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I prefer the synonym "Pritchardia robusta" myself - it'd be one Pritchardia that I could grow here!

I hadn't realized Verschaffeltia were so difficult outside the tropics. These were some of the first palms I put in the ground about a dozen years ago. Very strong growers for me. Straight stilt roots are totally different from the twisty ones of Socratea. They have been producing buckets of seed for years, so a few months ago I decided to try germinating a few. Looks like about 100% sprouted. No idea what I'll do with so many. I can unload 3-5 on visitors, but 50 (I set up several community pots)? The spines develop before the first leaves open.

I get similar damage on my Cocothrinax , rust spots on the fronds . It has occurred since it was planted many years ago . It is so slow growing that it is year round . The fronds that open in late summer seem to be better but it is so long between new growth , it doesn’t completely disappear between winters. Harry ‘This was over a year ago . The spots can be seen on the older frond to the lower right of the palm. One of the slowest palms in my collection and is clearly not adapted to my climate but grows steadily. One of the few palms that gets organic fertilizer and that seems to help.

This post is not meant to alarm, only to demonstrate something. Yesterday there was some panic on X because the AIGFS model was showing an epic freeze for peninsular FL. While this was by far the coldest, other models did and still show the possibility of freezes down to Central FL. But if you look closely, this illustrates perfectly what has to happen to get a 1980's type freeze in FL. What needs to occur is the bowl of low pressure that comes down from the north has to dig in and amplify just to the northeast of around Jacksonville, FL so the winds flowing around it inject the cold air directly into the peninsula from the north. The lines around that dark blue area of low pressure are the direction the wind is driven (generally west to east). This is seen in the 500mb map attached below. Now compare to the 12z run of the AIGFS model today. The bowl of low pressure is way up in the northeast and clearly doesn't pull that arctic air down into the peninsula. It's not whether there's enough cold air coming south into the lower 48, It's a question of whether these high and low pressures will orient in a way to transport the cold air at the right angle down into the peninsula. If the bowl of low pressure sits on Alabama or Georgia the cold air blasts the FL Panhandle and then moves over the Gulf before going into the peninsula, and thus it gets moderated over the Gulf. That has been the pattern in recent years. However, lately these troughs of low pressure have oriented a little farther east lately and that is what's causing this recent cold weather in peninsular FL. Still need to watch though, because it's still far enough in time we don't know and on the same token some of the models leave room for the possibility of a digging trough to occur. This potential has been recognized by NOAA and the Climate Prediction Center as seen with the graphics I posted further up in this thread.

Brad, I don't have any beautiful lichens covering the roots. I do have abundant moss on the trunks concealing the spines. The roots are brown, but seem to take on a slight violet cast at twilight. The crowns are about 20' up (6 m). It is hard to get a good exposure of the fruit with the glare of the sky interspersed with the shaded undersides of the fronds. The cool roots are a consolation prize when the wonderful entire fronds disappear into the canopy. Growing in about a foot (30 cm) of black cinder, plenty of mulch and slow release 22-7-14 three times a year. Many palms suffered with the miserable dry weather this past year, but I didn't notice any distress with these. I wonder if a phalanx of these roots around the perimeter of the property could actually deter pigs. For some mysterious reason, I have not had a pig attack in over six months. Gotta be a record. I see them on the roads near my house frequently, but so far they have held their fire.

Lol

This is what The Huntington in Pasadena has to say about stilt roots . The glass house has a lovely example of this palm. Harry I liked how they highlighted this feature.

The latest updates on the ECM (Euro) don't look anywhere near as bad. Maybe 24-25F for Houston and 15F for Dallas. So tentative signs that Texas will be spared somewhat this time around. I don't see the proper cold air getting in, or lasting long either. Can't say the same for the mid-west and east coast. That William guy with the big Robusta/Filibusta in North Carolina will need to wrap it well as he's got 7-10 consecutive days/nights below freezing starting on Friday and probably 2-3 nights of 0-5F coming too.

yeah I feel really bad for Dallas! and San Antonio. A friend of mine just bought property in San Antonio and planted a bunch of tropicals with the hopes that at least THIS winter wouldnt be as a bad. I'm over here crossing my fingers in Houston. I have already replaced so many palms. I'm stubborn. I replanted two queens this year that rotted last year winter. Two other ones who survived are now what someone here called "zombies". They made it through 18 F degrees in 2025 but didnt really grow.

@ZPalms, they look great, all things considered. 😊 F.Y.I. name change coming...

