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I’d say that looks about as good as you could hope for given the conditions. Well grown!

Looks good overall. Yeah, there is excess drying of the fronds. I would watch the sun travel overhead and set it on the east side of something that gives afternoon shade.

Finally after years of wanting some relatively big Sabal’s, I got some. 3 of them. Now I have to try to keep them alive until they establish roots. I amended the soil (I’m in north Alabama - Zone 8, clay soil) I’ve been watering everyday. I asked the guy I got them from is they were regenerated or are those the same fronds that was dug up from the field, he said the same ones from the field. I know I need to hurricane cut them but it’s hard because they look so good right now. lol Is it ok to let water drip down the truck to help with moisture along with watering the root ball everyday?

Guys, honestly… is this palm ratty, normal or about the best you can expect for the conditions it grows in? Realistically, is there more I can do to increase its health/vigor? I dont expect perfect or tropical/Florida like appearance and growth. After all, this is grown outdoors in California in the Central Valley (low humidity, little to no clouds, hot temperatures) and goes indoors for several months of the year. The palm was strapped leaf when bought in 2024. None were starting to split. I estimate the palm was about 6-10 months old. If that estimate is true, then it’s about 2.5-3 years old in real years now. No green house, no humidifier. Occasionally is misted though. It does need some afternoon shade. Currently I’m too busy to apply shade without shading longer than I want. So there is some sunburn despite my attempt at slow acclimation to increasing sunlight when I wasn’t as busy. Its a green Malayan dwarf. The trunk at the thickest is 9 inches around, the middle section is 7 inches, the thinnest is about 6 inches. The trunk is decently thick. The canopy is approximately 67 inches (5.58feet) long. The palm is approximately 57 inches (4.75feet) tall. It grows slowly in winter (indoors) so it doesn’t truly stop growing. The last 3 fronds, when they were still spears, before they began to open I can already see a 2nd spear several inches tall.

So thought I’d check on my Brahea sarukhanii seeds after posting the above. Only a quick glance in the container but I see 2 new sprouts. This is only a week after re sowing. These seeds are nearly 3 and a half years old!

Fresh Pinanga caesia

I’ve never actually germinated Brahea armata seeds, but I have some interesting recently observations for others in the genus. Over the last few of years I’ve been accumulating different Brahea species seeds. B sarukhanii, B dulcis ‘blue’, B Clara ‘Icy Blue’, B aculeata and B brandegeei. For all, I had low germination at best, sporadically over months. In the case of B sarukhanii and B aculeata, only 2 out of 100 and 3 out of 50 respectively. About 6 months ago I decided to start again with the B Clara. They were in mostly perlite and nothing seemed to be happening, just a gut feel that something wasn’t quite right to trigger germination. Seed was still solid and just a tad of mould on the surface on some, so thought it was worth soaking again and putting in a new mix. I soaked in about 50% bleach for a few minutes then water for a day or so and then some hydrogen peroxide afterwards. Re sowed into containers filled with coco coir and perlite and some with added potting mix (not sterile). After only a week, I had a bunch sprouting, maybe 30% of the remaining seeds, after months of nothing prior. No change to temperature - stil put them back on 29C heat mats. Just a couple of weeks ago I decided to do the same for B dulcis ‘blue’, B aculeata and B brandegeei. Within a week the same has happened for both B dulcis and B aculeata. Multiple sprouts all after many months or nothing at all. With germinating palm seeds, we often hear patience is required. But I think the lesson in this is that if something doesn’t seem right, don’t be afraid to change a variable. I’d expect this might apply to many other species with typically sporadic germination and long viability periods, probably less applicable to tropical species with short viability.

