants will be available for purchase in her store. I'm both stoked and terrified at the same time. On one hand, I'm trying to set up a Palmstreet store so I can pay some bills and on the other hand, it's like now I need to hang on to stuff to grow it out, and- I mean, I'd also kinda like to keep some stuff for myself. Y'all, anxiety is not cool.

I grow this in Jacksonville FL ----collected the seeds in 1988 from habitat in Northern Domincan Republic --- in my front yard ---

April Showers? No need for them.. Plenty of May flowers regardless... Desert Willow peak bloom.. Pseudalbizia sinaloensis May Zinnia opening act from seed dropped by those that grew last Fall.. Zephyranthes drummondii Adenium X ..something.. Definitely something, esp when morning sun backlights the petals.. We'll see when the cultivar it is attacked to starts flowering. Final days of April / start of May = start of " Plumeria Season 2026 " X " Slaughter Pink: First to get the ball rolling.. No, the flowers don't last long, and the color fades quickly ..within a couple days of opening.. but still a winner.. Fragrance is soft but noticeable ...like baby powder, with a hint of something exotic spice ..Like Nutmeg.. X Celadine: A standard and sorta ho hum " yellow and white " cultivar to some, one of the most valued cultivars for lei making ..and among the oldest out there. Classic, ...and fantastic.. " Lemony and Coconut Cream " scent.. Lack of humidity here this time of year likely limits how much the scent could carry if we had a little more moisture in the air. J -105: The show stopper atm... Flower presentation, size, and coloration exactly as described.. Scent isn't strong ..likely subdued a bit, like Celadine.. but distinct.. Buttery, Coconut Cream -y, with obvious notes of Gardenia, and something exotic - fruity ..Passionfruit, Guava -ish perhaps.. Flower color does fade a bit as the flowers age, ..but not by much.. Thick petals. Hold on the inflo much longer than Slaughter Pink. While it was the first to start moving, still a few days from the first flowers opening on TLD.. That said, interesting means of telling it apart from Celadine ...My specimens of both at least. Obvious fuzz, dark buds, and a noted deg. of " Candy Striping " on the back sides of the petals before they open / hard to miss Yellowish - Orange tinge to the petals themselves? = Celadine, this specimen at least. Fuzz - less / ...or very little of it, and solid colored buds / petals, w/ only slightly darker hints of color where the petals attach to the floral tube and down where the floral tube attaches to the peduncle ..and no Candy striping on them? = TLD Final send off of the season via the last of the Clarkia amonea signaling a change of seasons on the horizon.

I was doing some research on S. domingensis and through some detective work and with the help of Google AI was able to find the location (in Bokeelia, Florida) of this house with the big old specimen out front. Sad to say this is yet another one of these situations where something great is felled...the above picture from 2021 is the last image with the palm in place. By September of 2023 it was gone. So sad when you think about how old this palm may have been. I'm hoping it wasn't a victim of an ignorant homeowner and rather of the hurricanes during that period, which included a 6-to-9-foot storm surge during Hurricane Ian in September 2022. This palm does come from a heavy-duty hurricane zone, so you might think it would stand tough against it, but it is S. causiarum, rather than S. domingensis, that occupies the hard-hit coastal zone...S. domingensis is typically found in the interior where it may not have evolved such a tough disposition...You can see the image progression on Google StreetView by looking at the past dates (click "see more dates") here.

Today the favorite is this Encephalartos which is currently flushing. I include some photos of it earlier in the flush.

@chris08170817 how did it look last year? Is this just sent all the winter aftermath showed itself? How cold did it get and length of time below freezing? Was it protected? To me it just looks like cold damage but I could be wrong.

A great palm for SoCal

I know it’s agony watching our palms suffer without water, what a difference water makes to palms. But gel crystals I don’t think are any good for the soil, just good old compost works a treat and is much better for the microclimate it creates!

update, the(BxJ)xJ went into the ground in 2024(?) before milton hit. Its doing well and just starting to put out longer leaves and more of them each year. It has had Little to no feeding and a sparing use of water in the area. Its a tad over 6' tall now. I like the symmetry of the leaves compared with my BxJ. The even spacing of the leaflets reminds me a little of my cuban copernicias.

I just potted up a couple new Sabal varieties, they are Sabal minors, Sabal tamaulipas, sabal rosei, Sabal Palmetto. I've always wanted to grow rosei and tamaulipas.

I saved my shipped seedlings without a developed leaf yet in a mix of leca, lava, pine bark and a small portion of coir.

