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Been MIA from here for a while (you know life got busy), but I'm really excited for my Brahea Aramata to be blooming for the first time ever. I bought it almost 20 years ago as a tiny plant from Lowe's and I know how dramatic the flowering can get on these. Finally I see some flower stalks forming. Not as exciting to my friends and family so I thought I'd share with fellow palm enthusiasts 😆

Well it’s a lot more than it used to be and I want to DIY this.

Yikes! They're so much bigger on the ground! I have an 8 metre pole saw, long ladders and climbing ropes to deal with trees without branches crashing down onto plantings below. I tie off (which sometimes requires climbing) then cut and lower in manageable sections. I don't think killing the palm would save much weight. If in doubt just write the cheque!

Beautiful palm . The inflorescence will envelope that palm when they developed. Harry

Iam in the cant stand the leaves they drop and no more are getting planted in close proximity to the house garden. Some will get planted as pioneer palms on the outer edge of the garden expansion. They are pretty tough so for those hard to grow places they will be used as a microclimate buffer zone. You’re right though the colour of them is variable and you can’t beat them really for that. If they were to be introduced as a new palm into cultivation today they would be in such high demand and be selling for hundreds of dollars. Richard

Happy Mothers Day in the US. It’s been a mother of a day here in La Habra; tried to remove an Archontophoenix maxima and it fell the wrong way, and hassles ensued dealing with it. I have other Archontophoenix I want to remove, and I’d like to kill them first, then wait for them to dry out at which point they lose 90-95% of live weight and become MUCH safer to handle. One method suggested is to use a very high salt saline solution funneled into holes drilled in the trunk. Any thoughts, experiences to share?

Out here in Phoenix Arizona. Had the pleasure of my coworker special ordering me my favorite species of palm Washingtonia filifera from my store. Got a great deal on them and planted them all for my parents for their house by the pool. I dug the hole twice the size like everyone says to do and used Kellogs palm soil, earth worm casting, and some of the natural soil mixed together after digging out all the caliche. It's only been a week since I planted them They are still green in the center and I have been watering it for them twice a week. but some of them have this yellowish leaves to them as now which I think may be shock. Havent used any fertilizer yet. (I have arizonas best but am going to wait to use it) Still a bit of a newbie when it comes to growing but let me know If I should do anything different or what could be wrong with them. Im willing to learn and love these palms!

Can vary specimen to specimen, but, ..what i've noticed at least, trunks thicken as they gain height.. Have many in my neighborhood here in Chandler and even the younger / smaller - sized specimens have a very obvious thick trunk compared to Mex Fans. Absolutely no issues in 9b.. Many people here on the forum from New Mexico ..and some cooler ..like 9a.. areas in other parts of the country grow them w/ out too much trouble. FYI, if looking at other palm options in addition to the filifera ..in the future? Brahea sp. ...and Sabal uresana, our regionally native Palmetto sp. laugh at any cold they might see in 9b areas of the valley /nearby. Boyce Thompson Arboretum, if you haven't been up there, Tohono Chul Park, and the UofA Campus Arboretum in Tucson have plenty of those to check out in person, to get an idea of what they look like / size/ etc.. if they interest you. Like most things, given more water as they grow, the faster they will grow.. That said, even the smaller specimens in my neighborhood grow at a decent pace w/ out any extra water ..and look good. Honestly, have never estimated how much height the ones in my neighborhood have grown in the 10 years here, but, ..definitely noticeable. As mentioned above, more water you provide, even after they're well established, quicker they'll gain height. ..And yes, lol.. they can take a good amount of water, esp. this time of year. Some really nice specimens worth checking out whose roots are literally in water are located in a park, up near N/ Tempe / S.W. Scottsdale. ..A couple shot of some of them. ...Another great place to check out, if you're ever in the area? Agua Caliente Park, located in the Tanque Verde area east of downtown Tucson.. Lots of Mex Fans, and crosses between it and filifera, but some good looking, pure filifera there too.

Edited a palm and it tried to edit me.

Awesome appreciate the advice friend, I went out and marked with them sharpies and will keep doing what I am doing. Some other questions I have if you or anyone else can answer them: Will they get thicker at the trunk first before getting taller? Or will they get taller before getting thicker at the trunk? Anything I should know about growing them in Zone: 9b? Will they still need the same amount of watering once they are established? Would having the same watering help them grow more? How tall do they grow a year once established? I know these palms get huge, I saw them at the Hassayampa River Preserve in Wickenburg Arizona recently.