Whether indoor or outdoor , I use a small amount ( just a few drops )of dish soap mixed with water in a spray bottle , spray the area and wipe off any bugs you can. I use paper towels to wipe the plant and dispose of them right away. Mealy bugs , even scale really don’t like soapy water . I have had to repeat this procedure a few times to eradicate the pests but it works for me and no harmful chemicals. Harry

One lucky grower out there in palm land will receive a few of happypalms finest in the mail. It’s easy to do mail order, just wrap em up tape em up and box em up and tag em. A couple of dypsis black petiole, Chuniophoenix nana, chamaedorea adscendens, lanonia dasyantha, Chambeyronia houalouensis and Calyptrocalyx elegans should give this lucky palm grower a bit of pop in there garden

Oh gosh yeah for sure they survive well. A lot of growers send them bare rooted. I wish I could import living plants, I can technically import plants but a lot headache and money, something I could do without! Richard

You are doing well with that one . They usually don’t do well out of their preferred environment . It looks fine , to me. Harry

The microcarpa took 8 weeks in a zip-lock bag 50% peat perlite half buried at around 25C 24/7 P Cocoides 4 weeks as I cracked open the shell and zip-lock bag with 100% sterile perlite slightly moist

This one has been in the ground for about 6 months from a 140mm container, just add water they take off!

Throwing a few in the ground again. A few die hard favourites for the garden! Kerriodoxa elegans chamaedorea nubium Chuniophoenix nana dioon spinolosum a trio of lytocarum weddlianum Delarbria blue nunvariegated Draceana

The good thing is I respect our bio security laws, not just because it’s the law but for our environment in Australia. Would I attempt to smuggle seeds or anything not on my life would I do so. One thing I know is don’t muck with customs Australia. One strike and it’s game over for importing seeds. It’s a passion for palms that keeps me importing seeds, that and for my garden, plus I get varieties of palms that are just not available, especially at the price I can get the seeds for. It’s getting more expensive to do anything now, let alone import seeds for a hobby. Years ago I rode enduro motorcycles, it was my sport and it was reasonably cheap to do so, now that sport cost you money, same as deep sea fishing and owning a boat, it’s cheaper just to go to the fish shop now and buy the fish you want. But when it comes to my garden I spare no exspense! Richard

I'm assuming the brahea seeds have a very long shelf life since they are from the desert.

It's still anecdotal, but I'll be putting some stubborn Brahea edulis seeds in the refrigerator as an experiment. So far, both B. dulcis and frankenbrahea seeds have successfully sprouted only after sitting through a winter.

Interesting @amh ! Gonna have to experiment a bit!

Erecting this thread from years back. I think Encephalartos Arenarius is way under used in gardens. Let’s see your “poor mans Latifrons” out there. No hybrids. -dale Blue Arenarius

With this heat dome set up, I'd water a couple times a day and mist the leaves.

Billbergia pyramidalis has always been a great performer for me in 9b Florida.

This small terrestrial orchid grows at low elevation above the Arctic Circle in Norway's Lofoten islands. I don't know how much further north or inland that it grows, nor do I know it's name. For me, it was an unexpected find during a hike. Why not native orchids in Norway though?

Good on you Harry. Nice and compact, looks to be of good quality as well. I’m sure there will be a learning curve throughout the year, but as much time as you’ll be tending to it, you’ll figure it out fast. Tim

Great photos, I think there’s enough there for someone to make a positive ID. My first thought was something in the Prychospermatinae tribe but not Adonidia, Ptychococcus, Veitchia, Carpentaria and I don’t think Ptychosperma either, just doesn’t look quite right. A lot seems to fit for Ponapea hentyi, but the leaflets don’t look wide enough. Other possibility could be some obscure Hydriastele species. I can’t say I know a lot of those tropical genera well enough to be confident to narrow down but the small round red ripe fruit will rule out plenty as will the praemorse leaflet tips and slightly plumose habit.

