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Recently had a chance to drive past the old place and check it out. Fortunately the new owner was standing out the front and recognized me, so invited me for a quick walkaround (I only had 15 mins free) Mid winter here, and everything was looking pretty good. The new owner is doing a good job! Looking over towards the Beccariophoenix alfredii and Ptychosperma lauterbachii Veitchia joannis was looking good Pritchardia hillebrandii (rescued from Wal's place ) was doing well Dypsis 215 was still there but owner told me had struggled with dryness and lost some stems. Dictyosperma were growing well, although one has succumbed (or is about to) to a health condition...v. conjugatum on right Ptychosperma lauterbachii was covered in inflorescences and was looking awesome...IMO a better palm in that climate thn P.macarthurii Beccariophonxis alfredii...8.5 years from a 200mm pot...doing well! Full size Alcantarea in front of it for scale Satakentia were looking awesome...should be more widely grown in SE QLD those crownshafts were fat! And the Neoveitchia rescue palm is still alive! Satakentia crowns

Those aren’t near as bad but still. To me they remind me of a fountain or sprinkler . The worst is when that is done to a P. Roebelini. I came home from work one day to find my Pygmy palms out front with most of their fronds gone! It was obscene looking . I had a long talk with the gardener who does weed pulling on the hill , he thought he would surprise me. I told him to stick with the weeds and DO NOT TRIM MY PALMS. I was so happy when they filled back in. It was embarrassing. Harry

There’s S romanzoffiana in Melbourne pushing 150 years old. I’d assume they can get much older than this if they don’t encounter lightning or other extreme weather events. This one doesn’t have a plaque from memory, but others a similar size in the Melbourne Bptakic Gardens were planted in the late 1800s. This one dwarves the nearby Phoenix canariensis. I’d say it’s at least 20m/70’ tall at a guess.

Pinanga insignis on a rainy day. Tim

That is a very nice Cocothrinax. It is amazing to me that palms can sense the difference between even hand watering and a good rain. I just love to go in the garden after a rain. Harry

Here is a pic of my five Gaussia gomez-pompeis. Seeds collected by a palm colleague "in a cultivated setting" in Cuba in Nov 2006. These five were planted out in Jan 2010. The Podocarpus trees behind them gave afternoon shade until they were partially cut a year ago. Full sun in the morning and early afternoon. The two small ones in back were in near-total shade until the cut and are much smaller and bent toward the available light. All have been in full sun for the last year. The one on the left has had inflors for a couple years but has not developed fruits.

My dear palm friends! I water my palm now every evening when the hot sun is gone! And see what happened... Thank you all for helping me!

Pretty common in parts of Northern CA as well. Archotophoenix cunninghamiana is by far the fastest growing palm up here as long as they get plenty of water. There are quite a few mature ones throughout my neighborhood.

My house has changed after 5 years on this forum…. It’s a jungle out there. (After many holes dug, a truckload of fertilizer and mulch, and a zillion gallons of water) Thanks for all the assistance.

Betel nutz and bamboo…

Not yet, although that day is coming, I’m sure. As I drive around town, I’ve seen some good ones though..

Por que no los dos My causiarum is getting big, guatemalensis is falling behind. Loving the rain (Just no palmettos please. They are hideous)

My Alphonso Mango tree hasn't produced fruit very consistently since planting it about a decade ago. A friend who is an avid orchid grower shared his secret for getting his under performing orchids to bloom. He holds the orchid over his rubbish pile and advises it that it's next home will be in the trash if it doesn't bloom. I tried threatening my Mango tree because my wife advised me that a non fruiting fruit tree is useless. She wanted to remove it. I see that my threatening has worked. Have you experienced a similar situation?

No Bret, it needed to come down. It is a good thing it was beheaded. There are a couple more that I plan to edit as well. By the way, I do know the difference between here and hear. I didn't catch the typo in my prior post until the edit post feature was no longer available. Have you ever retained a trunk to re-purpose it as a mount?

Generally it's better to acclimate palms before moving into full sun.

I really like these palms . Jim, those are beautiful . Your twofer (double , joined at the base ) is like mine . For as much root as they put out , they don’t mind sharing space with others. Harry

I guess it’s even worse than I thought Tracy, ha ha

Very niceeeeeeeeeeee

There’s probably a 4-7°F difference between you and certain locations in Clearlake. Queen palms are just as cheap or cheaper than Sabals, I paid $4 for 75% off 5 gallons a few years ago . I say roll the dice.😁

Another one of my Sabal uresanas . This one sourced from NTCHP right before they went out of business

Ordered one of these, after some hesitation, because of all the money I already spend on too many plants but am very glad I did. Scott sent a beautifully grown plant. Quick shipping and carefully and well packed too. For those of you who have been down the hesitation road before, take it from me, sometimes it can be a long time before that plant you want is ever available again.

Bret, I was actually having a little fun before I posted the additional photos of the palm. It is one that has been beheaded but I retained the base because I had the orchid attached to its trunk I experienced the same thing with another Archontophoenix cunninghamiana that I cut down a few years ago, retaining the base of the trunk for another orchid. I know that other people have used trunks for planting orchids and bromeliads on without the palm trunk succombing to pink rot. So my question is whether others have used a flame to sear the trunk closed at the top? I know that a flame is used in sealing tiki trunks. So hear is the full Enchilada so to speak of the beheaded king palm. I will probably remove the orchid grouping soon and cut the remaining trunk back to the ground. Any thoughts on how to prevent pink rot of beheaded palms is welcome.