Considering how weather generally moves west to east across the country, you need one ..or a combo.. of 3 things on a map to bring us " record " cold spells.. = Deep trough that is parked off the west coast, and oriented in a way where it can move a deep layer of arctic air right down the west coast from Alaska.. By deep.. i mean the base of it has to be draped across roughly the same latitude as Mazatlan ..or Puerto Vallarta... Simply put, WAYYY to or south.. = Similar, but the base of it is oriented so that a similarly deep layer of artic air is able to move west south west, over the Rockies, from the high plains just east of the mountains up there.. Layer of air, combined with the depth of the trough allows it to get up and over the Rockies. FYI: AA = Deep, Arctic Air pool.. Yellow = location of the base of such a trough.. Overall WX pattern has to be " slow " or stuck long enough that such a trough hangs out over the west long enough that that cold pool ..being shoved west south west from the far N. Plains, or Alaska.. can sit and build over our region ..or just isn't scoured away quickly ..As is usually the case... ( Because the flat as a board terrain east of the Rockies = less resistance to large air mass movements, compared to all the walls cold air has to get past to reach our area.. ) Yes, the Pacific is flat, ..but, even arctic air masses that might move towards us is modified as it moves over it before reaching the west coast, esp. at our latitude. It's only in those rare setups where deep, arctic air can dive right down ..or just east of.. the west coast.. that really cold air can reach us. Both of these patterns are what can bring record cold to CA ..and deep into the Pacific slope of N.W. Mexico ( Sonora proper, Sinaloa, etc ) These two scenarios are the main 2 that can usher in record cold While uncommon, the 3rd setup scenario below can happen ...to a deg. that brings really cold air into our area. To some extent, there are a few such " spill over " events each winter but they're usually shallow, and usually moderate quickly. Simply, large, deep arctic air mass being shoved due south, down the high plains, just east of the Rockies, is deep enough / lingers long enough that it pours over the higher ..but lower than the mountains just to the north.. terrain barrier between Tucson and El Paso. If such a set up lasts long enough, enough cold air can linger and build after reaching our area = cold mornings ..until it is scoured out by westerly / southwesterly ( ..and generally milder ) air. Daniel Swain ( Weather West ) did a pretty depth-y dive into how these setups can occur awhile back, and just how rare they are, thankfully, lol..

Scenes like this from Tim's garden had a big influence on me moving to the Big Island almost 9 years ago. And I've never regretted that decision. My family met Tim and visited him during our first 1 week trip to the Big Island. We left his garden and bought a house a few blocks away!

I will get some pictures soon of both types that I am growing in my garden. I have posted many Lafazamanga pictures in other threads over the years from my Hilo garden. The Lafazamanga I am growing here in my Pepeekeo garden are offspring from my Hilo garden. So third generation, originally acquired from Floribunda from seed he got from Jerry Andersen. The two Andersenii that I was gifted by @realarch are slower growing and more colorful so I have hope that they are true to the parent. Tim is very generous with his plants so I know there are others around on the Big Island that received them from him too.

26,25 and 23 lows from Saturday to Monday but daytime temperatures in the mid 30s to low 40s here on the NE side of SA. Too early to get accurate numbers. We will see if the needle goes further down or up. Something to worry about here in San Antonio. So on my way to work I normally drive down this street with a nice row of Sabal Palmetto (?) . Now within a couple of weeks I see the crowns collapsing and trees are dying at a fast pace. If they don't cut down the infected palm trees as soon as possible it's going to spread out even more. What is it ? Rot , fungus? What worries me the most is there's a very old Brahea Armata planted in between ( first picture). Hopefully they can save it. I see also lethal bronzing on a Sabal Mexicana at a different location. Unfortunately I don't have a picture of it. That particular palm's fronds just turned brown . What I'm really worried about is

The flowers are all now open - surprisingly, all at the same time.😄 Plant photos are in the same order as above. aztropic Mesa, Arizona

As you say the new VB leaf is fine I wouldn’t worry too much about much about it, after all you’re in the middle of winter, most likely a bit of cold trauma, soil temperatures are down with the metabolic rate so you’re palm most likely picked up a cold just like us in winter!

All the Apps are showing different things. Yours is the worst of what I have been looking at. This is from KHOU and it literally updated when I opened it. I expect as usual its going to be all over the place the next few days and they'll get it wrong anyway. You ever notice how if they miss its always worse and not better?

Really watch out yall, id say if your anywhere in alabama really prepare. Models can be extremly wrong especially this far out. dont take what i say literal and what will happen. but models are calling for -10F in Huntsville AL.. and 10F in Columbus OH. This weather system is very weird. now Icing is the main threat with this winter system. Like i said far out i will not give you a number becaus ei dont wanna cause panic but this could very well be a catastrophic event with Icing especially in Texas. Watch your Local NWS office forecast this is gonna be one heck of a test for your palms. P.S. This is a blend ofmodels so its a bit more accurate but do not take anything with numbers seriously. the icing part though is what people should be worried about.

