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Other Santa Ana coconut - haven't posted in awhile and coconut looks a little rough in January, but still going strong.

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

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

With some good rain about I can’t help myself I gotta plant a palm or two. A nice trio of houalouensis should see the garden has a bit of a tropical look. And it’s time to get a few gracilis throughout the garden in those little viewing spots where they can’t get lost in the jungle, being a great container palm they will easily go into those small spaces left around the garden.

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

Ok, the rest of the palm……. Shovel for scale. Tim

It’s been a long road to get to this point, but we’ve finally achieved it, we own acreage in Australia 🥳. The acre parcel is located 3 km from the township of Malanda, 15 minutes to Atherton (main hub on the Atherton Tablelands), and just over an hour down the stunning Gillies Range highway to Cairns. 740 metres above sea level and typically 6-7C cooler than Cairns in summer (29 Vs. 36C this Saturday), with minimums rarely dropping below 12C in winter. Also humidity tends to be lower. I’m hoping the climate is a suitable candidate for Juania australis, Ceroxylon, and Hedyscepe. The land is red volcanic soil, which is very fertile with good drainage and moisture retention. Ultimately I would like to build a house on it and retire up there over the next 10-15 years, but that all depends on if I can convince my wife to leave the Gold Coast. If not, we’ll use it as a holiday home and split our time between the two locations accordingly. For now, it’s my playground to plant sun loving palms that will provide future canopy. As each species goes in, I’ll update this thread. The YouTube video shows the land as it is now. Over the next few months all the infrastructure will go in (town water, underground power, sealed roads, concrete access driveway etc).

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.

Pinanga maculata. Tim

(Butia X Jubea) X Jubea in Dallas 5 years in ground.

Actually the next two weekends could be entertaining for those of us in TX and the gulf coast states. This coming weekend (1/25/2026) could potentially see : A : Major cold snap, particularly CenTX and northward where it could be into the teens. Some model members/runs have single digits for the DFW and Waco areas. B : An Ice storm that could extend from Abilene, through DFW to Texarkana which then translates southward towards Austin. Some model members/runs have it making as far south as Matagorda and eastward along the coast to Louisiana with a maximum glazing of 1.5 inches. C : Heavy snows in North Central TX, possibly 5 inches in the DFW area. I've seen one extreme model member/run showing 14 inches in one spot Obviously some of the numbers pointed out are pretty extreme, and should be taken with a heavy pinch of salt attm. But, it gives an idea of what * may * / could happen, so best to take it as an early warning to prepare, but not panic. There may be a second precipitation event following it around Tuesday, albeit not near as intense, and it may not materialize anyways. Then the following weekend (1/31/2016) there may be a second arctic airmass dropping south. This one could be colder and make it further south, possibly deep into Florida. I've seen one model / member run make it go below freezing south of Orlando. How far south it could go will partly depend on how much frozen precip is laid down across the southern tier states from the first storm and manages to stay on the ground through the following week. For example: I've seen some model runs that put a heavy accumulation of snow/ice through Central TX that persists for several days keeping that immediate area from getting out of the 40s until after February 1st .... that's the mot extreme model run I could find for CenTX. If that were to occur it would look like 2021 all over again. I am not buying that possibility yet ... I still think the deepest cold will stay a bit NE of the TX area. (of course I've been know to be wrong before . Waaay too many variables that will change over the next 7-10 days to put any certainty into this. Just beware that there is strong cold snap coming, and the models are showing some extremes both in temps and precip. Details of spatial and temporal timings of conditions will change a lot over the next few days and this coming weekend's mess will not be more firm till around Thursday. Best to be ready just in case. I will likely be hauling potter plants back into the garage regardless. - Matt

Strange how this happens for you, only suggestion is try less water perhaps, they are a very tough dypsis. Maybe as you say just to hot.

