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Wondering around the garden this morning and noticed my Slick Willy/Bef is flowering. This palm is at least 15years old from a 15g pot. Slow in a pot but speed up considerably when planted. worth the wait!

A very unusual way of clumping the rhizomatosa. They just start a vegative shoot and head for the ground and pop up further away from the parent plant. It’s still a rare palm, I have removed small plants and they are quite easy to keep alive. A very unique palm, with its rhizomes.

Galveston county earlier this week . There is a large resurgence of queens around the bayside lately. 👀

To all my American brethren, happy Fourth of July! Somehow, my life schedule generally keeps me out of the garden during the morning hours. But I’m lounging around today and even by San Diego standards, the weather is absolutely perfect. Mid 70s, high clouds, couldn’t ask for more. Just a few random shots. Kentiopsis pyriformis starting to look good now that it’s approaching its 10th birthday. An Allagoptera arenaria under an umbrella tree, stretching like crazy, looking for sun. A nice petite Pritchardia perlmanii.

Here’s an Archontophoenix species, seed collected from McBride Gardens in Kauai as purpurea. It is not, but it is lovely nonetheless. Another store-bought “tropical foliage” palm from years ago at a home center. Just a beautiful example of Archontophoenix, although I don’t know which one. Sabal mauritiformis at the best possible size. Long petioles and 6 foot diameter leaves. Lastly, another Home center purchase from 15 years ago, Crysalidiocarpus lutecsens. Common in the tropics, much less so here. But just such a glorious palm when it is content with life.

Have always liked these medium sized palms and fast growers in my location. Produce seed regularly, providing offspring for other locations in the garden. The pair of taller palms in the one photo are the mother plants for the smaller plants. Tim

Agree with the above, everything looks great! That Thaumatophyllum in particular looks pretty nice growing up it like that.

A nice Chambeyronia and the good old dypsis onilihanses stems doing what they do best!

Marojejya darinii pushing a strong spear for winter!

And perhaps a few tough cycas species for a bit of ground eye candy. More orchids as well. A

Never get complacent on machinery, always think. If you feel the little toosh lifting of the seat you know then it’s time to think fast. It’s such a fun machine to use you would never grow up if you had one of these to muck around on. My only regret is I should purchased one when first got my property. The kookaburras are so clever they see the machine and go yep dinner time. I have some big plans for this area for a tropical garden, and the best bit is I have the tropicals for such an area. Richard

I always love these colors on this Caryota with a new emerging leaf.

thanks for the updates and those are some nice crosses You're working on. May I make a suggestion? It looks like you have plastic bags around the inflorescence which is going to hamper gas exchange. I would suggest using heavy duty frost cloth and sewing it into bags. That is essentially what the professional pollination bags are. keeps out wind and bugs, but allows gas exchange. Anything made out of cloth would be better. Keep us posted! I'm pollinating this week: Caryota mitis variegated x Caryota gigas C. psammophilus x decaryi C. cabadae x leptocheilos JD

Three more Obi Island form, around 5 years from either a 1 gal or 4” pot.

I have such a hybrid, home made, and your description is pretty spot on, except perhaps the solitary habit. Mine has a moderately suckering habit and offshoots do not grow fast like in reclinata. Is the specimen at your place male? Perhaps this the decisive factor of the solitary habit. Mine is female. Perhaps, as an alternative explanation, with age suckering habit fades away.

My Butia has a few plants that grow on the trunk and I try to remove them but they are difficult to deal with . Yours looks great and as long as no harm comes to the host , let it be. Interesting that the Butia does this but my large Sabal doesn’t have a single plant growing in the leaf bases. It seems way more common with Butia . Harry

Not working when it’s for palms! Richard

Sabal Yapa

Chamaerops cerifera

Here are two that I have been growing (or allowing to grow). Seeds from RPS in December 2006, two planted out on a hillside in April 2016. Here they are from above: And from below: The backstory is that both were seriously damaged a year or so ago by the collapse in a windstorm of a large "albizia" tree in my neighbor's yard. They were covered by tree branches and most of the leaves were stripped off. But the stems were undamaged and the palms have grown back almost to their state before the event. (The "albizias" have since been removed.)

I'd leave it too Alberto, looks great to me!

Just leave it for mother nature to sort, it looks fine the ecosystem you create will balance it all out. And I would also plant more palms of course, a few smaller lytocarum palms some chamaedoreas put a few Platycerium around on a few of the trunks. And a few bromeliads for a bit of humidity and colour.

Happy 4th of July! Well, I am really impressed with how well my Mexican Fan palms have recovered from the freezing rain event this past winter. They really did take a beating and there was a bit of spear rot in both crowns. The first several fronds that grew out were damaged and smaller sized, but following 12 or so inches of rain combined for May and June that is just a bad memory. Growth is going full force and the fronds are now well over my head. We’ll see what this forecasted El Nino winter brings to San Antonio, but it would be great if we avoid any freezing precipitation at the very least. We have gotten freezing precip at least once in each of the winters since I’ve been living here.

