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I gave this palm a fresh haircut and trim - i have to say that it looks amazing that way

Trying to find space for more palms

@FlaPalmLover I recognize the Foxtails, but haven't been through the area recently. On my last bike ride I took some "after" photos of a batch of Royals, Foxtails, and Christmas Palms at 3 houses in a row. In the last big freeze the Royals grew back fast, one of the row of Foxtails died (maybe 2? I can't remember) and the Christmas batch are all new. I plan to watch these to see what happens. @kinzyjr my Reclinata (which *looks* reasonably pure) didn't burn at all with 22.5F and direct wind exposure. I thought they were all pretty tough, so the burn photos seem pretty wild! I did a hydrogen peroxide pour on almost every palm in the yard, about 5 and a bit 32oz bottles worth. I then went back with Daconil in a sprayer and did a stream of it into almost every plant in the yard (palms and cycads). I did about 2.5 gallons total. I then fertilized everything with my normal spring dose. I used about 40lb of Sunniland 8-0-10. It's pretty warm, in the 60s to 80s...I can't think of a scientific reason to avoid fertilizing. It's warm enough with plenty of sunlight, and damaged palms need nutrients to grow. Why wait?

It looks great ! I think it favors the Romanzoffiana side with that trunk. Harry

From did the best to did the worst: tier 1 rhapis buccaneer palms dyspis cabadae baby in semi protected spot tier 2 cyphophoenix elegans pembanas kentiopsis oliviformis (very exposed) triangle triangle teddy bear hybrid tier 3 flamethrowers florida thatch unknown clumping dypis tier 4 hurricane palms ( montgomery palms (tall and exposed) royal palm (most exposed spot) tier 5 coconut (these look real bad, crown too high to see in there) licuala grandis obi island I can’t tell yet: old man palm (somewhere between 2-3) bottle palm (probably a 4)

It’s just unique microclimate I have that helps a lot, plus all the new palm varieties available now. Deep sandy Liam soil is what palms love with good drainage, the ocean air influence a large canopy cover with the Australian bush. These factors alone help the garden immensely. I have a few drawbacks in the fact the gum trees and some very large ones on my property drink all water available and store that water if there is excess for future dry times and a tad cool in winter. But apart from that it’s a palm growers paradise and if you add a bit of garden cultivation with water iam in a palm growers heaven. Richard

This is one of my favorites. V. Simulins

Well , that’s one way to look at it. You certainly have a wonderful collection and the palms you have are thriving . If it were more tropical some of the temperate region palms would not thrive . I learned a lot from my trips to Maui. Palms that I have here don’t make it very long over there , Chrysalidiocarpus Decaryi , Howea Foresteriana and others are temporary , often succumbing to the warm night time temps or high humidity. But that three to one growth ratio…..what’s not to love! Harry

Another wander in the garden during the rain. I can see the garden growing now that iam putting more time into the garden, creating and growing the garden!

The collection certainly increased last winter and spring, with a lot of new varieties going into the ground. And with the temperature the other day 38 degrees and somewhat hot and dry they faired up nicely. And with some great rainfall in the last couple of days and more on the way things are rather growing well. So if your in the zone push market for some new varieties these ones are tried and tested for cool conditions down to 2 degrees Celsius! lanonia centralisCalyptrogyne ghiesbreghtiana Calyptrocalyx yummutumunedypsis spArenga hookeriana Areca songthanhensischamaedorea nubium lanonia calciphilla arenga caudata Wallichia marianneaedypsis spchamaedorea Ernest augustii Johannesteijannia altifrons heterospathe barfordi polyandrococus caudescens synecanthus warscewiczianus Pinanga sarawakensis Chambeyronia pyriformis reindhardtia simplex ptychosperma cunneatumdypsis scottiana

Nothing like having a collection of pinangas in a few containers! Pinanga sarawakensis Pinanga Pinanga crassipaes Pinanga disticha complete leaf Pinanga rumphianaPinanga densifloraPinanga coronata Pinanga ponapaepinanga Borneo sp

Some of the recent winter plantings are loving the summer heat, just add water! Wallichia disticha Carpoxylon macrospermum Dictyosperma album conjugatum Dypsis rosea Areca Laos dwarfChelyocarpus spVariegated lanonia dasyantha Marojejya darinii Nenga banaensisDypsis lantzeana Dypsis basilonga Dypsis spChambeyronia houalouensis Dypsis utilis Dypsis baby red stem Another couple of years and the garden will definitely have that tropical look!

Bruce, That’s just my method. There are other Parajubaea in my neighborhood and the ones with very little summer irrigation are WAY smaller than the ones that get ample water. I’ve watered mine in 100° plus degree heat. One is growing right at the street where the asphalt get super hot at times. All of mine were planted as single leaf seedlings. Rarely a car parked there but here’s a photo of the palm. Neighbor’s irrigation would flood my Parajubaea’s area daily in summer. That went on for a few years until it was repaired.

You mad, bro?