I finally got around to building (assembling a kit) a small greenhouse for my seedlings. I had so many taking up space between other palms in the garden and also dominating my work bench. I really don’t have much room around the house so it had to be very compact. It took me about a day and a half to put together , including a 4x4 wooden skid to give it height . I finished it today and quickly put all of my babies in there to enjoy the nice , warm environment. I have a few varieties now and more sprouting so it was time for a dedicated space. Harry It is squeezed between two large Syagrus R with enough room for my ladders. A nice vent to keep it from getting too hot . The wet pea gravel will hopefully raise the humidity a bit . I just opened the vent more to allow it to cool down and circulate the air. I plan on adding a solar powered fan at some point. These are very reasonably priced but take a lot of assembly time. There are many sizes to choose from . I chose the 4’ x 6’ . Harry

Thanks @realarch , yes it is a bit of a learning curve . I like the idea of a higher humidity and warmth. The greenhouse I had many years ago was much larger and a bit easier for me at that time . Harry

Prob an incentive for more French cuisine in daily Australian menu! Btw people love snails also in Crete, they sauté them with olive oil mixing in subsequently Rosemarie, vinegar and flour.

Weather online tends to understate the lows quite a bit for me because of the UHI. The model runs are showing lows of 20-24c on the warmer days. These are more in line with night temps of where UK Palms is. The temp hasn't been below 60f here since the 15th of June. Slightly worried about how some of the high altitude cloud forest palms will fair but they seem alright for now.

Yep. These B sarukhanii and also the B aculeata are all in sterile coco coir and perlite mix. The trigger definitely seems to be the soaking and re sowing rather than the specific mix. I tried both mixes when re sowing B Clara and B dulcis and had similar success with both mixes. Pretty stoked with the B sarukhanii in particular. Nothing out of 100 seeds in the first year. 2 in the first 3.5 years then already another 2 in the first week since re sowing. Hopefully will start to see a few more.

Nice , I still see room for more ! With the rain you’ve had , the soil is prime. Harry

Good job on that . The foliage can survive the journey without being wrapped? That is cool. I’ve never received palms in the mail , I really am learning about this process. Harry

The seedling in my garden, you can see it in the EPS thread has no issues with the clay soil it emerged in. Frosts are probably harder here in the Greenwich area than for you but we're still in the milder side of things.

The main purpose of the visit was to drop off a Butia x Jubaea F2 hybrid seedling (sourced from Giardino Garibaldi, Palermo, Sicily last December) and some Crytostachys hybrid seed from RPS. As a thank you, Stan gave me this wonderful Cyrtostachys renda "Orange crownshaft", which will reside in our lounge until spring. My wife is not keen on house plants, but thankfully she liked this one.

Couple more pictures + some other cold hardy palms. Little Phoenix dactylifera that I grew from seed. (Bought a pack of dates from the store and planted it) Mexican fan palm that survived the winter with just some Christmas lights around it. Had some damage on the fronds but it’s pushing new spears good. Also starting to show some of the pretty trunk. Couple butia capitata‘s I bought from a recent beach trip down in Florida.

Someone certainly loved palms and went all out with a hedge of engleri. A local suburban house in my hometown, they went for privacy and certainly got it with this lot of palms. So engleri will make a great hedge over time. They even threw in a Bismarckia for good measure.

I'm growing B. vieillardii and B. hapala which both do great in our cool climate. They're much happier since they got some canopy from a nearby Telanthophora grandifolia and are now outpacing my Chambeyronias which are constantly suffering from sunburn. Hard to get a good pic but here's my B. vieillardii. Side note, T. grandifolia is a nice fast-growing canopy option, mine's almost 20 feet tall from a seedling in a bit over 2 years.

Hi everyone...... I've posted Coconut pics here before - in particular the oceanfront property down by Van Kleeck owned by the Golden Corral founder/owner. Since the Feb. 1 freeze, I had ridden by several times and his Coconuts, while severely damaged like many of ours, appeared to have mostly survived and were beginning to recover. Then yesterday I see this., Every one removed including some other species. And it looks like the property may be on the market. Uploading Attachment...

