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I have visited Fairchild Tropical Garden in Miami FL many times but always enjoy seeing new additions and checking on “old friends”. This Sabinaria caught my attention especially since it looks untouched planted outside despite the recent cold spell here. I eagerly await mine growing big enough to show off the gorgeous leaf shape and color! Below are two different Kerriodoxa elegans. Rhino beetles in Puerto Rico love these so not sure if I will get any to trunking size. I am really looking forward to seeing them in habitat in Phuket Island.Thailand on the soon to start IPS post tour. Calyptrocalyx albertisianus is a fairly new addition to my own farm after I saw a beauty at Dean Ouer’s place in HI a few years ago. Here is one at FTG reminding me that they are likely to be much taller than my other more shrub size Calyptrocalyx. I am including a striking cycad that I wish I grew. Microcycas calocoma.

I took a pass through the butterfly collection and this papilio lowii posed for me. Pigafetta elata (I only saw one) seemed fine outside. I am down to 2 of these from 5 I grew from seed and planted out in PR. Another rhino beetle delicacy. I now have some seedling Pigafetta filaris (the white one) gifted to me by PR00360 from RPS seeds. Hoping I can get some to trunking size when my beetles seem to ignore them. Mine are at the very dangerous to touch stage but eventually the smooth trunk becomes huggable. This Calyptrocalyx hollrungii is much bigger than mine. Such a nice palm. Sommieria is another species I “met” at FTG many years ago and am so happy to now have in PR. Next some classic FTG views. Entrance to the conservatory:

I gave this palm a fresh haircut and trim - i have to say that it looks amazing that way

Ok I shall settle the score and start a on the potting bench thread to appease the palm gods. So it is as follows, on the potting bench you shall see what’s been growing and what reds to be potted up, freshly germinated to anything else that needs to be potted, it shall be gor reference as seedling identification. If anyone wants to identify a seedling, and also as documentation of what and how the plants are growing for the palm talk audience and for my own documentation!

Getting into a few seeds this week, you gotta keep sowing them if you want to grow them! And a nice haul of some dypsis baronii from the garden that shall be distributed around to a few IPS members, sharing the palm seed love around!

I was able to force this color with 23 degrees but i don't think I’ll be able to maintain this look.

White triangle

Nice double roebelenii! I almost bought one too - $70 at the orange store, right? I settled instead for a $35 foxtail and a $10 Dypsis lutescens. I managed to get both in my Nissan (somehow).

Amazing to get such great germination with a rare and exciting palm like this.

Pretty much most of what you see , botanically speaking , is going to be things that won’t grow in the desert . The islands I have visited do have some desert areas but most areas are high humidity and warm trade winds bringing tropical rains . The growth rate of tropical or some temperate plants is about 3x the growth rate even here in Southern California . I have never been to Oahu , other than a stop over , so I can’t recommend any specific gardens . I am sure you will see plenty of palms and tropicals . Some nurseries will sell orchids and small palms , with certs, that you can bring home . The palms I brought home from Maui were growing in shredded paper and came with import certificates . They are still living in my garden 25 years later. Enjoy your trip! Harry This Pritchardia was a seedling that I carried home in my back pack! Not pictured is the Chambeyronia I brought home that is now flowering . I think I paid less than $5 for each seedling in 2002. Harry

Where its planted will see full sun for most of the day luckily. Time will tell

In pots I would bring in at least under 25F or if mine small seedlings under freezing

The palm from the original poster ended up being mine. It is one tough palm. We had the a winter bomb cyclone in 2023 with hurricane force winds and I woke up in the morning and the shelter had blown off and temps were 19F. No damage at all. Mind you this in Pacific Northwest 19F so its much tougher on plants than it sounds. 19F here in Houston is a cakewalk compared to 19F there. January 2024 I ended up moving and a very bad arctic blast hit a couple days after we left. I know the new owners are not gardeners and didn't protect anything. They may have not even been moved in yet and the palm survived and appears to have suffered no damage. I looked up the weather for that time period and it was colder than anything I ever experienced living there. Looks like about 120 consecutive hours below freezing and I never saw 14F in all my years living there. This is the sort of cold spell that can damage or even kill Trachys up there. Jan 12 - 42F, 21F Jan 13 - 20F, 14F Jan 14, 22F, 16F' Jan 15 - 27F, 21F Jan 16, 25F, 19F Jan 17 - 35F, 23F

A few chamaedorea seeds on there way!chamaedorea plumosa chamaedorea adscendens chamaedorea metallica

