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Here’s a teddy bear going into rocket mode. It’s gonna gain a lot of height fast after this.

Huge inflorescence on an Arenga micrantha ready to pop at the SF Botanical Garden. Everyone else was there for the magnolias

Out walking Sancho and I peek under the cedar tree And there's a little Sabal. I'm guessing a bird planted this one. I think it's been there for a minute. I can't get much closer with the camera because I've got to move back a bunch of other branches. I guess I need to clear out around it.

This is the first cold event that I haven't covered it. I think from now on down to about 20 I'll let it ride, under that I'll still try to cover with some heat. It's just gotten too big to protect easily. It defoliated when we had 15 with no power in '21 even with a cover. Took forever to grow back.

The old saying never trust a farmer with a chainsaw, you gotta do what you gotta do!

McArthur palm. An Aussie native abroad!

Hilarious and tragic that the documented sighting in Sherman Oaks includes this note: "saved it from drowning"

Latania

Another flower coming on my dypsis saintlucei, and the kerriodoxas are loving the heat!

Another common one, but somewhat rare nowadays for sale! They make a great place for epithyts! The phoenix robelleni is here to stay especially in the cool climates.

Satakentia, trunk is clean, smooth, and straight as an arrow. Looking good in the afternoon sun. Tim

Chrysalidocarpus titan beginning to gain more height. No trunk yet, easily 15ft. tall. Had to get a pic with the blooming vireya.

Obscenities screamed!!!’ Hadda cut one of mine down, damn, hard assed wood.

I missed lighting for pics but my fully exposed Sabal guatemalensis burned more than expected. Still nothing major but probably 20-30% burn on the tips especially the outer leaves. It burned more this year than last year despite the temp being much higher (23/24F vs 19F). Guess it didn't like being blasted by the north wind. Bismarckia is quite burned especially the outer leaves. Thankfully the teens forecast didn't pan out and it should be just cosmetic damage. Livistona nitida is completely unphased as far as I can tell. Numerous seedling decora are fine or have a bit of tip burn. I have some Chamaedorea radicalis that never burned before with some brown...might be the wind rather than the actual cold? Here's L. nitida without a scratch

In League City TX, just south of Houston. We had one night at 25 and the next bottomed out at at 23.5. It did get above freezing in between. Mule unprotected Majesty that I defoliated and wrapped with blankets and heat. Too easy to protect to risk losing it. L. Chinensis (unprotected) and Acoelorrhaphe Wrightii (blanket and Xmas lights) C. Alba just got a blanket (had lights on it but they didn't work!) and the Arenga Englerii had no protection. Another Chinensis behind that. Decora unprotected Bizzy unprotected Chamadorea Hooperiana (I think?) just had a pot flipped over it What I thought was Seifrizii but got absolutely toasted with canopy Cham Costaricana that just got a blanket. I may have overestimated it's cold tolerance Licuala Spinosa strap leaf just got a pot flipped over it A small Cham Radicalis and some transplant Rhapis did fine Chuniopheonix Nana had a pot flipped over it with a string of Xmas lights laying next to it Licuala Fordiana? Lanonia? I have to keep better records. Had a pot with some Xmas lights next to it. Cham Elegans unprotected A Cham Tepejilote that I decided would be easier to just dig up and replant after the freeze. Doesn't seem to have missed a beat. And last but not least, a potted Ptychosperma Elegans that I somehow missed when I loaded up the greenhouse. May he rest in peace.

Just harvested some seeds gonna plant all of them whatever they turn out to be. Any thoughts?