You keep planting queens, I'll stick with Sabals.

Gaussia palms are actually quite showy when old boots are trimmed off. Here's some of mine... I've sold about 2 dozen of these to fellow Arizonans - just based on their unique looks. aztropic Mesa, Arizona

I was attracted to a different species in the genus for similar reasons. I planted this Gaussia princeps with the wall and white fence to its east, so it would receive reflected heat from them as well as the afternoon sun. Other palms have grown over the years so it receives more filtered light now. It has quite the bulbous trunk as you can see. It holds 2 to 3 leaves normally and has never flowered.

Here’s my new baby! Harry That “bottle” shaped base got me! At this age , to me , resembles the Hyophorbe I saw in Hawaii years ago.

Here

We are having the best summer ever here in Greece. The weather has spared all the horrendous heatwaves that have been battering W. Europe this summer; we have had zero heatwaves so far and we are already in the middle of July. I cannot remember anything like this in the near past.. Max temperature so far in my garden has been 94 F / 35 C and that only for a couple of days. Most days have been like 89 F. Minimum is a stable 66 F / 18-19 C. This is the first summer I have had zero issues with spidermites so far, in the entire garden!!! I am in heavens. If only every summer was like this.. All plants are growing happily. Even gardenias have finally bloomed! And it seems that a cold front (!!) is coming our way soon:

I do. As far as I know I was the only one attempting this palm. I grew one for years in Clackamas Zone 9A and they had one planted at Raintree Tropical in Silverton Zone 8B. I'm not sure if its your camera but the color looks yellow to me. Doesn't look like the blue form, but not dark green enough for the green form so time will tell. However when you look at my videos below the blue color doesn't come through all that great either. If yours is a green form it will be less hardy. I had the Highlands or Silver form. I currently grow both forms of this palm, and green is a much faster growing palm, similar to other large Sabal species. The one at Raintree in the display gardens was maybe 3-3.5' tall and was killed one winter when Salem got some pretty cold air. Mine survived, but barely grew, it got a little bigger every year. It would hold about 4 fronds and was under 2' tall. Planted full sun, well draining soil and watered regularly in summer and fertilized with Palmgain each spring. My last year winter in Oregon, we had that winter bomb cyclone 2022/2023 and it killed it with protection. I cut off all the fronds and left the stump in place, but around late June it reappeared and regrew all the fronds it lost. Now that I am down here in Houston, and live in a very Sabal friendly climate I have a better understanding of these palms. I grew at least 8 species/hybrids/varieties of Sabal in Oregon and here double that number. There are mature uresana here in Houston, although they are rare. If I move back to Oregon would I want to grow a Sabal uresana? - the answer is no. At best they're going to limp along and remain small, but larger ones are likely to fade away over a few years. You can't replace the heat and sun intensity that we get here, and uresana and a large number of the Sabals really need it. So I think you got a great palm and starting with a larger one is likely a good move, but I don't think your chances for success are in your favor. Based on my experience I would say the best performing Sabals for Oregon are minor, Louisiana, Birmingham (so slow), Brazoriensis (will trunk), Rosei (trunking) and palmetto (hardiest of the trunking Sabals). Rosei was a real surprise, they are much hardier than reported. These are the last videos I posted of it. Apparently I had two, but I don't remember the smaller one. Picture of one of my current Highlands form. Its far more silver in real life. Uploading Attachment...

The garden creates a beautiful space with more privacy, an outdoor living space. A well planted and spaced outdoor garden makes the lot feel bigger with privacy and height. We are of the same mind there. Your growth is excellent, keep doing what you are doing. I started about 15 years a go and added palms more slowly I think. Parts of Florida can give really fast growth. If my experience is like what you will see in the future 10 years, you should expect a lot of height. Palms that don't grow so fast(like the pseudophoenix) will balance out the garden canopies in 10 years as things get more height. As for selling the house, every day there has been made more special by the gardening effort. I find my garden very calming, a place to sit and relax. It is my blood pressure medication, and a much more healthy option in personal healthcare. Every couple years I will plant something small out now. Most of what I plant now will be slow growing and will not attain much height. I do have a few volunteers I may let go to maturity though.

The greatest thing with archontophoenix is your driving and come around a corner in the forest and the view of thousands of them in habitat is quite spectacular, they may be common in my area but they still have that beautiful affect on the eye. Richard

Recovery is really picking up here in Belle Isle with the tropical heat and beneficial rains. Apr vs this weekend. Coconut is finally pushing up and not folding. Adonidia made a full recovery and have been the fastest z10 plants to regrow. My final casualty list includes 1 autograph plant, 1 plumeria, and a young/unprotected flame thrower.

Some color…

Is there still a house on the property?

Beautiful work. What’s sad is that if you sold the house, the new owners would likely tear it all out.

Variegated rhapis, iguanura wallachiana and Pinanga purple crownshaft.

Royal Palm

Bismarkia

Red Latania

Carpentaria

A spot of afternoon colour.

Areca macrocalyx. Crown shaft color really varies throughout the year, but today it’s looking great. Tim

This entire group of foxtails in deep south TX survived 23-24F in Feb 2021. Long freeze all day palmageddon, the lowest temp was actually recorded sometime in the middle of the day when the winds were howling 30+ mph. As you can see from this streetview in Feb 2024, they are doing just fine.