@FlaPalmLover if it's easy to keep water out then it's a good idea. Conventional wisdom also says to avoid overhead sprinklers. Yet every single palm nursery on the planet uses big overhead sprinklers, at least until 10g or bigger sizes. They switch to drip lines with emitters or bubblers on 10 to 100g pots. If overhead sprinkling was a serious risk then they wouldn't do it...they'd be risking their livelihood on it. For sure I wouldn't intentionally spray water in the crown, but I doubt a bit of rain is a serious risk. Other people here suggested Daconil in the crown, partially because it stays tacky when it dries. So the mixture *might* stick around in the crown even with some rain. Honestly, as long as torrential rain doesn't wash into the crown, many (or most?) would stay in place. And a systemic (like Banrot or Aliette or others) is great when absorbed. Systemics may be slower though, I read a study somewhere that it could take 1 to 2 weeks to get from the soil to the crown. So I like the idea of the 2 step treatment. I did a soil drench of Banrot + Aliette on a few key palms like my mutant Elaeis, a couple big Arenga Pinnata, and several Attalea Brejinhoensis. Those were all seriously burnt and the frond stems were at least partially burnt towards the crown. So I figure both is a good choice. @junglejim welcome to PalmTalk! I had a couple of 1-2 year old Pandanus Utilis (I think), but both died after 27-30F frosts. They defoliated and started to regrow, but then caught a crown rot and died. So a good crown treatment (Daconil, hydrogen peroxide, Mancozeb, any copper-based, etc) and a systemic (Banrot, Aliette, others) is a good choice.

Hey y’all! Took a trip to the coast this weekend. Here’s a few palms I was tracking. A bottle palm in Port A and a few foxtails in Rockport/Fulton. Port A got down to 26F and Rockport got down to 24F along the waterfront which is where the Foxtail was. Nice Bismarkia in Port A as well. No damage whatsoever.

Wow, thanks for the ‘bump’ Richard. Well, an update. The sessifolia got tired of being frail and checked out. The simulans, which was acquired later, died of thirst. The rest of the Veitchia have done well. The metiti, IMO, is a rather unremarkable palm and better planted in a group. I find it interesting that a grouping planted close together can have such a large variation in stature. Anyway, here’s a photo of V. metiti. Tim

@pj_orlando_z9b + @Kiplin + @PalmBossTampa + @gyuseppe These are my Phoenix reclinata hybrids with a juvenile coconut that got 100% defoliated for comparison. My best guess is that they are crossed with Phoenix canariensis since that was the closest other species, but they don't have enough trunk to say for sure. Guest appearances from Livistona chinensis, Syagrus romanzoffiana, and Washingtonia robusta as well.

My Robusta isn't very leaf hardy. Low 20s , the fronds will turn brown, all of them. I see some they look exactly like mine but seem to handle the cold better. At least mine is pretty bud hardy and recovers fast. I leave the fronds on until they're crispy but the new frond that is currently seeking daylight doesn't look bad at all.

Cibolo TX Post Winter storm report: Temps in my neck of the woods hit 19F or 20F, with some freezing rain. As usual, I think the freezing precipitation was the bigger problem. C. radicalis with East Northeast exposure and partial overhead protection from the eave of the house. P. dactylifera was almost immediately dead. It was about 3 ft in overall height and very healthy going into this event. I covered it, but not until it was already wet. So it's spear pulled almost immediately after the freeze. It's leaves were brown within a few days. I cut the trunk down and there was no living tissue left, despite treating it with hydrogen peroxide within a couple of days of the ice. Butia took a little longer to show damage. It was covered with a large patio umbrella, but it blew off during the storm. It was a couple of weeks before the newest leaves started losing color. Spear pulled, and I have been treating it with H2O2 as well. No signs of a new spear yet. Even my S. mexicanas (No protection) have a leaf or two that have lost their color. This surprised me: My Washingtonia that grows like a weed looks pretty much perfect with no protection: Not all Washingtonians are created equal though. This is what another one just a couple of houses down from mine looks like: Small trachycarpus F x Ws took no damage with a bucket to cover them:

Chrysalidocarpus Basilongus

Patiently waiting for the seed to mature

New spear starting to open on my Hyophorbe lagenicaulis. Not bad for mid February

This youtube video might give the doubters some clues: https://youtu.be/hfMNbc8wjq4?si=rLLEKdiBbptPeFMo

My little SO Cal. V. arecina jungle... Mom just dropped the seeds and I didn't have the heart to remove them... That promiscuous little tree snuck around the front, got cozy with a foxtail and produced this... Butch

Wow some beautiful palms there, when I first got into gardening the Fairchild garden was one of my first OMG gardens that inspired me to get that tropical plant garden, looking up to that garden set me on my way to Palm addiction!

My fear is that if you get a few good years of growth then get hit with an event like this you will be dealing with a very large plant. I have seen the damage a large Aloidendron falling can do. They are extremely heavy and will crush anything below them when they come down. Heavy rain and wind with a top heavy Aloidendron can be a lethal mix.

@PalmBossTampa Looks like you got a little too excited with the flamethrower!

Well that’s one way to get a new variety of Bismarck!

