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A great palm for SoCal

Two different palms have come in over the years as Dypsis (now Chrysalidocarpus) Sp. Ambanja. The first was a multi trunk palm somewhat like Baronii. The second was a larger solitary palm. Mine has just revealed its first ring of trunk and is a really nice looking palm. Has similar characteristics as Leucomalla (white spear and coloring) and Sp. Dark Mealy Bug with the black flecking. But has a unique look of its own. Anyone else growing this?

Everytime this palm loses a leaf sheath is quite the event. Who needs sun on a rainy day with this in the front yard, It’s really quite the chunk. Tim

Mine is beginning to look like something 🙂

Close to all day full sun 1.5 miles from the ocean.

Mine has been a great grower for me. The colors on the crownshaft and petioles are great. I just recently took a close up photo of the trunk showing the coloration:

Veitchia arecina or Veitchia joannis:

How bout a small ‘BUMP’. So, how are all of the posted specimens doing? Thriving I hope. Here is a photos I took yesterday of a grouping grown from seed back in 2012. The tall palm in the center surrounded by B. condapanna is B. nicobarica. Tim

Typical flood or drought situation, this is the case with these seeds, not wanted hundreds sitting on the ground. Any other time I would have put the eyehole lot in to germinate, such a shame. It takes time, space and money to grow hundreds of something you’re not interested in.

A change in the season has seen the garden go into a relax mode, with the dry weather a lot of leaves have fallen. Fortunately we have had some good rainfall to push the garden back. And the summer root activity has gone into new leaves and spears.

Up the back yard near the propagating hothouse is the sancona, it endures many a tough time and is in need of a good feed. But finally after 26 years we have a trunk forming. Some palms in my climate just want water, this one is in a dry spot without irrigation donuts done quite well considering the circumstances it grows under, basically in the bush!

The last pic of the Caryota maxima, it’s just getting bigger each new leaf it’s a monster.

Some of the many Brahea brandegeei blooming in old palm canyon in the western edition of Balboa Park. I believe this old palm canyon is over 100 years old.

Received my two Butia eriospatha today in great shape. The order went from west coast to east coast and shipping was fast. I ordered and paid just before midnight and Pdmesa shipped the following morning on 4/30, before 9:00 am, and the package arrived on 5/5. Well grown beautiful plants were packed perfectly and with great attention to keeping them safe. Not one thing was out of place or broken. Seller communicated very well and did everything he said he would. Would definitely buy again!

Beautiful palm. I have one 25+ years old, been in the Backyard Jungle for 15-20 years. It is about 3' tall but even more amazingly it has survived Hurricanes Irma, Ian, Milton, yadda, yadda (my 25 y.o. trunking H. forsteriana succumbed to Ian in 2025). H. belmoreana is supposed to keel over in my sweltering climate but this one clings on year after year. It is shielded by a mutant whole leaf oil palm above the canal, overhead canopy and palms to the east and west. I plan very carefully how to protect this little palm.

This L fulva went from healthy to this in under two weeks...no idea what happened but there are six others within a 5m radius that all look like the healthy one below. This is in a fairly wild part of the garden, hence the weeds, but I don't think that's a factor. Rainfall has been reasonable lately, temperature mild to warm. The patch of dead grass immediately below the victim is very suspicious, I suspect something fungal maybe. Any thoughts?

Here is a better shot of the whole palm

I would freeze to death down there, so I can’t see why a grub wouldn’t. Organic xtra the pelletised chicken poo is a no no in my garden it has all that extra potash and stuff. I have burned palms before with it. So now it’s just dynamic lifter for me it is only sawdust and chicken poo. The organic xtra not for me and my garden. This is where a garden diary is handy to have, what did I do and when certainly helps.

Pinanga sarawakensis.

One tough plant, as me very easy to grow just add drainage and sunshine. These ones are 25 years old that just sat around in containers for years, then finally planted in the ground.

I find them very unreliable once they reach trunking.

Thanks! The flowers look great from any angle. Didn't take long for the local hummingbirds to find them too!

Thanks for the "bump", Tim. Beautiful photo. I'll have to update this thread with a new photo when I get home. Unfortunately my B. condapanna doesn't look quite as good as it once did since I went to Kauai and left a friend in charge of watering. Hopefully I can limp it along and with some deep watering I can get it to fully tap in this summer.

There is a group of Jubaeopsis at (of all places.....) the Beverly Hilton hotel in Beverly Hills CA. These plants are 50+ years old. I first saw the grouping in the mid-1980s, and it was an impressive sight. They looked liked coconut palms. The original planting appeared to be 1 or 2 individuals and in the 1990s some of the trunks were 2+ meters in height, and some were flowering. Unfortunately the plants were 'rearranged' during a massive restructuring of the valuable hotel property, still in progress. The plants were moved a small distance and possibly some of the clusters were split. I saw them in October 2025, and they are still striking. Inquiry at the hotel was met with fascination. The plantings are located at the Wilshire Blvd. entrance to the hotel, now the main entrance.

Cool to see commercial property owners using palms other than syargus, phoenix etc. Have any of you carried your hobby into properties other than your home? Here’s my attempt at identifying these near me in the San Gabriel foothills jubaeopsis caffra bismarckia/ roystoneas ravenala madagascariensis Struggling dypsis sp? With caryota mitis in background some sort of cycas?