Not a particularly exciting freeze update. After several winters with hard freezes there aren't many surprises and I've generally shifted towards adding duplicates/new colours of whatever is doing well for the various tropical perennials. Palms - Winners: Cham. radicalis (acaulescent form): ~20 plants, no damage, some of the more protected ones look to have kept their fruit too. Cham. microspadix: ~20 plants, no damage, under high canopy. My one large plant that I bought with several ~1 m tall canes and have complained about after the previous freezes seems to have finally toughened up. I think all the original canes have died and the new growth from the base is better adapted to the conditions. Rhapis excelsa: the most exposed leaves are fried, but otherwise fine. Palms - Neutral/Losers Cham cataractum (neutral): covered and protected with Xmas lights. Had to be severely pruned due to its size and now looks ugly. The only damage is what I did to it. Arenga sp. (loser?): ~10 plants. They made it through last winter without losing any leaves and finally put on some size this year, and one made its first offset. However, they were now too large to get buckets over them. I doubt any will die, but they are going to lose all their leaves which is a pain because they are slow. Tropical Perennials - Winners Justicia rizzinii: might have finally found a tropical plant which can shrug off a hard freeze and continue flowering. Going to be propagating a lot of this one. Callistemon phoeniceus: freeze didn't even damage the tender new growth, these have definitely toughened up. Tropical Perennials - Neutral/Losers Lobelia sp. 'Candy Corn' (loser): from Northern Mexico, was hoping this wouldn't get torched by the freeze. I assume it will regrow. Halleria lucida (loser): was in flower and just isn't getting the chance to form any solid wood with the annual freezes. Calamondin (loser): now have two of these and both sustained heavy damage. Everything else gets a 'neutral' rating: I expected them all to freeze back to the roots and I assume they will regrow in the spring. The various firebushes (Hamelia patens) are being watched. Several are going through their first winter and I have found these harder to overwinter than expected, especially the smaller ones. I regularly saw these in Austin pre-2021 (not sure whether they are still around) and they returned fine after normal winters there. Cham. radicalis. North facing and had to deal with all the wind. Cham. micrspadix. All the surrounding tropicals are completely torched. Arenga sp. The ones over the back with a bit more overhead canopy might keep some leaves. Justicia rizzinii. Have several in various locations and all are undamaged. They have had mild damage in previous years. Callistemon phoeniceus. Didn't even lose the new growth. Still no flowers though. I don't think they get enough sun.

I dunno you all think we eat our national emblem, kangaroos and emus. Actually the Roos go to pet food, and emus well you don’t see that for sale in the shopping centre. We are sort of civilised ( note the word sort of) 🤣

The beaucarnea trunk was wrapped in heater cables and a large tarp was put over it. It probably would have been ok with just a tarp in these temperatures, it looks like the leaves may have some burn though.They are fast growing in wet humid climates, that was a 5-10 gallon maybe 4 years ago . Here it is in May 2022 compared to now. You can’t tell but it has two trunks now.

All in all doesn't look too bad.

The Arenga looks great, especially given it's fully exposed. Mine are going to lose all their leaves, even though they have a bit of cover. I guess they toughen up a bit at that size.

@Husain Quite lovely ! I saw a few varieties of the Latania Palm when I was in Hawaii , even gathered seeds while I was there but they never germinated. Harry

Heres an assortment of species that took 29,25,23 without protection. I thought the Copernicia i bought as bertroana was actually an alba BUT it got toasted so maybe it was in fact bertroana! Beccariophoenix alfredii got blown over last year by hurricane so its had a tough life . Bismarcks are really exposed but certainly will be fine. The green Bismarck I was covered with the 100gal bucket after the 29 degree night . Small Licuala spinosa is surprising survivor with live spears. Livistona nitida had heavy frost at 25 but fine

So i do believe the fallensis and gigas WILL recover from 29,25,23 uncovered. Heres yesterdays pics

