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I purchased seedlings from a reputable seller on palmtalk probably 7 years ago of Brahea calcarea ‘blue’. He stated the seeds came from a known specimen in California and differed from ‘Super Silver’. The most obvious difference being this palm is blue from the start. I unfortunately am down to one but the palm has rapidly developed over the past 2 years. Up until the last flush or so the petioles had stayed pretty much “unarmed”. A trait of calcarea. As of this last set of fronds, nubs or small teeth have started to form. The palm has a lot of similarities to Brahea armata except A)it’s fronds are flat and don’t have a crease in the center like armata B) the palm is drastically faster than a neighboring larger armata. The calcarea was probably a 3/5 gallon 2 years ago and the armata a 15 gallon when planted. Likely by the end of the growing season or early next year the calcarea will have caught up in size. I know that’s not definitive but of note. Both survived mid teens (Fahrenheit) with minimal damage. I covered the calcarea and it took no damage unlike Brahea clara that had minor burn, but was also protected similarly. Does anyone know of the origin of Brahea calcarea ‘blue’? Identifying traits? Any other useful information ? If this one is accurate then it appears to be a hybrid likely with armata. Thanks Brahea calcarea ‘ blue’ in front, armata in rear : Brahea calcarea ‘blue’ old petiole New petiole: Brahea armata petiole:crease in Brahea armata frond:Brahea calcarea ‘blue’: Brahea armata:

Brahea elegans

I have 2 Bismarckias. They are getting really big. They are at a really nice size now. One is also starting to seed. I have a couple of questions. Is there a way to slow the growth of these? Should I do anything about the one that is going to seed? I usually cut the seed fronds off my other palms to avoid propagation and clean up issues.

I wish the water tenp was still 90 in january lol. Freezes would not be a thing.

A nice chamaedorea elegans, one you don’t see much off around these pages!

From an observation over 23 years of growing blueberries, I have noticed Cunninghamiana starting to grow in the bush next to blueberrie farm. Birds have always been a VB problem eating the blueberries on harvest. And it is this monoculture that has attracted birds away from the normal habitat in search of food. Bringing with them the seeds of archontophoenix from there nearby habitat. There has never been archontophoenix in this area before, the monoculture of crops and the excess water at the bottom of the blocks of blueberries next the bush has expanded their habitat range. There are no fruiting trees in the area only seeds dispersing by the birds that are attracted to the blueberries, exclusion netting is the only way to protect the crop, and if you don’t day by day all the blueberries get eaten in front of your eyes. Mostly lorikeets are the culprits and a few other species of birds like native pidgeons are the seed dispersal ones! Having an intrest in palms is what made me notice the habitat migration of archontophoenix Cunninghamiana.

It is a lot of work, but unfortunately it’s the only solution to a big problem, gas guns to chasing them in motorcycles, fake hawks hanging around the farm, even flying kites they think it’s an eagle above them. And those birds travel a long way returning seasonally each year, they know the food sources on the migration routes. Clever birds I say. Richard

You’re welcome, and there is even a few variegated ones getting around. You just never know your luck in shopping for them. Enjoy your palm and dont fuss over it. Overwater is one thing to be careful of indoors!

Brahea ‘Super Silver’ is thought to be a variant of calcarea, and the petioles appear to confirm that.

Chamaedorea metallica inflorescence looking colorful today. Tim

I’ve learnt a lot on this over the years. Unfortunately I don’t think as simple as if a palm thrives in very wet conditions in habitat (eg R rivularis) then it will always be ok in very wet conditions in cultivation. In the tropics and subtropics sure; there’s very clear evidence that they can be grown in basically aquatic conditions when it’s warm enough. But I can guarantee with R rivularis if you try the same thing in Tassie it won’t go well (feel free to try to prove me wrong).

3 years from 3g pots. This turned out to be a nice palm for next to a walkway. The upright fronds stay out of the way. One annoyance is that when fronds age out, they drop all of their individual leaflets one by one, and leave behind a dry brown spike to cut off. I’ve found it’s best to just cut the oldest fronds early. Overall a pretty easy palm and moderate grower here. Hard to see… but bases are quite huge actually. These hold 3, sometimes 4 fronds, so pretty sparse looking alone. A grouping seems to be the best bet, if unaccompanied.

Bp x pjc hitting its stride.

