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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.

Hey y'all I thought this would be a cool post to make this is what my 2025 garden season was like. I'll post favorite pictures average temperature for each month etc. OK I'll start off with what our coldest temperature was and our hottest temperature was and average temperature for each month of the growing season (March-November) March. March for us was generally a mild month our warmest temperature was 81 And our coldest temperature was 19. our average daytime 57. night time 38 April. April was a lot like March it was more mild not as hot as I have seen but it wasn't too bad. our warmest temperature for the month was 90 (Very warm for April) Our coldest was 18 (Very cold for April lol) our average daytime 66. night time 47 May. May Was a pretty average month. Typically our may's are a little warmer but it was pretty normal. our warmest temperature recorded was 85 Our coldest temperature was 30 (Very cold for May for us But can happen probably due to us being in the Appalachian) The average high was 73. Our average low 56 June. June was a pretty hot month. Many days we had were 90 plus degrees outside It was more like July weather for us. our warmest day recorded was 100 (Very warm for June) Our coldest temperature was 49. our average daytime 86. night time 67 July. July was a very hot month there was very little days That were Below 88f We also had very little rain Our warmest day was 100f And our coldest day was 66f. our average daytime 90. night time 72. Otherwise it was a nice and warm month just very dry August. August on the other hand was below average. Not a lot of action in the garden it was a very dry month Only one day of rain and that did pretty much nothing. Our warmest day was 93 and our coldest day was in the mid 30s (That is very cold for us in August but it was recorded towards the end of the month) our average daytime 82. night time 64 September. September was also a below average month For temperature and rain, we had no rain in September the garden really suffered. Our warmest day was 90 And our coldest day was in the mid 30s (Also cold for September in our area) our average daytime 79. night time 59 October. October was also a below average month for rain and temperatures. The garden didn't really grow that much. Our warmest temperature was 85 And our coldest temperature was 30. our average daytime 67. night time 47 November. November we had our first Killing frost within the first week of November so the garden didn't do much our warmest temperature recorded was 75 And our coldest was 17 our average daytime 52. night time 36. The whole month of November wasn't that bad it was a little below average but not bad Overall it was not a bad growing season. The last couple months were below average and Very DRY. but the rest was really nice. also here are my favorite picture of my garden let's hope for a great 2026 growing season everyone!

A built of Basselinia inflorescence’s. B. eriostachys and B. glabrata. Tim

Pinanga disticha, Licuala grandis, Licuala glabra var. glabra.

One beautiful palm from New Guinea. Clumping, colorful, well behaved, and attractive entire leaves. Copious amount of indument on the rachis and leaf veins. Been in ground for around twelve years. I’ll add photos of the colorful inflorescence and seed if and when that happens. Tim

This is the bigger of two Presto Hybrids I got from FB two years ago. Whether it was the same pollen doner... who knows. It has been a fast grower here in So Cal.

Chrysalidiocarpus Lutescens some pink on the new spear to accent the orange/gold The colorful fruit of Chamaedorea Microspadix goes well with the soft green texture of the leaves. Harry

Joeys are so so adorable & one of my top favorites !! I have one that's a 2 leafer that lives inside my greenhouse cabinet. I am absolutely terrified when it's time to repot as they hate root disturbance.💀

As the sun fell lower in the sky, something red was lit up toward the east. What could it be? Grabbed the phone and went to see. A sight I have never witnessed before, the unveiling of a fresh inflorescence of Loxococcus rupicola -- and wow, was it ever RED! Below you can see what caught my eye. Closer -- evidently I was disturbing a pair of Madagascar geckos -- can you find them? Below you can see the formed seeds on another Loxococcus rupicola. I sometimes have trouble remembering the name of this palm. My trick is to start with Coca-cola and then it falls into place.

It will be many years , they are slow growers , especially in that climate zone. The good news is they can survive very cold winters! Harry

Great post! Can’t wait to see how that Needle Palm looks when matured. What was your coldest temp in December?

A few chamaedorea alternans that are a wonderful addition to the collection, a few more dypsis minuta are always welcome anytime, the Pinanga sylvestris should be a nice one for the garden, with a rare licuala micholitzii. All welcome additions for the collection and the garden.