Just another week in paradise... aztropic Mesa, Arizona

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DTwlgCpjV6p/?igsh=d3pxemxhZDQ0bGc2 Choppin and proppin with UGK

Intrigued by the stilt roots of this palm attracting airborne Tillandsia and a home for a benign orange lichen. It’s a beautiful palm with the roots, spiny trunk, and entire leaves. Here are a few photos starting with the roots. Tim

Thanks Nathan. I will update if something revealing happens.

This is great info so thank you for taking the time to explain it all. It does seem like a lot needs to happen to get some real cold air over the southwest (which is great haha). Generally I'm more concerned with vegetation getting baked by the heat as opposed to freezing temps. I learned the hard way early on that having anything in a pot with no canopy overhead is a big no-no during the summer. I have family in the northeastern part of Florida so it's always interesting comparing the weather between there and Phoenix Metro. On average it seems like NE Florida would have a slight edge in warmth but that arctic air from Canada is just brutal.

I’ve been using weather.com with the understanding none of the models are perfect. Forecasts have risen a bit so maybe that 21f I posted earlier doesn’t verify.

One big factor is snow/ice cover. If you don't have any snow, temperatures probably won't drop anywhere near as low. If you have a ton of snow, it will accelerate radiative cooling at night under clear skies due to the reflective properties of snow. It can be the difference between a 20F night or a 5F night. So all that snow and frozen precipitation will play a part in how cold it can get. Obviously it is still yet to be clarified just how much cold air gets into Texas as well in terms of the intensity and duration. The proper extreme cold air may not even get in, or it may not stick around for long enough to manifest properly, in terms of extreme low temperatures. In Feb 2021 very cold air got all the way in and stuck around for a week or so. Anyway, there are lots of factors involved. One of the 30 GFS ensemble members takes the nighttime minimum down to -5F for Dallas and about 10F in Houston. No doubt that scenario would be due to extensive snow cover, as well as very cold air getting in, both of which probably won't happen. I don't think Houston will get hit that bad at all looking at the models. Dallas however is a different story.

It is a complete mess on how low the temperatures will get, AS USUAL. I don't understand why the models have such a hard time forecasting lows. One of the models has us at 8 degrees F in Houston on Monday morning. Other models at 43 F. It's crazy! Very stressful to have palms in Houston.

Uh huh, Maybe instead of " Should i be worried " i should've named it. " AHH- " , Yikes looks like i'm gonna have to figure something out fast. ,

Hey Brad, Sp Lafa also went around as "Dwarf Saintelucei" and it (slowly) grows into a palm that looks a lot like Saintelucei but has irregular leaflets.

Published March of 2021 - basically: 'We found a very gradual genetic gradient north-to-south among populations of wild Washingtonia... physical differences between palms identified 'filifera' or 'robusta' showed no genetic distinction between groups.' It's a really cool article but some of it was beyond my ken. https://academic.oup.com/botlinnean/article/196/4/506/6160486?login=true

27 4 hours below freezing 31 1 hours below freezing 30 3 hours below freezing 29 6 hours below freezing. Planted under oak canopy so no frost but 3 of the nights and a bunch of days above feeezing heavy heavy frost. 0 damage

Hechtia sp ( ...H. pretiosa ..or very similar.. perhaps? ) ...or a wider - leaved Dyckia would be my first guess Genus -wise. Agree, from what pictures i can see when pulling up the in question Puya, leaves / way the marginal spines look doesn't match, to my eye at least..

Dypsis palms just keep on giving in the beauty department, always something colourful with a dypsis. dypsis basilonga dypsis prestoniadypsis saintlucei

Merlyn, I wouldn't worry too much about your Ficus auriculata or your Spathiphyllum. I grew both of these when I lived in chilly (9a) Natchez, Mississippi, and Ficus auriculata would die back most years (typically lows in the low 20s with one to several hard freezes) and come roaring back from the roots in spring. I think it took the three solidly frozen days with lows of 18F in 2010 to finally kill it out. I also planted Spathiphyllum as a temporary/annual plant, thinking it was an ultra-sensitive plant. Lo and behold, was I surprised to see that despite the mush after a frost/freeze, it returned every year. I have in my notes from 2 April 2010 that "Spathiphyllum 'Giant Form' survived handily beneath the mulch and I removed the mulch and cleaned the plant, which has much growth, and leaves should be expanded in a week or so..." and also a note that all Spathiphyllum survived the 59-hour 2011 freeze, which bottomed out at about 22-23F for three nights in a row. I think with both of these where you are, a thick mulch of leaves is all you need to pretty confidently expect a return (that's usually what I provided mine with back in the day).

Tom, if I read Jason's post correctly, yes, they produce viable seed. Jason's question was why is his success rate 100% with Lafazamanga seed if it is a hybrid when other hybrid's seeds yield only a fraction of viable seed. I am not growing Lafazamanga so can't comment on seed viability here in Southern California grown specimens.

the 6th to last picture on page 5, the baby red stems?