NOTE: In the temperature ranges below, the lower temperature in ranges typically comes from an Ambient Weather model and the higher temperatures come from a fan-aspirated Davis Vantage Pro 2. If there is no range, both stations were within a degree of each other. If you own an Ambient Weather station, know that the low temperature will be slightly depressed most nights compared to the DVP2. For a full write-up on the comparisons between these models: https://www.palmtalk.org/forum/topic/76970-weather-station-experiments-and-brand-comparisons/ Overall Winter Synopsis (thus far): This cold season started early and didn't disappoint people who love cold snaps. The first cold snap on 11/11/2025 brought the yard almost uniformly down to 36F. This was a full 8F lower than the previous daily record low of 44F here. 11/12/2025 followed with 38F-39F here. December 31st finished off 2025 with a bang as the temperature dropped to 34F-36F in various areas of the yard. Most of January was up and down, with cold events within typical norms frequently interrupting warm periods. The low for the month in the garden was 31F on 01/16/2026. The garden recorded a daily record high of 86F on 01/25/2026, while the airport crushed the previous record high by recording 88F on the same day. The cool-off came swiftly, with multiple nights in the 30s leading up to the February cold blast on 02/01/2026 that brought 24F with 13MPH wind gusts. This event was followed with consecutive nights of 26F-28F, 30F-31F, 38F-39F, 42F-43F, 34F-35F in the garden. The stats below summarize this section, using the DVP2 numbers for the garden temperature: Thus far, most coconuts and crownshaft palms look like they were hit with a blowtorch. Especially affected have been Archontophoenix alexandrae and Dictyosperma album 'conjugatum'. Most Adonidia merrillii, Wodyetia bifurcata, various species of Veitchia (arecina, joannis, winin), Beccariophoenix fenestralis, Roystonea regia, Ptychosperma elegans, Pritchardia thurstonii, Chrysalidocarpus prestonianus, Carpoxylon macrospermum, Hyophorbe (Bottle + Spindle), Caryota mitis, Chambeyronia (macrocarpa, oliviformis, various forms) and Satakentia liukiuensis are heavily damaged to defoliated (80%-100%). It's likely that any Adenium (Desert Rose) left outdoors is dead. More moderate damage (40%-60%) has appeared on Phoenix roebelenii, Beccariophoenix alfredii (some are undamaged), Latania lontaroides, Carpentaria acuminata, various former Dypsis (Chrysalidocarpus decaryi, lutescens, lanceolata, cabadae, pembanus, letptocheilos), Ptychosperma macarthurii, Syagrus schizophylla, Saribus rotundifolius, Cryosophila warscewiczii, Encephalartos ferox, and 2 x Thrinax radiata where the fans face the wind. Light damage has shown up on Howea forsteriana and Hyphaene coriacea in a few spots. No damage has appeared thus far on Coccothrinax argentata, Leucothrinax morrisii, Pseudophoenix sargentii (some in town do show damage), 1 x Thrinax radiata with fronds parallel to the wind, Chrysalidocarpus decipiens, Kerriodoxa elegans, Zamia furfuracea, Zamia integrifolia, any Livistona (decora, chinensis, saribus, muelleri, australis), Arenga engleri, Copernicia (alba or fallaensis) or pineapples. Medemia argun has no cold damage in the ground or in a pot, but they have other issues here. The typical bulletproof palm genera ( Sabal, Serenoa, Acoelorraphe, Chamaedorea, Chamaerops, Butia, Brahea, Syagrus, Phoenix, Rhapis, Rhapidophyllum, and Washingtonia) had no issues, either. This is why many of these were the backbone of gardens before Lethal Bronzing. Silver Buttonwood appears unaffected at this point. Trachycarpus is fine through this event, but is difficult for most areas to grow. My potted plants were placed in a cage near the Atlantic tall coconut bed and suffered no cold losses as they were completely shielded from wind by a cement wall and plants in all directions. As far as hardwoods, it looks like all of my tropical hardwoods will defoliate, but the branches feel solid. This includes: Ficus aurea, Delonix regia, Bursera simaruba, Mange (Glen), Avocado (Choquette), Coccoloba uvifera (Sea Grape). Philodendrons were laying flat on the coldest morning, but perked back up in front of the house. A few neighbors weren't so lucky. Their plants look like spinach. Crotons and Ti will likely defoliate, minus a few branches that were low enough to stay safe from wind. This cannot be considered a final report. The full extent of the damage won't be known for a significant amount of time. My hope is that everyone's favorites will recover and the rest of this winter won't be as terrible. That said, I have heard rumor that another similar outbreak is expected sometime in late February or early March. For now, a few positive photos: Areca vestiaria survived at Hollis since it is small and surrounded by really tough cycads. The former Lytocarium - now Syagrus weddelliana - did really well If the tree trimmers let it alone, the Satakentia near the parking garage should make it. A few of my coconuts show growth for now.

Thanks for the update. I guess this could be considered a "Zone Defining" event. I have a 40' tall Royal palm that has been growing at my Orlando area home for 24 years. It is mostly fried. But, I believe it will survive as the growing bud is so high off the ground. But, it will take months to regrow the crown. Thanks again for the quick response. It will be interesting to see if any of those coconut palms along A-1-A beachside may survive.