Amazing pictures , thank you for sharing. Harry

Been a long time lurker of this forum and finally decided to make an account to share the freezing conditions at my parents' home - wunderground stations show 22-23°F while the weather channel displayed 24-25°F My personal hygrometer didn't drop below 27.5°F and my Alfies still look green on camera (I am away from there at the moment). We seem to be in a location where the cold "funnels in" from the northwest (lucky us!) so I did my best to plant the Alfies on the south side of the home. They already took two shots down to 26°F this winter but this has to be undoubtedly the coldest morning this far. The hygrometer is reporting 5.5 hours below freezing and counting, but at least we're on the upswing now. I will say, I am thoroughly impressed this far on how these 15 gal trees have faired thus far. Fingers crossed, knock on wood!

A desiccating Chambeyronia hookeri leaf adds a bit eye catching attention for a fleeting last flash of red!

Wowowowo thank you very much for these amazing pictures

Another beauty in the garden!

Caramel Pluto philodendron Golden Crocodile philodendron Kiett mango from seed Jesus Christ my arms are hairy. Anyway here's your color.

I’ll do my best! I’d start by asking Darold!

Searching Google Maps for somewhere nice to have lunch, I came across a restaurant opposite Giardino Garibaldi (always on the lookout for potential palm locations 😉). As we tucked in, I noticed this specimen in the distance. Upon closer inspection, I believed it to be Butia odorata x Jubaea chilensis. It's producing viable seed, which is most likely self pollinated as there aren't any other cocoid palms close by as far as I could tell (some Syagrus romanzoffiana 5-10 minutes walk towards the coastline). Most of the seed floated in water, but I'm persevering with them as I've germinated floating Jubaea and Butia before. Further research online uncovered an old article on the European Palm Society that confirms the ID. http://www.palmsociety.org/members/english/chamaerops/041/041-14.shtml by Juergen Plaumann (Chamaerops No. 41). There is also a picture of it on there. BxJ seed with endocarps intact. BxJ cracked and endocarps removed

The current forecast for my area is around 32 tonight. Of course, I listened to the radio on the way home and they were freaking out about 26 in Sanford! Apparently their forecaster thinks that Sanford is super near Jax...sigh... I put a cardboard box over an Arenga Westerhoutii that took some significant frost damage in the December front, and another box over a Corypha Lecomtei just because. Otherwise it's Darwinism at work, and hopefully all the freshly sprouted weeds (er...hardy imported and native annuals and perennials) take the brunt of it!

A few more photos. Tim

Beautiful, although that glabrata is going to need a babysitter...!

I think this dypsis louvelli classifys as a bit of colour!

I posted the white one earlier. Here's the pink one.

2 pics from yesterday and 2 from today. I love this dypsis Mt. something or other

Have you ever fertilized it? I assume you bring it indoors when temps are below 50F. I assume you fertilized it at some point over the past 7 years although it does look undersized and peak-ed. I grew green and red lipsticks from 3g to over 9' tall in about 5 years before I sold them. They got too heavy for us to roll their carts indoors and were touching the top of the birdcage. All that aside I suggest you wait until the weather warms in March to fertilize to get best results. During cooler weather the palm takes in fertilizer little or not at all and its growth slows. Fertilizer is too expensive to waste nor do you want to force new growth on this uber tropical palm in mid-winter. If you haven't so far I suggest you heavily research care of this species here or on reliable internet sites. It can grow into a beautiful palm but you have to cater to its tropical needs. We can no longer do so and I decided years ago not to try more lipsticks. I do have a Cyrtostachys loriae - a solitary, robust and cold hardier species - planted in our south facing back yard that backs onto a freshwater canal. It survived Hurricane Ian and I'm hopeful it will survive winter in Cape Coral. Not a chance in h*** I could have planted our lipsticks.

Richard, cataractum does not form any upward growing trunks. The leaves are similar to this one though.

Awesome photos everything did so well for you in 2025

Every time I cruise this thread my mind goes to Jimmy Buffet Cowboy In The Jungle ! One of my favorite songs by a deeply missed artist. Harry

One of my Chamaedorea Ernesti Augusti decided to flower . It already needs to be repotted after only a year in this pot . I think I will wait for Spring and just freshen up the soil unless it is root bound . Harry It looks like it has gotten a bit of a trunk as well. These grow very well here . This has been the warmest January I can remember . Highs in the mid 80’s f and lows in the mid 50’s . We had lows in the upper 40’s already this year but ,since all the rain we got , it’s been very warm . Harry

Your coconut palms are looking very good. Last year and this year so far has been very mild and warm in the urban areas of San Diego. I have a Licuala grandis which has been outside in a protected spot for two years, and is now growing a new frond. I find it pretty amazing! I know in the College Area where I live (on a south-facing hill) temps very rarely go below 43 degrees during winter.