Congratulations! These are beautiful palms and a big investment in time and money.

You're doing exactly as you should ...Keep moist, but not waterlogged.. ..Deep watering, 2x a week right now ..Emphasize deep ..which means putting the hose next to them and letting it trickle for 30+ mins. Morning or evening is better than mid - day. Yellowing you're seeing is perfectly natural right now as well, esp. if these came from a nursery where they were grown under some deg. of shade cloth. .. Kept moist, they'll start pushing out of that / push better looking fronds once we reach Monsoon season and the heat isn't quite as brutal / air holds more humidity ...and they get some natural agua, ..hopefully, lol. Regardless, it takes about a year for new roots to really start digging in. If you have access to any, you can take leaf duff from below Mesquites and pile it around the bases ..staying a few inches clear of the trunk(s). ..Will help keep moisture in the soil, and slowly release nutrients. Other than that?.. Since they don't have established root systems yet, no strong fertilizers. A: they won't utilize any of it, so if you applied any now, it will be wasted effort and $$.. B: salts in non- natural fert sources ..or improperly cured organics like Manure, can burn root tips. Have a sharpie? mark the base of newest spear poking out from the center of the crown and watch how quickly ..or not.. in moves. That will provide good hints regarding how well they're settling in.. Good luck

@Jonathan here’s the ABG specimen back in 2018. I remember ABG being about 30 mins south of Auckland and no body of water close by so makes sense it gets chilly Richard. C lutescens looked terrible there as a point of reference, so I guessed it probably has similar winters to me in Melbourne.

They certainly see sub-zero. I think the one at ABG would have seen -4 or -5c and many nights below freezing with no ill effects. There's also a nice one getting away in Christchurch. They are some seeding here now.

Syagrus Schizophylla a super tough palm.

It would be good to have a list of topics started by me somewhere in my profile info...currently it's not easy to find them unless I've been recently active in them. Unless I'm missing something obvious, which is always pretty likely!

I’m honestly not sure. Just my experiences with them. Maybe get a small one; if it croaks at least you won’t lose a lot of money.

The Sabal palmetto Bridgeport palm survived but lost 2/3 of its fronds looks good for a unheated palm who survived one of the worst winter seasons in a long time with only a mummy wrap Resembling a palm in Florida which has a hurricane cut and was transplanted we will post a photo when it warms up and recovers from the winter damage No spear pull Bridgeport being on the coast ,warms up slowly this time of year hopefully , as itv warms we will get 6-10 new fronds this spring summer fall 2026 so we are feeding her now and hope for the best soon come DtZ naturally

Hey all, I purchased this at a botanical garden in Hilo back in 2017. It was just one of those plastic wrapped touristy things, like plumeria cuttings that they sell. I remember it looking like a chunk of wood, and I didn’t even know what end was up when I planted it, but it’s sprouted roots within a few weeks and actually started growing pretty nicely. A few months ago I had somebody working on my roof and he clearly dropped something on it, because when I came home, it was basically lying on its side, not completely snapped off at the base, but really wobbly. I straightened it up and put a pole in it and cross my fingers. Then I started noticing the fronds browning in a really strange way, just segments of them. And I couldn’t figure it out. Upon closer inspection, I realized that the fronds were actually dying down toward the base, but we’re maintaining as much green as they could as long as there was some energy being pulled up. Anyway, long story short it looks like the base is beginning to heal itself and for the first time in a few months, it’s actually throwing a new frond. Tough plants!

Barring some miracle I think it is very dead. I lost one to crown rot unrelated to cold, looked very similar though. Like palms, they can't recover from losing their central meristem like this. As a small solace, the trunk, root ball, and any fibrous material that's left over make excellent media for orchids and other plants. Definitely don't let it go to waste. I used a sawzall to cut several plaques out of the solid mass of the central root ball of mine. It's not quite as dense as the New Zealand stuff you can buy commercially but it retains water while being very rot resistant.

Update…like nothing ever happened. Why it would have shut down for months is a mystery to me! Looks better than ever now though..

Nice purple flush on this Dwarf Horridus.

They look great in my opinion! Skinned not too much and not too little to even notice.

Lol..Yes sir.. the bit of the trunks that were skinned..was a truck load.. should I shave em higher?

The same tree in March

It was a great trip, we saw some very nice palms, especially the Lanonia's. And really fun catching up with old friends and then meeting a few new ones. Jeff

Whheeeee! That was fun! I'm ready for the next one!!