Yep. Plant it and step back. These get big quick. Great purchase. A tough palm too for areas that can get cool in winter. They do like a night cool down being from the Andes and all. If you stay above 20C (68F) at night for extended periods these can get upset and prone to rot away unexpectedly after doing great for so long. BTW, welcome to Palmtalk and our palmy craziness here.

About 2-3 years ago while poking around one of my favorite nurseries in Ventura , I found a neglected palm that looked different than anything I had in my collection . It had a healthy spear growth and one , that’s right , just one nice frond that had just opened . The others were brown and tattered. It was in a fairly large container and I could tell by the base of the palm it had a bit of age to it . Priced at $150 , it was a good solid deal…..IF it was healthy . But it was clear that this guy was less than healthy . After getting an employee to help me with ID , I asked “ how much ?” I told him I would be interested if he marked it down a bit. He went and checked with his boss and said “ how about$100?” SOLD!! Fast forward a couple of years and I am so glad I got it. They aren’t as common as they should be around my area . Easy to grow , unique costapalmate fronds , deeply divided. I was surprised at how quickly it came around . The growth rate is much faster than the L. Chinensis that was planted near it some 25years ago. This one willpass it up within 5 years I think. Just lots of water and sun is all it wants! Harry I am not walking down there to get a better pick so excuse the poor quality. You can see the Chinensis to the left . Such a beautiful , easy to grow palm with a very interesting frond.

So, I was going to say......this is my favorite genus, but it seems almost every genus is my favorite. Ok, I really like this genus and it contains some wonderful species. Here are a few from the garden, from medium large to rather diminutive. Great leaf color and some interesting trunk/crownshaft marking. Easy grow, relatively pest and disease free and not fertilizer hogs. Veitchia subdisticha, a small grove of seven, full sun, and on a steep slope. They love the extra good drainage.

Amen! Rich, sandy loam for the win. After this last cold blast, we'll all take your version of cool in a heartbeat

I did do hydrogen peroxide when it first pulled and it did fizz

@ASHCVS show us your awesome tor tor!

Allen, my Louisiana has been very Hardy for me we were below freezing for 9 days And had a couple lows in the negatives and mine had very minimum damage I did protect it with a bucket i'm sure that did not do much. I know most palms species take a couple weeks for the damage to show up but the past week we have been consistently in the high-50s and most of the damage has shown up, its very minimum

No, it’s very relevant. This whole argument is confusion over the ambiguity between tropical as a climate designation and tropical as a physical, geographical designation. The reason for the confusion lies in the reality that a truly tropical location, when it happens to have what we would term tropical flora, is always going to be different from what we find outside of the tropics, including in South Florida, where we do have tropical vegetation and, in general, a tropical climate. In the case of Bogota, there is just gonna be more winter sunshine than you’ll have outside of the tropics. I’m pretty sure most of us here understand all of this. Yes, South Florida has a broadly tropical climate, and supported a subset of tropical Laura natively, and now a huge number of tropical plants have been brought in successfully. No, no part of Florida is within the tropics, and this partly explains why every single corner of the state gets colder than it would were it in the tropics. Yes, there are places within the true tropics that are at the same elevation as Florida that can get colder than Florida, but there is no peninsula or island in the true tropics of which I am aware they can get as cold as Florida does as regularly as it does. This is where Florida’s physical location outside of the tropics matters: there’s a natural limit to how far you can push things over the course of a century because it’s tropical climate is not in the true tropics. were Florida more temperate and in the tropics, we wouldn’t have these long discussions because we’d all be like people who live in Puerto Rico and it would be nothing to plant all these plants and there wouldn’t be an annual white-knuckle terror about this or that freeze.

I love them too Harry, I've got a dozen or so in the ground in a big group, which should look pretty cool in a few years. I collected the seeds from a little patch of bush in Southern NSW, which is pretty close to their southern native limit, and I've got another batch from Eungella in Nth Qld, 1600km further north near their northern limit. Both lots grow equally happily here, so they’re clearly very adaptable palms! They love water!!

I agree with @Jim in Los Altos. You are in Murrieta where summer and fall temps can be hot. Lots of water on that thing and it should come around. I never fertilize my Queen palms. We have a pretty nice storm coming so that will take care of watering for now . When the temps start climbing , just be sure it stays well watered . Harry ‘This was trimmed pretty severely due to our Santa Ana winds we get. This was planted in the wettest part of the yard . It was going to the dumpster at a big box store ,it looked much worse than yours in a 24” box . I gave the guy $25 for it . This area always had standing water ….until I planted the Queen Palm! It took care of that problem soon after planting. Harry

This is a reasonable statement, but “tropics” in English means between the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn; “equatorial” means at or near the equator. One could not call the Bahamas an “equatorial nation,” nor would anyone say that Townsville, Australia is “equatorial.” However, “tropical” Australia is only so referenced when it is within the tropics. The problem is climate types, which are a mix of flora, temperature, and rainfall, include the term “tropical,” and a such, S. Florida is a tropical climate, but it is not within the tropics and can never have the same minutes of winter sunshine as anywhere in the true tropics. From that perspective, even Key West is subtropical, despite its being more temperate in winter that high-altitude, inland parts of tropical Queensland.