A couple of Encephalartos dyerianus are catching my eye not only for their beauty, but their differences. The first was acquired as an offset and has mostly remained solitary, with just one small pup that popped out a year or so ago. The other started to split into a couple of growth points from the time it was in a band shortly after I got it as a 2 leaf seedling. The second is still pushing out what appear to be new growth points, so is just a cluster of both subterranean and a few above ground caudices and the leaflets are still retaining some spines. The offset meanwhile has almost exclusively spineless leaflets (other than the terminal spine). Leaf insertion angle is more dramatic in the spinier clumping plant. I still think of the clumping one as juvenile, and am watching how leaflets change over time. Leaves are getting long, but are also twisted due to the dense cluster of adjacent leaves that each flush must push up through. So it's as much about the variation of form within the species that made these plants my favorites for now.

With a newly hardened off flush, I'm really liking how this Doon edule "Palma Sola" form is shaping up, she is turning into a real beautiful cycad. With the larger size of the leaves, it doesn't look a lot like most of it's family members in the Dioon edule group. When she cones, they are much larger than my other Dioon edule forms. It's thriving in full am sun and filtered most of the rest of the day to varying extents.

The flush is progressing on my Sago! What a little beauty.

The flushing one is getting closer to hardening off the leaflets and its really looking nice with this flush. It's still at that awkward pubescent stage where the leaflets and leaves can change with each flush. With these hybrids you just don't quite know what the mature coning size plant will really settle on for form. That said, I will be thrilled if the leaflets continue looking like this!

You are right Jim... laughter will cure a lot of things and we all need more. On a different note, my little Sago is popping out a new flush that looks like it will have more leaves than the normal flush of only 3. It's exciting to see it popping, maybe it is ready to really take off now!

Happy to see this one flushing again. It has only been in the ground for a year now, as I kept this one in a pot for a while before planting. It is an Encephalartos (arenarius x latifrons) x latifrons.

My favorite Encephalartos lehmannii

Yesterday I was thinking about the friend that created or at least raised and sold to me so many of the very cool and yes, favorite cycads in my garden. Yesterday was a year since George Sparkman passed, but his memory in my garden remains strong. A smattering of why I can't walk through my garden and not occasionally think of some story or growing advice he shared with me. I'm sure there are others with a few "favorite" cycads that they acquired from George over the years. If you do, please share. A mix of some of my favorite George plants below.

Just an interesting sighting in my garden this AM after the rain. I have never seen the sap before on a cone. Has anyone seen this before?

Flushes, especially late season second flushes always attract the eye!

Great thread, here’s one of my favs

Something one can't grow here in Southern California outside, but is very cool indeed: Zamia pseudoparasitica. This one is growing in the new conservatory at San Diego formerly Quail Botanical Gardens here in Encinitas. You can see it hanging down with the other epiphytes in the basket.

Green and fluffy Encephalartos turneri: leaflets still hardening off, they continue to hold a lighter green color before maturing to the deep forest green.

So when I opened the first photo file and looked at it zoomed in, the leaflets appear to have a mid-rib. That would immediately rule out Microcycas, so it must be some species of Cycas. I took close ups to clarify what Gene was looking for on the leaflets. First the Microcycas calcoma leaflets pictured followed by a few Cycas (debaoensis, tropophylla x micholitzii, szechuanensis ssp fairylakea, and thouarsii x cupida). No mid-ribs on the Mc leaflets, but all the Cycas have a mid rib in the leaflets visible. Now as to what species of Cycas, Gene or someone else may be able to weigh in. I've actually been known to try to catch someone outside working in their garden to ask about plants but rarely been bold enough to walk up to someone's door to ask. Maybe you are bolder than I am?

The flush hasn't hardened off yet, but as the sequence over the last 5 weeks shows, I thoroughly enjoyed watching this one flush.

Deep green and lush, love the way the leaflets overlap on this one. It looks like all my garden will get another dousing of natural irrigation over the next few days. I imagine we will see some big flushes when the temps warm and we get further into Spring in the northern hemisphere. I'm looking forward to it during this shutdown. So what are you looking forward to flushing in spring or if you are in the southern hemisphere, are you getting one last fling before winter out of your cycads?

This little guy is favorite one out of all its siblings...

Usually my favorite is whichever one that is flushing, but right now it's this giant Encephalartos Hildebrandtii that I bought from PT member ChuckG last weekend. It looks a little rough at the moment with some sunburn from our recent rain-free and brutally hot spring, and a lot of damaged leaves from moving this ~500lb monster in the back of my van. It's utterly dwarfing the somewhat-too-close Sylvester on the left. I'm counting on the Sylvester to outgrow the Encephalartos in a year or two and provide some shade to the East. I'm going to transplant a couple of big Ice Cream Bananas to the West (right) side to give it some afternoon shade, because right now it's getting blasted from 2-5pm.

As you can see in the photo, there is a little bit of sunscreen showing up on the pinnae to give them a hint of blue. Perhaps there will be more as it gets bigger. It is still young and small. I may have been a little ahead of myself describing it as adolescent. Juvenile might be a better description still.

Another angle.