Oh man. Prediction for CS went from 28F low to 20 low overnight so I am suddenly finding myself in the [Awww shite, not again!]-mode. No doubt it will hit the teens again next week for me (I have seen this movie now every year. Will end up being a big rain, then clear skies). Luckily, I have almost accepted that I live in a 7b/8a climate a few years back and I have increasingly less to worry about (yay Sabals). It will suck to have another Spring with much recovery growth and damaged fronds.

Coconut seems to handle frost better than a lot of other stuff. The bad damage on it was from 27 and 6+ hours below freezing last winter unprotected

I was still a kid and lived on Long Island, NY during that time but do remember getting some nasty winter storms. As a kid it was great haha but as an adult I'm sure it caused a lot of headaches. Also, sometime around 2008-10 I believe we had some epic winter storms around the Philly area. I remember walking along a path and was able to stick my arms and rest them on the snow because it was so high. I don't remember the exact dates but we had two or three major winter storms in a very short period of time. The Philadelphia area is weird. I experienced at least one winter with over 100" of snow if I'm not mistaken and yet there are other winters where hardly any snow falls (I believe one year had less than 1"). Another problem is the area occasionally gets random warm weather in the 60s and even low 70s in late February which takes a big toll on sensitive vegetation. Everything starts waking up and gets ready to bloom only to get destroyed by another deep freeze.

For me, it was the winters from 1993-1996 where we got 4 ft. of snow in one storm and then the ice storm in October 2002. Friends and family still tell me about the winter weather there. It is not missed to say the least.

Here is an example here in San Antonio. It produced flowers last year but no viable seed was formed, same story with the uresana at John Fairey Gardens to the northwest of Houston in Pine Island. Following the freeze of 2021 they’ve so far failed to reproduce.

Nice little batch you got going there Harry. Fear not summer is around the corner and retirement is just a hose away, nothing beats watering the garden in summer. But I fear an Indian summer is not one you want to experience, relentless heat for months, I will stick with my hot northern summer winds! Richard

A nice little chamaedorea adscendens flowering a bit late. This little lady is planted way down the bottom of the 5 acres, never received much attention yet growing strong.

The usual goodies in the baby palm department. It’s fun waiting and watching for who’s going to germinate, it’s always a lovely surprise, and a good sign you got viable seeds! Money well spent you think.

These are from a really blue one growing in Del Rey (just south of Fresno), and the owner there said seeds came from Mexico, but couldn't tell me where. These all sold out. I had a similar batch last year they sold out pretty quickly too. I'll try to get pics of the mother plant.

Among other things.

Thanks Tim. I’m already working on a landscape design in ChatGPT that separates 4 distinct geographic areas (Africa, Americas, Asia, and Oceania) 😂.

Thank you for sharing, sir. You are very fortunate, like some others here on this great forum. Thank you, sir.

I did wrap them Wednesday had a low of 27(from a thermometer in my backyard) and tomorrow is 32, sadly my yard is alctually a few degrees cooler for some reason. But they are doing just fine

I'm in West Seattle and I grow a whole bunch of palms. Established in the garden I have Butia odorata, Jubaea chilensis, Trithrinax campestris, Chamaerops humilis, Chamaedorea radicalis, Chamaedorea microspadix, Butia odorata x Syagrus romanoffziana, Butia eriospatha x Butia microspadix, Jubaea chilensis x Butia yatay, Butia odorata x Parajubaea torralyi, Parajubaea cocoides x Jubaea chilensis, and Trachycarpus princeps. I have many more in containers waiting to be planted.

Its prettier in daylight. It'll be gone within the next 2 hours. Winter wonderland vibes in the Panhandle this morning.

Status update: we have a dusting of snow.