Another @DoomsDave Brahea Edulis sprouted. 4 now. Potted up a couple philos. The caramel Pluto.... Man I did my best. It's in moss and it's packed. Did my best to spread it out but Jesus. Congo Rojo too. Ofc more Sabal minors sprouted, I think I have about a billion of them with 2 more untouched baggies and still have those freezer palmetto seeds. Oh snap need to check the kiwis. And this tote is nothing but sunrise papaya from @WaianaeCrider, took the lid off and wrapped it with some old heavy clear plastic. . a few rainbow sprouts on the other side of the room too. And just for LOLs my shipping department is ready for warm weather. Clearly a professional outfit here.

I want to put out there that Caryota Urens are very dangerous when they get big. Do not wait for them to flower….cut them down when they get large. I had been warned by @DoomsDave but after posting on here and talking to my tree service , decided to wait for the first inflorescence. DON’T DO IT! We had a nasty Santa Ana wind event following a good amount of rain. That is all it took . This morning I got a text from my neighbor “ your palm fell over! . It was straddling her driveway , her husband had already left for work and his brand new truck would have been crushed! I guided her out of her driveway so she could come and go. My small electric chainsaw won’t help with this one. Harry we got lucky with this one! Harry

I have: Chrysalidocarpus prestoniana $20 for 50, $30 for $100 Chamaedorea klotzschiana $20 for 50, $30 for $100 Chamaedorea radicalis (trunking) $15 for 50, $25 for 100 Have to see what else...... Flat rate shipping $9 Tons of palms for sale too for local pickup!!!! Thanks! -Joe 760-300-7339

Have been joyful to see my Windmill Palm grow and thrive in NoVa over the last 9yrs+;

I woke up at 4 am and checked the temp, it appears sensors around me showed 28 or so. 15 minutes later 30 appeared to be what was recorded. I don’t know where I ultimately ended up but I can say the plants with tender leaves really browned off, more than the first frost we had. When I did actually wake up there was no sign of frost. I protected nothing as the apps were saying low of 32 and 34. Next weekend looks like more freezing temps and rain. Not the best combo. I think we’re in the real danger zone these next 4 weeks. I’ve been planting consistently every weekend but with pretty hardy plants zone 7b-8a material.

All these plants are sold, and this sale is over. Thanks very much to my customers !

Fishtail looks almost untouched so far after a, low of around 28F. It had a bit of damage after some drought stress last summer. Other than that, one or two of the leaflets that looked the rough already look a little worse now. Papaya at. 08:30: Again at 14:00: Finally at 16:30: Not worried about any palms so far, but I would love to have those two little rajapuri bananas to not freeze back to the ground and start their flowering cycle over again.

This Sabal palmetto 'BRIDGEPORT' has been outside with only minor protection in zone 7 Bridgeport and has made it to the Connecticut notable tree database https://oak.conncoll.edu/notabletrees/ViewTreeData.jsp?selected=226219 I believe it to be one of the most northern Sabal palmettos to survive outside since 2009 without external heat it indeed is a champion tree It is in an incredible microclimate: 1. the long island sound on 3 sides 2.Near a large dark brick building built in the 1960s which radiates heat all winter 3.protected from the North wind 4. Mummy wrapped 5.planted close to the foundation,and te old building probably osses some heat to keep 1 -2 feet from the building from freezing too deeply DrZnaturally

A couple longer videos, if you're a Ned Flanders about the sailor talk these might not be for you. Bokashi Soil Factory, coco coir explanation for beginners, and basically 11 minutes of a tour with some words I wouldn't say in front of most children.

Holy 💩 Bump for an absolutely ridiculously bonkers deal The pots by themselves cost almost that much.

I hope not! I plan to remove both of my backyard ones when they are showing signs of flowering, although I plan to replace the one near the fence (away from the houses) with another one at that point. Great palms other than the monocarpic thing. 💀 Here's a recent shot of mine. That row got a ton of wind in the recent Santa Anas, with the Kentia whipping around... but the Gigas looked fine. 👀 Only other anecdotal info I have is the fact that two at "Jungle Jacks" have been dead a LONG time and are still standing... A neighbor near me also had a post-flowering one in their yard for a couple years without incident. I wouldn't trust a Urens though!

This Trachycarpus ukhrulensis was planted about 11 years ago in Haarsteeg the Netherlands as a three year old plant. It has received severe frosts and never showed damage. It has never been protected. You can compare the growth speed with the Trachycarpus fortunei X wagnerianus on the left which was sown and planted in the same years. Growth speed is similar in this case but some other fortunei in the same garden are much faster.

This is a favorite on my farm! Who grows Metroxylon? Any leads on M. amicorum seeds or trees for sale?