The only way is to mulch and hand weed, no chemicals involved which is even better. And another gardening tip is try not to let the weeds in. Once those weeds enter and set seed every year of seed is 7 years of weeds. A canopy also stops the weeds in combination of mulch, in my main ornamental garden there are practically no weeds and the new establishing areas have a few weeds. By creating the canopy over time it builds itself into a living bio sphere of a living ecosystem you created that Mother Nature balances it all together!

Axel, Filling in the pool/ koi pond, as seen in these pictures, opened up an area for several more palm species. Archontophoenix, Burretiokentia, Bassalinia, Chambeyronia, Pritchardia, Bentickia, Howea, Syagrus, Rhopalostylis, Geonoma, Dypsis, Chamaedorea, Cyphophoenix, and Pinanga are some of the genus growing in that former pool area. The new area for planting was created three years ago.

Yes, butias in habitat are normally host of a lot of epiphitic plants like bromeliads, orchids, ferns....

I have been given plenty of Phoenix rupicola pollen by @gilles06 and used it to pollinate female Phoenix roebelenii and female f1 Phoenix loureiroi x Phoenix roebelenii Unfortunately I had overseen that my Phoenix loureiroi was also blooming and missed the opportunity to create an f1 hybrid of loureiroi x rupicola. I have also used pollen from my male Phoenix roebelenii to back-cross my female f1 Phoenix roebelenii x Phoenix dactylifera. Latter, although it blooms regularly end of winter to start of spring, occasionally produces one or two odd inflorescences also during summer, like this year! @gyuseppe it seems, that your wishes will be fulfilled this year! And finally I have used pollen from the same male roebelenii to pollinate an inflorescence of a Phoenix reclinata You may disclose here your own plans for hybrids creation.

is very rare !

Konstantinos, it's still too early to know if my female roebelenii will produce hybrid seeds with rupicola, but there's good news: the flowers haven't fallen yet.

Hello :) , I just got one juvenile bottle palm from a local e-commerce again here, I bought it for only $1 which is very worth it! I have to put this palm under some shades for a week so it wouldn't get stressed, then I'll put it outside directly in the sun :)

That is very unique. I have never seen one.Harry

No personal experience , but I’ve seen a Phoenix Reclinata/ Roebelini cross . It was a single stem , 15’ tall beauty with a more relaxed leaf than the Reclinata but larger frond than Roebelini. Harry

Thanks chill! Good luck. Tim

I think that is a good idea too

Loosely stack it back, place some type posts either side in line with the position you want. Then tie it in place loosely with a little movement this will help it anchor itself better with a little movement.

New here! Took some pictures on my last trip to Disney's Animal Kingdom a few days ago, that I thought some here would take interest in. Overall, it looks like the trees went to war, and didn't necessarily lose, but did come back with heavy casualties. Asia: \ Pandora: Not a great photo, but one of the few visibly browned trees / palms I saw all day. Towards the back of Pandora by the River Journey queue, hidden between a few other trees: Huge credit to the horticulture teams working with the landscaping at this scale. I couldn't imagine the work involved with maintaining so many exotic plants during a freeze as bad as this last Winter's was. A number of these trees look like they're wearing leafy armcasts around their heavily trimmed limbs haha.

People will argue that you shouldn't remove green fronds from a palm for its health. Washingtonia species seem to be the exception... I remove over 30 green fronds annually from my tree without any setback. Commercial trimmers go even further; only leaving 2 or 3 fronds and a spear with the same results. Definitely one tough palm in its preferred environment. aztropic Mesa, Arizona

Really nice looking palms, Tim. I presume this is the Obi-Island form.

Hi there, not to waste your time but when I was very young and my parents and I made a trip to subtropical region in the early eighties, we went to a botanical garden. Since I for some reason always liked the tropical plant section of our local zoo, I had my attention radar tuned up a bit at that time when walking around with my parents and the travel group we were a part of. However, one plant - a palm - caught my attention because of the translator's description of the plant - palm - we looked at. He said:"This is a Chilean Elephant Palm". I looked at it and made the "connection" immediately...the trunk! The trunk looked like an elephant's leg! Of course it does, so it made sense to me right away, I kept in mind and moved on. (eleven years old at that time) When we moved down to Okinawa and finally purchased the house and the garden, the first seeds I ordered from rps were - exactly - seeds of Jubea Chilensis "The Elephant palm" It was like a dream coming true. Of course I had educated myself in the meantime about what I am dealing with here, but it didn't matter. After three years of waiting to sprout and a decade in a pot, always checked it liked the holy grail since it was were all of it started, I finally went to action and "unleashed" it a couple of weeks ago. Soon after the rain season started with tremendous amounts of water and soaking the garden more than once for weeks - I was kicking myself myself for the bad timing - but since this fella is now alive for more than ten years and has experienced every possible freak weather in the meantime, it went through it remarkably well. Here we go, this may be one of the very few publicly documented Jubea Chilensis planted out in a private garden in Japan. I would be very happy to learn of any others. Alright, enough of talking... I know, it is a strong statement for such a small garden, but why not? Happy growing, little beauty! Lars