The only thing I would add to what was suggested is that they enjoy outdoor time . After being inside for a while move it out onto a shaded patio or porch and spray it down . Then let it stay outside for at least a few hours . Also , I use smooth pebbles or stones in the bottom of the pot to help with drainage . You are in SoCal so the climate is friendly . Depending how far inland you are , they can also grow well in the ground. I am about 20 miles from the beach and they grow easily here . Welcome to Palm Talk and good luck ! Harry One of these produced seed a few years ago . Now I have a few of these!

Good photos to illustrate the difference. I think the only thing I can add is that if it is armed, even slightly, then it cannot be pure B calcarea. Brahea sp can be prone to hybridising and I think there’s still a bit of confusion in general within the genus so I can’t give any more insight.

There are several areas where tropical and subtropical palms are planted in this area. Boasting a shoreline that transitions to steep hills on all sides with a variety of microclimate conditions. This thread begins with the survivors of the 2026 February Freeze, but many of the palms were previously posted in the Remarkable Palms of Tampa Bay thread. The coldest parts of the lake in the lowest spots near the north shore recorded 21oF; a tie with December 1989. The mild side of the Lake near the Country Club recorded numbers at or near 24oF. This first set of photos is from the Boat Ramp near the country club and a short walk down the hill from Common Ground. Chrysalidocarpus leptocheilos - in recovery mode Coccothrinax crinita - Recovery and flowering both in progress Zombia antillarum - surprisingly little damage and still flowering Thrinax radiata - lost some foliage but does not look bad at all Allagoptera caudescens - no serious setbacks, perhaps due to being low to the ground for this one. Unfortunately, the Chambeyronia macrocarpa and Carpoxylon macrospermum at this location succumbed to the cold. An Archontophoenix cunninghamiana is 50/50 on recovery as it is pushing green, but not out of the woods. The Beccariophoenix alfredii is OK, but a lot of wind desiccation. My picture didn't come out that well, so I'll post a photo once I get a better one.

My JxS from Patrick is slow but steady here in North Florida Coastal Panhandle. We had an unheard of 5 inches of snow that stayed on the ground for 3 days. This palm never flinched.

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.

Those are very nice palms . I don’t think there would be any way to slow the growth down without compromising their beauty. Harry

It would probably work here in Southern California under the right circumstances. No doubt that they love water . I have a very large one that I treated like most other palms . When I started watering more , the fronds doubled in size . If I see the ground dry around that palm , I give it a good soaking . Fortunately it is near a hose! Maybe , if I ever have a moat , it will triple. Harry

Those beloved rats that all palm growers could do without, have a fondness for chamaedorea seeds. Clever little sods I say and on the menu is chamaedorea adscendens seeds. If I didn’t place these simple clip lock sandwich bags over them I wouldn’t get a lot of seeds. It’s a proven method that works for me.

The only seeds that I have ,that seem to be attractive to rodents , is the Butia Oderata. I can watch , from our deck , the squirrels jump from a fruiting Brahea to the Butia to get the fruit! The fronds almost touch and they leave the Brahea fruit untouched . Fussy little buggers. The Chamaedorea I have don’t seem to be on their menu! Harry

My station after that rain last night is at .44 for june. It would be funny if we got a huge downpour the last day of the month to make it average. Florida is like that sometimes lol. All indicators are that the pattern will shift; if you look at the averages for the months there is an indicator that this pattern is somewhat frequent in june, then levels out, with slightly lower rain totals on the west coast in june than elsewhere. Not by much though, so still a bit of an extreme event, but the west wind flow pattern is known for being unpleasant here especially when the water heats up. I had a low of 86 yesterday morning, which was lowered to 79 at midnight last night with the rain. Never seen that before but the water is over 90 now.

Stick around long enough and you will be hooked😂. It usually starts with just one. Oddly enough , @happypalms and myself both started our journeys with Howea Foresteriana ( Kentia ) . I would gather seeds with my young daughter and trade them to a large Kentia farm here . I ended up with quite a few around the house , spreading them around the neighbor hood . Most folks , back then , had no idea they would grow outside in the garden .

Got a random .58 inches of rain last night. Puts me at 1 inch for June so far

So true for many palms we have today . I remember the first Wodyetia showing up here in the 1990’s , back when Australia had strict regulations to protect the seeds. They still made it here , thanks to some determined palm collectors . I was telling my daughter how some palms may have gone extinct had it not been for private collectors in search of the next rare palm. Some of these palms have been decimated in habitat due to over development or climate change. Thanks to folks like you , and others , we can get “endangered “ palms and grow them in our collections . It all starts with discovery , then getting precious seeds , and someone who sees the demand . Harry

Richard, here we only have small mice and they don't eat the seeds, but the blackbirds and turtle doves do eat the seeds.