These palms truly look like they “shouldn’t grow here”…..

Do t yet know if a true variegation or just a nutrient deficiency. Transplanted near Iona swfl

What's going on with this Sable? It's bleeding from many places. Most of the sap is hard but some is still soft. It has pooled on the ground.

Dypsis can take months to germinate here . I understand , especially if it is something you’re not that interested in . Me ? I would probably scoop a few up and plant around the garden . That’s just me . I still scatter C. Radicalis seeds around! Harry Near the Chamaedorea Plumosa to the right and Dypsis Basilonga on the left are a few C. Radicalis in a community pot and in the garden behind in the Plumosa . I have more C. Radicalis seeds that I will be planting soon. Never a dull moment at Harry’s Palms!

It must prefer the Cali mediterranean climate to FL swelter. I will take photos soon. I didn't know they split. Is it male or female?

The climate you have is wonderful for flowers.

Livistona Australis in the garden.

I am really sad to see this once thriving forum turn to tumbleweeds with the occasional like here and there, but it is what it is. I am Sancho B Plants on the big evil site, and my YouTube and Instagram are both @sanchosgreenpaws My current obsession is aroids, specifically alocasia. Still growing colocasia like crazy, papaya are getting big, still growing and potting palm seeds. Just diversifying and learning and growing, metaphorically and literally. Facebook also put me on a 30 day restricted list because I saw a picture of a literal indoor jungle, and I said looking at that made me need a Valium. They flagged me for trying to sell drugs over that. Cool. Anyway I'm not gone, just branching out.

Well, I’m growing sp. ambanja, but it’s definitely not that palm! Sorta kinda like baronii, but it’s got its own look. Yours looks great whatever it is Jason.

Jialubali, you have done very well with these small cuban palms in pots, they look very happy. On the Fallaensis, they may turn more green when under stress or lower temps, it makes ID more difficult when you see a green one. The blue wax on palms reflects sun leading to intense sun tolerance but also a need for a higher level of sunlight at the low end. My hypothesis is that the plant will stop replacing the wax if higher photosynthesis is needed. I have had other blue palms go green after a spear pull from cold. They come back after they recover. Some appear to "green up" a bit in shade (like brahea armata), or over winter which is not surprising. I see the blue color of my fallaensis and hospitas peak in the heat of summer. The hospita blue is much more seasonally persistent than the Fallaensis blue.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DX7o7fyR-S1/?igsh=dHMyOWQybDkxNHFq Slowly emptying the grow room. Mekong Giant has 3 pups!

H rheophytica and Bismarkia today

Any chance of shipping the Brahea edulis or ‘Super Silver’?

Just a few pictures of each, they were looking happy with the recent rainfall. The first two photos are of S. hoehnei which has a more upright leaf habit, and the S. weddelliana showing a weeping look. They both get a fair bit of sun. Tim

That’s where I got mine!

Hmm, interesting topic @SCVpalmenthusiast! Sabals as a group grow great in non-desert California and have a lot to recommend them. They’re tough and take the cold and they’re not fussy about soil. Heat is no problem outside the desert. They’re not spiny and won’t get that shaggy appearance that Washies often do, if you clean them once in a while. The trouble with them is they’re slow, and can take decades to form a trunk. Bismarckias are pretty too and a lot faster growing, which I think explains their much greater popularity.

I think the fact that there are a low number of sabals in CA has many reasons. There is no one reason, things are not that simple. If you really want to know, ask a nurseryman in california why they don't offer many sabals, seed is super cheap. You cant buy what they dont carry and give me a reason why choose a sabal over prichardia or bismarckia if you want a less common fan palm(dont want a washie). Conduct a poll here among californians and see who wants to grow a yard with multiple sabals. Then look where they live coastal or inland. Or ask if a sabal is a top 5 palm for them. Sabals can be grown in california, the one that inspired me to buy a causiarum was from between LA and san diego on elevated ground(above sea level) and inland a bit but with lots of trees/vegetation on the lot(none overhead). But perhaps 80% of growers know nothing about palm choices. The grower of the saba Causiarum I was inspired by was a knowledgeable, grower and yes it was rare in CA 15 years ago and still is. It was a monster similar to mine these days. But if you want an idiot proof palm to sell with a warranty, I don't think nurseries want a sabal. "Hard to grow" depends on how much effort you want to put in. For palm aficionados its different than most people who want something that will look nice with low effort. I see all kinds of palm abuse around me in florida from low effort. One guy ripped out a bismarckia with 6' clear trunk that had lost half the crown in hurricane milton. I still maintain that californians have many choices, hundreds even, and they are not particularly inspired by sabals. I am willing to bet that 75% of all palm talkers would choose a feather palm over a fan palm. The market is the market and what is not offered will limit what is grown. Ask Phil at Jungle Music why he doesnt sell many sabals.

Quick update on my Bentinckia Condapanna, He survived 100-90 degree temps for a few days, its cooling back to 80-85, came back with slight burns but he grew new and healthy fronds with a new spear incoming! I am growing him in Corona California.

The article: discusses the fig size for Ficus dammaropsis as being the largest which again the green variety and red variety are essentially indistinguishable on size if one were color blind. Photo below is pretty typical range for my red fruit. I picked these up off the ground this morning.