Hi there, First of all, Happy 4th of July to all our American members here. Hope you have a safe and wonderful Independence Day! Alright, just a short update of this one - please have a look: A great source of joy! It looks quite happy and I recognized for the first time... ...two new spears at the same time! One more time a full shot... Maybe I got to think seriously about a small pond to be made....🤔 Thank you for following - Lars

I am offering several healthy, seed-grown Verschaffeltia splendida (Stilt Palm), approximately 1 year old, carefully cultivated under controlled conditions in Germany. These are not imported nursery plants but carefully cultivated, individually grown specimens with excellent root systems. Features - Healthy, vigorous and well-established plants - Approximately 65–70 cm tall (measured to the tip of the tallest leaf) - Attractive reddish petioles and leaf midribs - Well-developed spiny stem - Active stilt root development - Grown in a custom-made premium substrate, specially developed for tropical palms using carefully selected high-quality components to promote excellent root development and long-term growth - Strong, well-established root system in deep pots Available Plant #1–3: 10.5 × 10.5 × 21 cm pots — €179 each Plant #4: 9 × 9 × 20 cm pot — €169 Each plant is individually photographed. Additional photos and videos are available upon request. Thank you for your interest. 📦 Shipping within the European Union only (at the buyer's expense). Plants will be shipped in thair pots and packed carefully and securely. 💳 Payment via PayPal Friends & Family or bank transfer. Plants will be reserved upon receipt of payment. 🤝 Collection is welcome in Penzberg, Germany. Private sale. No warranty, returns or guarantees. Plant 1 = available Plant 2 = available Plant 3 = available Plant 4 = available Each plant is individually numbered, you will receive exactly the plant shown in the photos. So please feel free to contact me via pm, for questions or interest in one of the plants. Thank you for your interest!

I have not had that issue , but then I only fertilize the palms that need it . I use an organic powdery fertilizer that mixes in easily with the damp soil . I haven’t had any overlapping consequences fertilizing palms that are close together . We don’t get a lot of rain and I water manually with a hose. Harry I fertilize these , in the second photo , before spreading fresh bark down . In the first photo only the Chambeyronia and Dioon get fertilizer . I spread the fertilizer about 12”-18” out from the trunk and mix it in the top soil . Then I move the bark back . I have seen others broadcast fertilizer throughout the yard , but I target the drip circle of individual palms. Harry

Yet another photo of Prestoea acuminata var montana in bloom. Opens pure white, then becomes pink, and finally dark red with green fruit. Never fails to draw in visitors to the garden. I'm not sure if the geckos are hunting the many bees attracted to the flowers, or something else. But you gotta love those blue eyelids. Geckos were introduced in Hawaii decades ago and now number in the billions. The Kalij pheasants love eating them, but don't put a dent in the population. Plenty of geckos make themselves at home inside my house. And my first Pinanga speciosa has gotten too tall to appreciate the colorful crownshaft, so I've planted some babies. Just starting to hint at the coming show.

Brahea elegans showing the armata portion of its genetics .

Update of my B hapala after another year or 2 of growth since the last photo. Really bulking up before producing clean trunk. What’s more noticeable to me now looking at this is how quickly my nearby Cyphophoenix elegans is growing (white trunk and crownshaft to the right).

I'm growing B. vieillardii and B. hapala which both do great in our cool climate. They're much happier since they got some canopy from a nearby Telanthophora grandifolia and are now outpacing my Chambeyronias which are constantly suffering from sunburn. Hard to get a good pic but here's my B. vieillardii. Side note, T. grandifolia is a nice fast-growing canopy option, mine's almost 20 feet tall from a seedling in a bit over 2 years.

G atroviolacea shoots

A young Bambusa vulgaris ‘Vittata’ starting to slowly upsize, it should exceed twice this diameter in a couple years.

Here’s another photo of a new shoot of number seven Dendrocalamus minor ‘Amoenus’ and number 13 is Schizostachyum brachycladum, a sacred Bali bamboo that is stunning until the entire clump starts to flower and then it looks like you have wheat hanging all over the place little unsightly.

West facing front yard - not a huge amount of space out front but I’ve packed a fair bit in. Most of this garden gets hot afternoon sun in summer. Positions up against the house seem to retain warmth as well as anywhere so it’s suitable for marginal species. There’s a heavy bias towards Madagascan species here, only somewhat intentionally. Chrysalidocarpus cabadae x madagascariensis F1 (L) and C pembanus x madagascariensis F1 (R) Chrysalidocarpus malcomberi Schippia concolor behind one of my favourite bromeliads, Vriesea hieroglyphica Brahea Super Silver Chrysalidocarpus ambositrae Chrysalidocarpus baronii Bismarckia nobilis Chrysalidocarpus decaryi x leptocheilos F1