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An update at the end of July, 2026.

Chrysalidocarpus saintlucei gets thicker in full sun and thinner trunk in shade here. Full sun specimen front and center in this photo.

The plumosa are flowering again, and I have finally worked out the boys and girls and where they are in the garden. No flowers opening up yet. But some daily observations will be the order for the day. I will try and hand pollinate them this year. I managed to get 4 seeds pollinated last season only to have the rats get them, right on harvest there clever little sods. In the 25 years they have been in the garden only twice I have had good seed set naturally where Mother Nature lined it all up. A nice landscaping palm that’s tolerant of a lot of hard conditions.

Dioon mejiae seems to always flush later into summer for me. Perhaps it needs more heat than some other cycads I am growing?

18 months post cold event

Lytocaryum insigne seedlings available. Nice established root system. These have proven to be trouble free and robust, ready to push 2nd - 3rd leaf. Seedlings will be shipped in cones. $40ea UPS 3 day $18

Yea spelling wrong. To hard to look up on phone. Any way growing nice under shower tree

Seeds are ripe on my super silver med fan palm. Flowers were hand pollinated, and wrapped for isolation. Parents are the pics. Super silver offspring! 25 seeds picked fresh off the tree with fruit,(to contain freshness) shipped continental USA for $20 total. Takes full, blasting, Arizona all day sun, and freezes to at least 25F with zero damage. VERY hardy fan palm with exceptional silver color. aztropic Mesa, Arizona

I sent a private message. Thanks for offering these!

Generally speaking, are the blue joeys (Johannesteijsmannia magnifica) known to be more stout in form as seedlings/immature plants than the green joeys (Johannesteijsmannia altifrons ) ? I’ve only been growing this one seedling magnifica (from 1st seedling leaf stage) and noticed it doesn’t develop those long-strap like immature leaves like the altifrons I have raised. I grow indoors. Because the magnifica is much smaller than my altifrons, I have grown it along with my higher light orchids. The altifrons are well over 3’ so I can’t get them under the orchid lights. I noticed from photos that the mature magnificas look like the altifrons in form, possibly broader; the blue underside of the magnificas being the obvious difference. Although, perhaps any of these form differences in photos can be due to stretching in lower light vs more stout in stressful high light levels. I just want to be aware if I’m possibly light-stressing my magnifica. Pictured below, magnifica on left is younger than the altifrons on right.

Cleaned up this Roystonea regia a few days ago and the rings are looking good

This is just an outside observation , but the palms look to me like there is a nutritional deficiency. The trunks seem to be smaller as the height increases . Queens are quite sensitive to deficiencies . The area around the base of the tree with the roots showing , seems to be indicative of some cultural problem . The roots seem dry . Are they functional ? They are " water hogs " as well . A good quality Palm fertilizer is very important ,and a good consistent watering as well . Good luck .

I will certainly try my best, I gave plenty of plumosa young plants to go in the garden for the next generation of plumosa seeds.

yes Richard please pollinate, we need seeds here

A nice new taitungensis flush!

Thanks Bret.I had great and easy germination!

You’re not alone , Jim. I had a beauty ( Wodyetia Bifurcata)for 7-8 years with about 7’ of trunk . One year it started pushing shorter fronds and looking poor , eventually it died . The other one I had died within a year of planting , I have tried everything to save them. I have a palm friend a few blocks away that has one that is huge and healthy ( producing lots of viable seeds!) . He also had another one that did exactly what mine did . I tell people “ hit and miss” for these . I have two small ones that I bought from a private grower who was getting rid of them because he lost so many . He said “ I quit !” I got a great deal and they are plugging along slowly . Some gardens have really nice Foxtail palms , I just haven’t figured them out yet. Harry

We didn't see any tree-size adenium. There were so few dorsteinias that I can't characterize their scale. The tree cucumber, Dendrosycios, was tree-size, however.

Dave’s “ Droopy” , from our trip to his jungle. Harry

It’s the beginning of soil making on lava in the background of this Metroxylon is a pile of trash tree. It will take 2 to 3 years with the pigs help to get turned into soil so I’m just gonna keep throwing debris behind this bloke. We are building the soil up for a nearby rainbow eucalyptus, but the palm will benefit as well..

The good old Ferox cone is getting more mature deeper into winter!

One top ornamental palm, you won’t regret planting that one!