I think the winds were just too strong on this one and microclimates didn’t make a difference. When I used to drive here I would have to look for the exotic palms, now I just look for brown and that’s how I spot them. An unbelievable amount of fried exotics in new Smyrna, right close to the beach. Arecas, royals, foxtails, spindles, bottles, coconuts. All fried. Only thing that seems to have made it is queens, Washingtonia, and sabals I know like a lot of us zone pushers I was hopeful driving through areas like this in the past but this is eye opening. After this freeze my perspective has completely changed, I will always have a few exotics but it will be a much smaller collection now. Now looking for cold hardy tropical looking palms for my main palms such as beccariophoenix alfredii and maybe some ribbon palms. Already have queens and Washingtonia Too devastating of a loss in the yard. Lost all my juvenile exotics

This young Howea is not quite ready for planting yet. It grew from a seed off one of my large Kentia palms . It could survive here but better to keep it potted for now. Harry If you look closely the seed is still attached!

From left to right: Hyophorbe Vaughanii, Basselinia Pancheri and Chrysalidocarpus Arenarum in the ground (in the same order as above): And last but not least is a small Pseudophoenix Sargentii. This is a full sun location next to the house so I’m looking forward to seeing this grow. thanks for looking

I have a Chrysalidocarpus Leptocheillos hybrid that was just never real happy and it was in a prime spot. So I decided to dig it up and move it to a more sheltered area in my Madagascar planter. I replaced it with a Chrysalidocarpus Prestonianus hybrid that was recently made available on the Floribunda price list. These are fast palms and will quickly fill in this area: And here’s the Leptocheillos hybrid in its new spot. Fingers crossed it survives the move:

Common but colourful Radicalis.

Planting a sabinara magnifica gets my attention today!

Licuala peltata var. sumawongii. Spectacular palm with huge leaves. Tim

Probably not that exciting for most palmtalkers, but a healthy Chrysalidocarpus lutescens in my neighbourhood is not common at all. Probably the largest one I know of in all of Melbourne. North facing wall, less than 1km from the beach. The popular opinion is that they don’t grow here but can do ok if conditions suit.

Cyphosperma naboutiniense. Tim

The Florida seller offers two different variants. One that is green but eventually shifts to green gray, and a more silver form. They get bluer and more silver with age. Intense sun definitely helps . I have 1 green-grey from them in Pearland and 3 of the silver variant in Lago Vista, although they hate alkaline soil and may eventually croak from a combination of that and the cold. I add soil acidifier for now. Above is the green “Butia x Jubaea hybrid”, which is obviously just Butia

More Coconut palm

Chambeyronia divaricarta. Tim

K elegans fan dance caught my eye so I shared my orange with it.

Veitchia vitiensis, one stunning smaller palm. A grove would be nice, but at least I have the one to oogle. Tim

I can vouch for this vendor as well. I purchased one 8 years ago and have been very impressed, both with the color and growth rate. Eric does offer smaller, shippable sizes as well. And yes, it does have Jubaea blood in it's DNA, I confirmed this with mine when it flowered this year, as many of the flowers had more than six stamens.

I was in the same situation many years ago before I got my property. I had to move basically two Ute loads of plants every time I moved. In the end I had more plants than furniture. But I knew the reason why I collected so many plants, for my new house garden!

One advantage to pots is you can garden anywhere, and for those that are renting they can simply pack up there collection and take there garden with them. Richard

About 30 years ago I bought a Butia Bonetti in a seedling band with just a couple of strap leaves . It was a dull green color. I had no idea what it was but a close friend said it was just a Pindo palm ( Butia ) . It is now a very large Butia Oderata that is very Silver / blue . Around here there are plenty of green ones but fewer blue ones . Mine was about 8-10 years old before slowly pushing out very silvery fronds. Some show color earlier. Good luck finding the one you want . It should be easy to find though , I don’t consider them rare at all. Harry ‘This is as the sun is setting with shade on part of the palm On an overcast day from down next to the palm. Give these lots of room , they get very large! This is a greener one at a local church . I think it may be changing to more silver . Mine was a bit younger when it started turning color.

Phoenicophorium borsigianum, a Seychelles palm. Tim

Aeoneum arboreum "Schwartzkopf" blooming behind a nice green Encephalartos. I like the mix of colors.

Pinanga maculata. Tim

One more Cyprian cocos planted by a little old Asian lady. Ten years in the ground - purchased at Ikea. 35 degrees North lattitude.

wow, that is gorgeous and funky! what an amazing specimen and that Lotus 🤤

Bill, that car is beautiful standing still !