I've been over to Indonesia a few times in the last couple of years. Always interesting to see the sights...beaches, rainforest, volcanoes and all the local culture etc...so very different to home in Darwin! Suprisingly not as hot as I thought it would be. But all that volcanic soil, good rainfall and tropical temps makes for a very lush landscape...Have seen quite a few native palm species growing in natural habitat, plus the milions of coconut palms everywhre (although the Rhino Beetle is doing a fair bit of damage unfortunately) Fortunately it is only a two and a half hour flight to Bali from Darwin, and reasonably priced. Internal fights are super cheap. Over the top of Kilingking beach So many volcanoes on the flights from Darwin to Bali and from Bali to Java Rural life Plenty of bamboo forests Rural villages everywhere in Java Pinanga javana Caryota rumphiana Calamus sp Corypha utan Areca catechu Caryota rumphiana Plenty more if you'd like to see...

I definitely agree that trachycarpus usually looked better in cooler summer climates like the Pacific Northwest and maritime climates of northern Europe. I do see some here in Texas that look good sometimes. They are usually in half a day or more of shade though. This particular windmill did look better on Saturday than in the Google maps image above, even if it won't win any beauty contest. I kinda like the smooth look though, since it reminds me a little of the cocothrinax that were all over when I was at Guantanamo Bay:

When I was there, ripe purple seeds were everywhere in mid February. Might be a little late in the season now, but Coccothrinax species often bloom a few times each year, so you might get lucky.🤞 aztropic Mesa, Arizona

Friends, the key is simply a heater. Remember, these plants need the heat; they are our most precious tropical treasure.

Shade is best when they're young. Assume that's Sphaeropteris cooperi? The three native species here in Tasmania all start their lives in shade but can grow as emergents as they mature. The species I've seen on the mainland, including cooperi seem to do the same. I was super surprised to see small Cibotium glaucum (I think!) growing in full scorching sun amongst the lava flows in the bottom of a crater in Volcanoes NP in Hawaii, pretty extreme environment for a tree fern!

Most of ours in Lakeland are under oak canopy with dappled light. That seems to be the best spot for them here.

To everyone waiting for updates or interested in growing embothreum coccineum (Chilean fire tree) in the humid southeastern U.S., I've got updates and pictures. First, I have to talk about the long journey I've been on learning about this special tree. Everything I've read tells me it will fail anywhere in the U.S. outside of western Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia. But, I have high pain tolerance, and I think this is a rare tree that not enough people have attempted to grow here. So maybe I can trail blaze and contribute what I've learned about it. First, over the last 7 or 8 years I've attempted to grow this tree at various stages, from seedling to 3 feet tall and flowering. I've probably killed 8 - 10 trees, but I've currently got 3 growing (two from seed and one 4 foot tall and flowering). I've experimented with soil amendments, different soil moisture levels, and various levels of sun exposure. After all that, and several years of partial success and lots of failure, here's what I've learned. Soil permeability and temperature are the most important aspects of keeping this tree alive. It must have excellent soil porosity. If you're starting with clay soil, remove a few buckets worth of it, and mix in a few bags of coarse sand, gravel, and pine bark nuggets. Do not using potting soil or even compost. It can deal with poor soil just fine. Also be sure the soil stays cool and moist (not overly wet). After you've planted it in the perfect spot, give it bag after bag of mini pine bark nuggets around the area you've planted it in to keep the soil underneath it breathable, well draining, and cool. The 3 foot tall fire tree I planted had all that done, and I replaced its top 6" - 8" of soil as straight pine bark nuggets. That keeps the soil acidic and extremely well draining, as well as cool. Site location: The 3' tree that's stayed alive is now in its second blooming and growing season and was given the best spot it could ask for. It's about 4 - 5 feet away from a brick wall on a slightly downward slope, facing east. It catches full sun until noon, but during the hottest part of the day it stays shaded because of the brick wall. The heat and high humidity of north Georgia still stresses the tree though. In its first growing season it dropped half its leaves, which apparently is a survival mechanism for trees that think they'll lose too much water through transpiration. However, we watered that tree nearly daily the first year, and it rewarded us by staying alive after it bloomed its heart out. A few months ago I got worried because I read something that said if Chilean fire trees ever have a stressful year, they'll forever stop blooming. However, that did not end up being the case. Even though in its first year it was completely covered in flowers, the tree still gave us blooms this spring as well, just far fewer. We had probably 7 or 8 clusters of fiery red blooms, plus a lot of branch and leaf growth. Since these trees only bloom on new growth from the previous year, it may be promising that its grown so many new branches and leaves. However, I wouldn't be surprised if it dropped more than half its leaves again, and put itself into survival mode just to get through the dog days of summer here. That would mean only a few bloom clusters next year as well, but still worth it. I've read it wants night time temperatures below 65 degrees F in order to rest at night. Without that, it stresses. However, if you keep the roots cool and moist, and don't fry the plant with the hottest afternoon temps, it seems to do pretty decently here. Again, it is a protea, so don't fertilize it with any phosphorus. For my part, I just skip fertilizer altogether. They seem to do just fine without any of that. For all the other proteaceaes I grow in my yard (several types of grevilleas and Gevuina avellana), it really helps to put down some other ground covering plant. For example, my Tasmanian mountain peppers and Gevuina avellana were planted in among Asian jasmine vines, which keep the ground underneath cool and moist. It's the only way I've been able to keep those alive, and I'm sure it would help with Chilean fire trees as well if I were to plant new ones. The Chilean fire trees I planted from seed are another story. I have one that's probably 5 years old at this point, and was grown from seeds I purchase from the U.K. The one that's still alive from that batch shot up like a weed its first and second year, but now that its been planted in the ground, it grows very slowly. It's probably 10" tall at this point, however it did not have the benefit of being planted on the east side of my home. It was planted on the west side, which means it gets the brutal afternoon heat. But its saving grace is that it was planted right at the top of a retaining wall, on a slope that receives constant moisture from my AC condensate drip line. It also has the top of its soil covered in several inches of pine bark nuggets. The small hill above it has had many bags of sand mixed into it, and the retaining wall has nothing but gravel behind it. So it has very permeable soil and stays constantly moist, but not wet. This is enough to keep it alive with some small amount of growth each year, but I suspect if I could've planted it on an eastward-facing slope where it only received direct morning sun, it would be doing much better right now. The third fire tree I have is a seedling from the 4 foot tall specimen that has the perfect spot. I took seeds from it last year and got a couple to sprout. This is the last one to have survived. It's in a small plastic pot with its soil a mixture of coarse sand and peat moss. I put oak catkins all over the top of its soil line to make a carpet that would keep its soil cool and prevent it from drying too quickly between waterings. It's only about 1" tall at this point, but you can see its top is already splitting into two crowns. This one will likely be a multi-branched cluster if it survives. But interestingly, now I have fire tree genetics from both the U.K. and an Oregon nursery. I hope this inspires someone out there to give the Chilean fire tree a try (or two... or ten). It's a fickle tree, but to behold it in bloom is indescribable. In my opinion, this is the most beautiful tree in the world when blooming, and still a pretty tree for the other 10 months of the year. One last point, deer seem like the taste of the leaves, so protect it with a chicken wire cage if you have deer in your area. Good luck

So, I'm back. Our Titania has grown so much. We are deeply grateful and thrilled. Plus, she has another baby 🤗 Now it is 4.1010498688 ft, or 125 cm

Mods: are we allowed to brag/skite/be big headed on this sub forum ?? Never mind...here goes : "Hi Doug, It’s Larissa Romensky from Gardening Australia. Thanks for meeting with us and showing us your incredible garden. I’d love to include you as part of the Darwin episode - we’re filming between the 18th and 29th May. I’m just working out exact dates. What’s your email so I can stay in contact that way, if that’s okay? Cheers Larissa...." Bit of saga for me as I'm in Camden, NSW ( 4,000klm from home in Darwin ) atm, so I have to get my backside into gear to be home a week early so I can prepare as in watering, picking up palm fronds, clean up after the cursed bush chooks that will have moved cubic meters of soil onto garden paths etc... ( cursed things )...lol So anyways, I flew home from Sydney for a week to do the filming... 'Well they wanna film at mine on the 18th May ( confirmed today ) so I will fly home a few days prior and then back down here to finish off cleaning and then disposing of Mum's place. They said they'll be at mine all day filming to get enough footage...and to leave my old busted / broken rusty trailer full of palm fronds in the driveway....lol. I'm thinkin' a few thawed out cane toads from the freezers strategically placed, a coupla fruit bat carcasses and with a bit of luck the resident carpet snake will make an appearance.... oh and I will put a coupla green tree frogs in the downstairs tpilet and washing machine ( if they're not in there already... hehe'. 'The crew from Gardening Australia filming at my place today... Been a long day but of course very interesting seeing how its all done and how it all comes together... I think they needed an old school Darwin palm garden and someone who is fulla B/S and talks crap .... so I fitted the bill....lol The ABC boys hiding the beers I fed them ...hehe, I was under no such constraints... [img] [img] [img] [img] So basically they were filming at my place to show off an old style Darwin palm garden that was planted 35-40 years ago.... the storyline exploring how palms have fallen out of favour in modern Darwin gardens/landscaping. I was able to show them the ravages of the Ganoderma disease, some exotic wins and failures, damage from TC Fina that tore through my place 6 months ago ... and of course the mountains of fronds/green waste that I have to deal with... all on a suburban block of 900 square meters. Oh and the fact that I'm mostly a 'lapsed' enthusiast who has forgotten the names of some of my exotics, and that I never had ( and still havent a 'plan' re plantings ... nowasays if a bird or a fruit bat poops out a seed and it sprouts, I mostly let them grow... as in keeping with the shady jungle theme. Anyways a days worth of filming for perhaps a 5-10 min segment on a national TV show... yeah, I'll calling it a win...lol The show goes to air on 25th Sept 2026 on ABC TV.

We've crossed the midpoint of the year. The daylight hours for us in the northern hemisphere are counting backwards now. As everything in the garden that didn't die or get removed begins recovery mode, a photo of the Livistona decora and a small Copernicia alba and then @palmfriend's Okinawa Garden featuring Livistona chinensis and Arenga engleri. Happy Summer!

I’ve lived in Northern Virginia for almost 40 years. This last winter was the worst, long duration a.m. p.m. cold I’ve experienced. I truly thought my 12-year in-ground Trachy was going to die. Don’t have the stats but it was at least 2-weeks of continuous sub freezing F. temps. Along with about 8” of snow and ice that lasted that whole time as well. Maybe the only saving grace was sunny days after the precip. fell? I removed about 6 of the most damaged lower fronds mid spring. Haven’t fertilized yet but it is pumping out nice new firm fronds, maybe 6 or 7 as of today. I’ll clean it up again this fall, after it’s had a chance to fully recover and replace the canopy. Even though it’s messy, it still looks great! It’s about 13’ of trunk so winter protection consisted of 200 Christmas lights in two loose balls laid up at the crown covered loosely in a layer of burlap…very unprofessional but it’s too tall now. I also wrapped a 3’ tall band of black landscaping cloth around the base of the trunk. This catches a fair amount of the sun’s radiated heat several hours each winter day. Of course, it flowered like crazy in early spring. I’ll cut those remnants off as well this fall. Anyway, I’ll send out status reports soon. I was shocked at how poorly my sunny Needle did.

They don’t mind the cool weather the Rhopalostylis, yep just wonder down to the greenhouse, argh I might grab a tray of adscendens today they look good in the garden and grow well i thought! Richard

Another nice group there . That Rhopie will take off . Mine almost doubled in a year , growing steadily even through our winter. Harry