Cocos nucifera opening a new frond

I have been asked to spread the word about the World Palm Symposium supported in part by the IPS as part of our research, education and conservation mission statement. Below I copy a letter from the Organizing Committee: Dear fellow palm researchers and enthusiasts! Abstract submissions and early-bird registration are now open for PALMS 2026 Singapore! We are now accepting submissions for talks and posters related to the following themes about palms: 1. Ecology and ecophysiology 2. Systematics, phylogenetics, and evolution 3. Biogeography, macroecology and macroevolution 4. Plant-animal interactions 5. Uses and conservation 6. Palms in the human landscape Hands-on workshops in palm propagation and collecting—plus exclusive field trips into Singapore’s nature reserves—are coming up. Join us and be part of it. If you are early career researcher or student, we are also excited to announce travel grants to help support you. For more information, check out our website: https://palms2026.sg Sign up here for news and announcements (e.g., workshop sign-ups and deadline reminders) or follow us on Instagram! Best, Jun Ying Lim On behalf of the World Palm Symposium Organising Committee

Dictyosperma album var. conjugatum (supposedly) new leaf.

A nice batch of kerriodoxas looking good!

This view

According to the internet alkaline soil is no problem for this species...I would be inclined to give it a go. I think you may be over-thinking it! B integrifolia grows at about 1m per year down here on acid clay with zero additional water, Lagunaria can probably achieve a similar rate but needs heaps more water to get moving, at least in my climate. 10m x 5m wide probably would be a good sized integrifolia in cultivation, but they can get up to 25m in habitat. Grevillea robusta would be worth considering too.

Gryllis the grizly...

That forecast as it stands isn't a queen killer, not even a queen defoliator 😆. Of course the forecast seems to be changing and trending down 🤷‍♂️ Never say never !

A lot of mine look good too but I'm seeing damage start on the buccaneer😔. That's disappointing since it's been struggling for a while but it's not bad yet. I'll boost the fertilizer and water on it this summer. Sun is out again thankfully so I'm planting a hedge of Simpson stopper for future windbreak, and fixing some weed mat that decided to try and blow away.

Although it is just mid-january, my metallica's, radicalis and nationsiana are already pushing new inflorescenses; the same goes for Citrusses, for example grapefruit and aurantium corniculata variegata! Cannot wait for spring.

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

Good stuff, a lot of craftwork beads went to all corners of the globe. Out of 12 packs only one didn’t make it. I won’t name the country but it’s very third world and I wasn’t surprised it didn’t get there due to corruption. But good stuff glad you got something going, treasure them they will be your forever palms, outside in the shade in summer time and you know the winter rules indoors!

A few nice looking rare palm seedlings. They are always a welcome sight little palms, knowing one day they will be part of the garden. They have to start out somewhere, so pots it is!

Hello ! Was lucky enough to explore the forests of Costa Rica : from altitude cloudy forest to dry savanes. They have it all, with amazing species. A special thanks to Jeff who gave me great advices and IDs. Some of you might know him.

Many a try on this palm, complete failure, last bss as tech survived 3 years in hothouse so I decided time for the greenhouse winter killed the lot in the greenhouse. One last attempt with them now with apparently a black seed variety, see if this one is a bit tougher, fought it though can only dress as m of such a beautiful palm. Lucky for me there are those lucky Hawaii growers who have them in all their glory!

Just had a read thanks. So is there really only 1 C andersenii? It mentions multiple attempts at growing in So Cal failing - surely other Hawaiian growers gave it a go? The article doesn’t seem to mention any effort to get pure seed from this plant which I’d expect would be important if it is truly the only known example of a new species.

Yeah. It got to 12F here last year. NWS forecasting 28F tonight. Will have to see what happens. I've got icicles forming on the tips of the washy fronds as the snow melts. Current temp is 31.1F as of 7:36 AM CST. Got these shots as the sun was rising this morning. My goodness it was beautiful.

These have bifurcated and now trifurcated? I’ve been thinking of trying to remove the smaller trunk along with some of the root. Still haven’t gotten around to it. Here are a few photos.

Bismarkia new frond

Sabal Yapa

Bummer.

Vinifera in my Thailand garden