That was good siting, bet it was the uni cuz there were some rare varieties of regular plants with little metal signs saying what they were. and not for example just a random person planting a needle there lol

Just got my first Veitchia a few days ago; a V. Joannis. It's one my fav palms, it's one of the few palms I consider to be more beautiful than cocos (another one is the humble Howea). I know chances are slim here, with some nights at -2C, and mainly with cool weather for 4 months but I will give it a try. Others tried here and failed but I am willing to protect with Xmas lights and whatever it takes the first years. It's outside now as the weather is exceptionally warm (21 C right now, 70 F) but I put it inside at nights when it is below 10 C / 50 F. It will stay in a pot for at least two more years, depending on how quickly it grows.

There are two species; N ritchiana and N baluchestanica which is the blue/silver one from Iran. My understanding is that N ritchiana is still variable from green to bluish, but never as silvery as N baluchestanica. I feel like the one pictured in this thread is likely N ritchiana. Photos are N baluchestanica I’ve seen seem to show them being ghostly white/silver from the first frond.

Dypsis basilonga seedlings looking good, somewhat a few years behind @Hilo Jason but they will get there.

Chrysalidocarpus Basilongus

Johnny Cash palms. I like that, Dave!

Definitely not what I would say is unusual; all specimens I’ve seen have a degree of this black tomentum. But I would say yours Jim probably have the most dense covering I’ve seen at that size. Typically they’ll start to look more clean as they get taller. My smaller one has a pretty good coverage but still only has a few rings of trunk. If you zoom in on this photo from last year you can see the first wide growth ring covered. My taller one now only has the 2 most recent growth rings covered.

This is the first time I’ve seen this fine leaf form with pinnate fronds and I have to say it does look very different to typical arenbergiana at similar size (or the similar nationsiana which I can’t really tell apart). My seedlings are a bit behind Richard’s although growing quickly. For reference, here’s my C arenbergiana x nationsiana at a similar size. Only then did the fronds start to split and leaflets were very wide (late 2021, early 2022). They still are (last photo from Jan 2025).

My friend Phil whos cycad he gave me that is 40 years old, and a rather large ferox!

Nice young Zamia standelyi new leaf flush!

First dose of artificial insemination on this girl done this morning.

It’s looking like the real thing

fantastic corrugation!

One of my favorite Zamia is Z. Stevensonii. They always look nice and are not too thorny. Ive been waiting now for about a year and a half for some female cones to be receptive but they just don’t open. I’ve heard they can take up to two years which seems awfully long to me. New flush Female cones that don’t seem to want to open Male cone ready to release pollen in a few days.

Last pic of my Latifrons this year… I promise lol🤣. Just super stoked because its my favorite plant and the biggest most flawless flush it has thrown to date. Not sure why everybody says they are so slow🤔 All of my Latifrons have flushed every year and multiple times as seedlings. I bought this plant about 15 years ago and it has passed up Cycads that I have had 20+ years! The outer leaves of the flush are about half way hardened of. Caudex is really blowing up🤙

Thanks for the compliments Dale! I might as well contribute to the thread. Middelburgensis. Pictures about a month apart. Raining pollen.

ALWAYS! About palms, anyway . . . .

The one on your left is enormous. Sabal?

This is killer . Nothing better than a trunkless sabal that’s nice and fat with Corypha ish petioles just gorgeous . And not to mention the parajubaea 😍

Well it's in the the ground. I plan watering via drip system once a week as I have some poor really poor draining clay soil but hopefully I amended the soil well enough.

Very interesting!!! I have one in Phoenix I didn’t know of all these problems I just have it on normal drip it is very slow growing maybe it won’t live very long but I’ve had it for 10 + years!!!

The folks in VB tell themselves, "We've seen Washingtonia in Myrtle Beach and we're not much cooler than Myrtle Beach" I can tell you that the temp statistics between Atlanta (Jan low 34ºF) and Augusta (Jan low 35ºF) are very similar. However, you can find Butia capitata and W.filifera in Augusta growing for 20 years. W.robustas on Washington Rd defoliate alternate years and recover. The I85 corridor from ATL to CLT gets ice storms every 5 years that kill most of those same species here.

I must respectfully disagree; I don’t see how Newark’s climate is that close to that of Virginia Beach. I’ve seen Washingtonia spp. and even Phoenix spp. make it at least a few years in VB without protection, but VB is one of the warmest (if not the warmest) areas in the state. Even in VB those 2 palm genus aren’t guaranteed long-term. I zone-push less-hardy palms when I can, so I understand. I’ve certainly grown some palms (with protection) that others told me were impossible and I tried anyways. But it’s difficult to compare a coastal southern city with a northeastern city, especially given the distance between. It’s just difficult for me to think a city with scenery like the included image could be close in climate with that of Newark. Just don’t want you to be too disappointed if you’re expecting results close to that of VB.

Welcome to the world of a continental climate. Nothing to stop that arctic air drain from Canada.