It was mentioned on this forum that he had lost access to many of the parent trees he used for his hybrids. My last communication with him was in August 2024 and he had stated he had not been producing and shipping anything but may get back into it that Fall. As far as I can tell he logged in her a little over a week ago so hopefully he sees your post....

its nice to see your palms still going on even with minor setbacks like pests and the cold. if your trees fruit i wonder if you could start a cultivar of california hardy coconuts. i've heard people say its not possible because they dont have cold tolerant traits as a ultra tropical plant yadda yadda. but howcome different coconut palms have more frost tolerance then? just because something doesnt live somewhere naturally doesnt mean it can't develop traits to better suit the location. did you know there are tropical apple trees? apple trees are from the fridgid cold steppe of central asia. basically the same climate as the midwest. they should not have the traits to be evergreen and have adaptations to the heat and latitude and yet they do. dorsett gold and king david are natural apples that are evergreen and need zero chill and they grew from random seeds they werent bred on purpose. i know apple trees arent coconut palms but still. i have some new nectaplum seedlings from a spice zee and they are evergreen even though the mother tree is deciduous the poor thing does struggle to loose its leaves every year lol . i have a two year old tree from the same plant from last year and it has not gone dormant this year or last year its evergreen and is currently pushing out new growth already with all the old leaves still on it like it has adapted to living in a climate with almost no dormancy. plants are more adaptable than we think. different cultivars get more tolerant to different locations and eventually they drift away. this is how you get other cultivars of crops. with trees its takes a bit more time than annuals but you see with annuals some of them naturalized in my yard despite needing to be babied on the first year! even some wheat and oats. same thing with beans i planted. they get more tolerant to the local climate and droughts the more they breed in it the more their genes are exposed to it they mutate.

Please help me source one!

Poinsettia, Euphorbia pulcherrima.

Hrrr model has been getting warmer every run. Also current temps are higher than all models say they would be for the time. My forecast on my phone app has also risen 3 degrees. From 30 to 33. Interesting

Got my grubby hands on these two hybrids from Floribunda. Anyone else trying them? Or growing them already? This first one is a prestoniana hybrid of unknown pollen parent. And these are the decipiens F2 hybrids. Jeff says these are from a clustering, smaller palm and that it is fast growing. Lastly, one of my decipiens nearby looking good with a new spear not far from opening

Thanks for the information, personally I’m not in a position to relocate at this time but I wanted to learn the ‘particulars’ so that I might ponder friends & family to see if there might be a match out there.

January 14, 2026 Before the Santa Ana winds comes in usually is the coldest temps of the year where I’m at and these last few days got down to mid 40’sf. Last year that same event brutalized my coconuts but this year the damage is very minimal. It’s kinda hard to see, but there is some spotting and leaf burn on the older fronds especially. Unfortunately, the biggest coconut is extremely close to the powerlines now. My advice to people is assume that your coconuts will be as big as a date palm. We’ll see how that goes. This coconut looks probably the best but it actually got an extremely bad white fly infestation. I smothered it in insecticide and will keep doing that when it comes back. This coconut might look ugly but I think it has a lot of potential. It is infested with white fly but I smother it with insecticide.

@ASHCVS Lepidorrachis would be AWESOME for your glorious ocean front garden!

Cz latifolia is a smaller plant. 1st two pictures are latifolia. 2nd set are Cz chamberlainii

I don’t know Brad52 but the owner’s contact information is at the bottom of the first post.

I see them watching you from behind that petiole!

Lars and Irene performed hundreds of miracles in this garden. It had been somewhat neglected between when Jerry passed and when the garden came into their hands. They dug mud from the lily pond and restored it. They brought the palms, anthuriums, bromeliads and other exotics of the garden back to vibrant life, and the overall garden to its full glory, learning everything as they went. I do hope to see this garden pass into hands equally devoted to this masterpiece. Thanks to Lars and Irene for the several wondrous times we have had the pleasure of visiting.

I use pirateship.com, it's always cheaper for UPS and USPS. It's free, print your labels, save money, easy peasy.

Merry Christmas. I got this yesterday and have no idea what it is. It smells like cinnamon and has clusters of yellow flowers. Can someone help me id it?

Nice color on the first new leaf from our little C. ambositrae, purchased from @Darold Petty a couple of months ago

What's in the weather forecast? A potential of a light freeze in some parts of South Texas. A weak artic blast is sending temperatures below average to Texas. An indicator for some severe winter outbreaks for the South ? A low of 35°F is predicted for the San Antonio area. First time bringing some of my tropical palms and other plants inside. Let the games begin!