I like it. You're staying on topic rather than graphs, charts, statistical analysis and week long forecasts. Spring isn't far off. "What is your current yard temperature?"

What recent event would cause above average predicted temperatures there?

Maybe they could have sold them and had them removed intact. This seems like a stupid loss of a species that is slow growing... not 'invasive' material at all.

I read that any prolonged temps under 30 will kill pandanus. I covered mine but it was still in the mid 20's for several hours with a punishing north wind. I figured it was smoked, but over two weeks later it still has a little green and if a peel back at the heart a little it is green. I would love to keep this thing alive, it's been in the ground over 2yrs. Other that cutting back dead/brown vegetation and light sprinkling of palm fertilizer is there anything else i can do?

@realarch If V. simulans died of thirst there, not a good sign for my little seedling here. I already didn't have high expectations for it, seems like a delicate little thing but I love Veitchia and seemed worth a shot considering this species is so rare. Maybe I can get it to a decent size in a pot at least. Here's a V. metiti I spotted hidden in a shady spot at Naples Botanic Garden. I agree it's not the most ornamental species with its thin leaflets but this one does seem to be happy in Florida at least.

I am not a desert bender but an Atlantic Coast bender lol. Jamaican cherries can take a little frost I bet if you put it on a south facing wall you might be able to grow it. I had one in my greenhouse when I forgot to change my gas tank and it went down to 30f and almost no damage. Barbados cherry too it’s a little more hardy than Jamaican. Flame thrower palm I saw could take down to lower 20s mine is indoors so I don’t have much experience with its hardiness. Although your in 9a maybe 9b I think your best choices are either Barbados cherry or flame thrower just keep in mind a bad winter can easily wipe them out so it would be nice to have some frost cloth and some incandescent Christmas lights around incandescent lights produce some heat so them and some frost cloth would raise the temperature a bit. I like being optimistic so I’d say give it a try maybe start with one of those and if it does well try others. Casa grande was not changed in the 2012 usda plant zone update so it could be warmer in some parts might be even closer to 10a. See if anyone else responds too as there are experts with way more knowledge then me on this.

When considering my available options for a rain event, I decided the best thing I could do is use Banrot on any species that appeared to be struggling with post-cold fungal growth.

Dypsis louvelli showing up the rest of the garden.

IMO, one of the most beautiful little palms out there. Mine came as D. poivreana and is also lightly suckering. It seeds regularly, but the seedlings are finicky little mutha’s. Tim

@mrjc I just found this post

All of them would go great in your grow room!

My verschaffeltia splendida gaining size and opening a new leaf. and my Areca macrocalyx starting to show some nice colour.

The Aliens 👾 did it when they landed!

I have a question why is there no Mid Atlantic Palm Society I know there is plenty of palm growers in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware And more that would be happy to be in a palm society. (I don't know if this is the right place to post this if it isn't please move it to the right place)

Let me show you something pretty amazing! This tiny Phoenix canariensis (Canary Island date palm) was planted directly in the ground last year on the island of Godøy, just outside Ålesund, Norway—at a latitude of 62°N! The island sits right on the west coast, where the warm waters of the Gulf Stream make direct landfall before spreading and weakening further north and south. Here’s the incredible part: despite being fully exposed—no protection, no nearby walls, no added heat—this little palm not only survived the winter, but is alive and pushing out new growth. However, growth is understandably slow due to the lack of summer heat. That might be the real long-term challenge in this climate—not winter survival, but whether the palm can consistently produce enough new fronds to replace those lost each year. Still, with a larger, more established specimen, the balance could shift in favor of sustainable growth. This one is just a baby, and it's already holding on—imagine the potential with a mature palm! And as if that weren't impressive enough, the region just experienced its coldest winter in a decade! Even then, the lowest temperature on the island only dipped to about -5°C on the coldest day—and typically it doesn’t get colder than -3°C all year. Snow is extremely rare. Phoenix canariensis might actually have a future as a long-term palm in these uniquely mild, Gulf Stream-warmed islands off the coast of Norway. Here are some photos taken today Aug 20th 2025 and an illustration of the Gulf Stream.

Some can be thicker than others. Several growing here in my neighborhood with most having narrower trunks than this one in my yard. I have a second one that is in a more shaded position and it's trunk is narrower than this too.

http://www.pacsoa.org.au/wiki/Chamaedorea_falcifera Here is the link to the PACSOA site for C falcifera. My plant looks identical but it looks unlike any of the pics from the US for C falcifera in this thread.

Not a great pic unfortunately, only one I got =/

I was thinking I would share mine. It really just put on some size over the last year but now seems to be cranking out leaves. I plan on clearing out some plants in this area soon to add Chameadoria since there's more shade.

Couple of mine.. still kinda small but have been solid growers. Only have 3 total but they are nice