Ceratozamia sancheziae

Here are a few cycas currently flushing around the garden. Cycas maconochiei Cycas siamensis. I grew this from seed I got about 20 years ago. A Cycas siamensis “dwarf” in the foreground that was flushing and got smashed by a Bismarkia palm frond from a storm that passed through a few night ago. In the background is another Cycas siamensis flushing. Cycas revoluta was pretty common around here until a few years ago. Scale has killed off most of them but I’ve been able to keep this one in check. It seems to like my soil prep area.

Time to weed the lava and misc AM light…

Lehmannii and whitelockii

Sabal Yapa Palm & sun making art

@JLM Looks like it is on the mend for the foreseeable future. Let us all hope we don't get double-tapped this winter like we did in 2010.

Here are some photos of flushing zamias in the garden, Zamia neurophyllidia A couple of Zamia splendens colorful one leaf flushes, A Zamia flushing bronze, And finally a Zamia inermis flushing after a thorough haircut.

I do not know the species here? Large, feathery/fernlike is a good start.

Last but not least I bought 3 more Encephalartos “Trappes Valley” Latifrons last year and 2 of them are flushing right now. Here is one of them.

Encephalartos Cleopatra x True blue Arenarius flushing for the 3rd time since spring! That hybrid vigor us a thing! I have also noticed each leaf it throws is getting bluer.

Encephalartos Longifolious starting to flush.

M amicarum seems to be building some momentum…

After over a year of waiting, some Butia lallemantii is showing activity!

One of my unknown Prtichardias has a spadix with flowers emerging from it's spathe for the first time. The spathe is an interesting cluster of bulbuous shaped heads that individually open. I don't have Don Hodel's book on Pritchardia species to help identify the species. Thoughts are always welcome.

My only Pritchardia is P. Hillebrandii brought home from Maui years ago in a 3” pot! It has survived for at least 15 years here in Santa Paula . Planted next to my house for protection , although I’m not sure it needed it. Harry

So, while I was in the vicinity, here are a few snaps of P. lanigera. Why not eh? Tim

Here is an updated photo of P. glabrata. I had a pair side by side and curiously lost one a few years back. Tim

Hey Dale, like the previous responses to what your palm might be………just not sure. I don’t think however, that it is P. martii. That is a comparison to the one I have in the garden whose undersides and petioles are covered completely with whitish/silver lepidia. So much so, it resembles frost. The petioles are also incredibly long, even in full sun. A few years back I acquired some small cast off Pritchardia in cones and they were supposed to be either P. beccariana or P. hillebrandii. Now that they are fairly decent size, I can only guess what they really are. One has heavy lepidia like P. martii, one is moderately covered like P. beccariana, and two have almost none. Ufta! The more one knows, the less one knows. Here are a few photos of the P. martii I took this morning. It’s a stunning palm. Oh, and thanks for the bump Tim

Sean, the common wisdom is that only the Hawaiian species will grow in California, so... no P. pacifica or P. thurstonii.

I planted my beccariophoenix alfredii October 16th 2011. It was a tall one gallon. I wouldn’t call it fast at all but it’s gone from about 1 foot to about 15 feet. Post em if you got em

2022.

A little chronicle of the day. It held up well on hwy 40, and I got it in ground right as it started to rain. Thanks @Joe NC

I thought I would post an updated picture here. The preceding picture was from more than a year and a half ago, when it was just beginning to get serious about flowering. There are currently three generations of seeds now, the oldest ones just beginning to ripen and fall off. It’s becoming a seed factory and has developed an enormous canopy. The rate of growth with Pritchardia in my garden is all over the place; I have two or three plants that are 12+ years old and are not even waist high yet. No idea why.

Remember my Yatay mule that got knock to the ground in the 2018 freak freeze we had? It's over 25 ft tall & flowering. I don't have much hope for viable seeds as I have never seen a mule produce viable seeds. They are always solid. Even the Doc's downtown seed every year but the seed is never viable. Anyway, here it is.

I am sitting on my lower patio looking up at one of my no id Pritchardia so thought I would post it again. I don't recall this one flowering. It is beefy, like my P maideniana and hillebrandii.

Good grief Dr. George, now that is TALL! I participated in a workday for the Nature Conervancy awhile back and one of the leaders took me to a lone specimen in the middle of a macadamia grove. Tall as well and separated from the main population. I‘m glad they saved it. Tim

It grows and flowers well here. The foliage is actually a little hardier than other ohers. Most will burn at 32-34F, H. scheideana has taken to 30-31F with no damage. Also growing the cultivar 'Fire and Ice' but I don't notice any difference between it and the species. Both grow 6-7ft here. Heliconia scheideana Heliconia scheideana 'Fire and Ice'