I remember the day I planted this agave some 30 years ago. Time is one of the best gardening techniques around!

This species of Coccothrinax, native to a small beach in N. Cuba, is definitely one of my favorites. Similar in looks to the old man palm, (Coccothrinax crinita) but apparently much hardier. Great palm to grow in the desert, even in full blasting sun. Unfortunately, like many others in the genus, it is a rather slow grower. 5 gallon pot grown from seed in Arizona is already 10 years old! 🤯 aztropic Mesa, Arizona

Brahea clara

No seed worries, yet... Just pollen. That tree appears to be a male. aztropic Mesa, Arizona

It will, unless Florida gets another big freeze this winter.

Animals. Probably squirrels.

Looks pretty much the same. Mine seemed fatter, but it was 2019 or 2020 so I don't remember well

Not going to say what it is, because you already know.. I will say, however.. Take a close look at it's anatomy, ..what group of pollinating insects does it most closely resemble? ..Is extremely common, though some may not realize it has a couple color morphs.. Can't remember if that is general, or gender related ( Males / females a different color than the other sex ) More than one sp within this genus is common out there as well, so a perfect /exact ID is bit tougher to sus out. ...Genus it belongs to starts with an X Definitely is not a Cicada ..find me one species that looks like this ..anatomically.. " Murder Hornets? " ..Yeaa, no such thing ..and have never been found anywhere near CA.

I’ve probably got 10 different types of crotons, and this one is the fastest by far. It also enjoys one of the better spots in the yard, so that helps too. Picasso’s Paintbrush is like its opposite, (small, slow, and hates even cool weather) except it too can take a lot of sun. But I think it’s a perfect outdoor container croton.

I still admire them for their color and growth habit . They don’t seem to produce fruit or seeds at my house but nice inflorescence. Harry This is a new one on one of the shorter stems.

Spot on I think - most look bad because of neglect and not enough natural rainfall rather than it being too cold. Some of the better ones I’ve seen are out in the outer Eastern suburbs in the foothills of the Dandenongs where it gets pretty chilly but receives more rainfall than near the CBD or around Bayside suburbs. Same goes for Archontophoenix. I will say though, that Ravenea rivularis was susceptible to crown rot for me when young in Spring. It’s grown out of it now, but I suspected it didn’t like cold and wet conditions while it was still establishing. I planted in a cooler area of the garden in mostly shade intentionally based on what I’ve seen with specimens that dry out too much, but I think that’s the opposite risk when you go too shady and cold. The best one in Victoria I’ve seen is the one at Geelong Botanic Gardens. It gets morning sun but is well protected from all sides from wind and looks to stay quite moist in that area. There are a few mature specimens around Melbourne - this one down the street from my place looks pretty good. Doesn’t look like it gets extra attention but I assume the roots have tapped down deep now. The tree to its north must help with preventing it drying out too much too. I planted this one nearly 25 years ago. It’s the only survivor of about 5 originally planted in this garden. Soil is nearly pure beach sand and no irrigation. This is the result 🤣. And here’s an interesting planting - Singapore Botanic Gardens have them as aquatics. They like it in there in the tropical climate, but I’m certain it would be a death sentence in cooler climates.

The hybrids of these can look really nice. This hybrid is probably my favorite cocco in the yard.

For such a cold hardy palm, why doesn’t the needle palm continue it’s range further north up the Carolinas?

Got a couple hundred of them in tubes, they seem quite tough and easy to grow so far, already taking 5 degrees celcius this winter. No special protection just sitting outside. And showing good mottling at a young age!

Are those trees in the back decidous? Is it a cold environment? Wishful thinking 😅

Hope to hear more about it, thanks for sharing

Nice! Looks like it self cleans more than the regular queen palm. Beautiful palm!

These are all pushing out new growth now, FWIW. They likely won't look normal for a while but it appears that most of them might make it.

I’m lucky to have been given a few seedlings of L sp ‘Large Mottled’ Alberto. We’ve had a very mild June so far, so it’s too early too tell how it will go in cool conditions long term but I’d suspect it would be similarly hardy to L dasyantha based on habitat. At the one leaf stage, it looks nearly identical to every other Lanonia I’ve grown from seed.

Yes.

Update… both of these will go into my garden next spring:

Yeah.. here’s a photo. He hacked it back when he dug it out, so it’s just flushing out now: