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Two palms that have surprisingly taken the cool weather quiet. The Calyptrocalyx was the biggest surprise as they are quite fussy, and the dypsis was a surprise as well for such a tropical looking palm. Either way both have lived through my winters in the ground with temperatures dropping down to 2 degrees celcius.

I only have two in the garden. Both are 30 years old, one is raging along while its cousin is still doesn’t even have a trunk, planted about 3 meters apart. They are tough palms and have done the job that I wanted when planted with a vision. I see them planted around the place in my home town in full sun situations but to me they look better in shade I think. A wonderful tough palms and worth growing!

Here are most of the palms I own

Looking great Richard. I tried some in shade and they just slowly declined in my climate. Not enough summer heat. However I saved most of the shade declining ones by digging them up and putting them into full sun in a perpetually wet spot with white clay below the surface and they just took off. I’ve got I think 15 planted in the same spot at varying stages of growth but when they all start to trunk it’s going to be great to walk underneath the canopy they will create. In winter, like right now, the area is literally oozing water from the ground. Mine have started growing pneumatophore roots like a Raphia or a mangrove. I’m hoping they will set seed one day, however they are not that popular any more and most WA soils are crappy gutless sand which they just hate unless you constantly feed them with fertiliser and leave the hose running on them 24/7. They are tough. In the middle of January (summer here) I took some 30cm high seedlings out of the shadehouse and whacked them in the ground in full sun but in heavy wet soil and a week later we had a 42.5C day and I expected them to just be fried. No, they didn’t even fade. As long as they are wet they will take tons of sun, and they can take light frost in winter. Heavier frost creates damage but they are so quick to regrow it doesn’t cause lasting harm. One of my tallest trunking ones took a direct hit from a dead pine tree I cut down that fell the wrong way. I was devastated and thought the growing point may have been shattered. No. Some leaves were damaged but two years later you wouldn’t even know. I love them. They are a real feature in the garden. A totally under rated and under utilised palm in my area.

I planted these Veitchia joannis as small 4" pots last year and they are rockets in our cool montane tropical conditions growing next to our coast redwood trees.

A nice old green Chambeyronia macrocarpa, no flash red leaf on this one.

Atbb VB it again getting a spring batch of seeds in, bottom heating 30 degrees celcius. Although it’s going to get a bit cool at night now so I think k the ambient temperature will most likely be around 25 degrees celcius. A stack of licuala varieties, along with some cycad seeds. Even a batch of Zamia inermis from Nature girl in the good US, they shall be treasured little babies when they germinate. Some good varieties rare and exotic for all tastes! Time will tell how successful this little batch of seeds are.

Yeah, they're hardy. There are other 2 in my town that I have found. One of them is pre 2011 and both survived 2021 unbothered, even fruited and grew very very fast after the freeze, faster than Syagrus romanzoffiana. This is my other one, same age as the one in the backyard, in the sidewalk. Here is one of the 2 adult ones in my town: https://maps.app.goo.gl/Bfj6xX2Q8kqyLyk19 The other one (Pre 2011): https://maps.app.goo.gl/ro9zfzhK7HfUvwLTA?g_st=ac

They look great Richard. Winter for you still gets to at least 20C with sun during the day doesn’t it. The rebounding day temps really make a difference coming from low single digit minimums.

I have one in the ground that gets sun most of the day . That doesn’t seem to bother it as much as wind. The wind can strip the leaves from older fronds . The trunk gets very large on these. I have two in pots that I got on the clearance rack for $3 each . They will stay in pots along our fence line in mostly shade. Harry

Hello PalmTalk members, I am currently looking for Satakentia liukiuensis (Satakentia Palm) seeds and would appreciate any leads. If anyone has fresh seeds available for sale or knows a reliable source or supplier, please let me know. I am interested in obtaining viable seeds for cultivation and would be grateful for any recommendations. Thank you in advance for your help and I look forward to hearing from fellow palm enthusiasts. Best regards,

Hello, My yucca Rostrata will go into the ground. Do you have experience with 100% mineral substrate around the ball, no organics? I have very heavy clay soil and that would destroy it. It will need cover in the winter. At the moment I have a small package full of coconut fiber from the seller, I will leave it and I would like to settle it in 100% mineral. The clay is dug up, deep drainage and water drainage away through a drainage pipe. I am from Czech Republic. In summer temperatures up to 37°C and in winter down to -20°C. And a pretty rainy autumn. Thank you

Tonight when I was walking by just as the sun was about to set, I noticed how attractive it is for both our native humming birds and hooded orioles. Both varieties of birds were flitting from flower to flower as we approached these bromeliads. That is an added bonus to growing them, feeding the native birds.

Nice, your palm grew so fast!

…..almost yearly problem in my garden when things fill in. I feel like I’ve removed what others would consider grail plants just to thin the heard. Tough decisions. I think the hard work is done for that plant. It looks happy now and appears like it will gain momentum in the coming years. -dale

I got some seeds sold as Encephalartos turneri about 12 years ago. One is flushing right now that is planted in deep shade. It’s still fairly small and has only been in the ground for about a year. These two photos were taken about a week apart. I have another one that’s bigger, it’s in full sun and has a more interesting leaf form. It’s not flushing at the moment but here are two photos of the plant. I’ll also upload photos next time it flushes, which should be soon.

I don't recall the species of this bromeliad but it isn't growing in my yard so don't feel compelled to know. It is attractive. I recall these being planted at least a dozen years ago, as I often pass this home while walking my dogs.

After a few years of only receiving small amounts of Pelago mesocarpa seeds, (and sprouting them to sell as seedlings), I’m happy to have received a large amount of fresh seeds this morning. $6 each (minimum 5 seeds). Plus shipping. Beachpalms@cfl.rr.comZelle or PayPal(only if No Fees on my end), Checks or Cash.

Arenga westhoutii.

Chrysalidocarpus decaryi x leptocheilos F1. Have heard them also referred to as Red Triangle Palms but I also think that’s used for the reverse hybrid. Probably just another reason to avoid common names. Photo from today in balmy Melbourne. The relatively sickly pure C decaryi to the right of it.

How tall and old is this tree? I have at least a 24 year old Chambeyronia macrocarpa. My friend gave it to me when I moved into my house 23 years ago. I purposely kept it in a tiny pot to keep it small, but now I’m letting it grow big in a pot. I’m guessing it would be 12 to possibly 15 ft tall if it had been planted into the ground? Here’s what it looks like now. Photo taken September 13, 2025

Clearly growing palms isn’t your thing nephew. Ha! Sure, I’ll give it a go..

Unfortunately, nothing is bulletproof anywhere outside the true tropics. One shoe dropped in Feb 2021 and the second last winter. The problem is mother nature keeps buying shoes.

I remember the water mains bursting in Houston in 1983 with 8b temperatures and it was three days before water service was restored. 1989 was a 8a winter for Houston and killed almost all the palms. I visited Orlando in the warm months of 1983 on business recruiting aerospace engineers in central Florida to move to Houston to work on Space Shuttle programs at JSC. One day I took an exploration trip to an undeveloped area about 50-75 miles S.W. of Orlando. I ended up on a dirt road in a somewhat swampy wooded area and was amazed to see the tree limbs heavily laden with bromeliads. They were thick with many tree limbs covered with them. I made another trip to Orlando in the early spring of 1985 and went back to that same wooded area to once again view the trees laden with bromeliads. To my astonishment 99% of the Bromeliads were dead and the floor of the forest was littered with their carcasses. On another day trip I went to Tampa and noticed that the bay was ringed by dead mangroves. I imagine that the bromeliads and mangroves move up and down the Florida peninsula from decade to decade as freezes come and go. The nice thing about Florida is that these types of tropical plants can find refuge in S. Florida and then move back up the peninsula during warm periods. Ed in Houston

Since 1989, winter hasn't been what it once was. I'm inclined to thinking the 1980's were the anomaly and not the other way around. Urbanization has certainly also played a role.