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To all the people in life who said I'd never amount to 💩, well, it turns out you were right. But I do have a state nursery sellers license now.

A few more up this week, it’s always good to see a few more popping up. Iam very happy with some home grown Metallica seeds with a hundred percent success rate. Goes to show fresh seeds produce the best results.

Just a trio of Chamaedorea radicalis getting around the garden.

It's cyclical too and we are in a bad cycle. If you look at other areas at our latitude many are very dry deserts (cairo, for example, or Hermosillo MX that does see the southwest monsoon) so if the pattern isn't there for our sea breeze we are similar. Add in that sun angle and it's brutal. Summer 2013 in largo we had hard rains every day outside one 2 week stretch where we "only" had a quarter inch. I had just moved into the house and had no garden yet, and was pretty irked that that year was the wet one lol. It all looks good on paper as averages, but nature never works out that way.

Licuala ramsayi ready to make a mess!

One of my Royals

@JLM I was going to suggest a chainsaw too, but for palm trunks a reciprocating saw is a lot easier and safer. One person cuts, the other pushes it over. With no kickback risk it is for sure a lot safer that way. A rope on the one near the fence should be good enough, at least on a non-windy day. I felled 8 queens with 10-15 feet of trunk 2 summers ago. They were right up near the house with no drop zones. So I used an electric chainsaw to lop off 2-3 foot long chunks at a time. I just had to try and drop the pieces *not* on my A/C or any plants below.

Sawzall and a shovel, plus about an hour and a half. Thats the method. It felt wrong to cut into my beloved palm, but it needed to be done. One down, one to go. The replacement, a mule palm: And dont worry, the support ropes are not a permanent solution, just something temporary. It was quite windy today, so i needed something right away for support.

You might think that for something like this, AI scrapes the internet for information about the various palm species and then synthesizes plagiarizes the information to make these articles. What it actually does is even lazier and much stupider: it just makes up plausible sounding facts out of thin air, and then fills in the requested fields (like the incredibly detailed care information) with completely generic and useless information. This site is now some of the most prominently accessible information on the entire internet when you search for these species (google ranks sites like this that claim to be selling something very highly). This information also gets fed right back into the next plagiarism machine that comes looking for it. Garbage in, garbage out. It would be funny if it wasn't so scary. https://www.viriar.com/blogs/palms-tree-encyklopedia/hyophorbe-amaricaulis https://www.viriar.com/blogs/palms-tree-encyklopedia/ravenea-musicalis-river-palm https://www.viriar.com/blogs/palms-tree-encyklopedia/sabal-pumos-pumila-dwarf-bush-palmetto - These are just a few quick examples of information that is, for the record: completely false, that I was able to find in a minute or two of clicking around. Last year I noticed that the International Aroid Society redesigned their website and included an wholly AI-generated encyclopedia of thousands of Aroid species. Just like this one, it was completely nonsensical and full of misinformation. Unlike this one, it was hosted by a legitimate organization which is the official registrar for the Aroid family, and also a non-profit that promotes education and conservation. After a few months and some negative feedback that section of their website is currently not active, but we are teetering on the edge of completely losing our grasp on collective reality, as this dangerous technology is pushed on everyone.

The whole site is complete and utter AI slop. One of the many reasons that I absolutely loathe generative AI is that it's polluting the Internet with an endless feedback loop of garbage like this.

Been planting a couple. Deboansis and Subrosephylla.

It depends on how far inland you are in St. Lucie county. If you're generally east of the turnpike, then normally you'd be good. The setup we had on 02/01 was unusually bad, similar to 12/25/1989. If I remember correctly, the all time record lows on the east coast are as follows: Merritt Island 21F Patrick Space Force Base 24F Melbourne 17/19F Vero Beach 21F Fort Peirce 19F Port St. Lucie 22F West Palm Beach 24F We were not too far off from our all time record lows, about 2F to 6F in fact. What we just saw historically is almost as bad as it gets. The rest of the state was give or take was a repeat of 2010. North Florida and within about ten miles from the gulf coast fared comparatively well on this one.

Hit 45F for a low this morning. Temp went up to near 50F for a few hours lastnight before we managed to sneak in some radiational cooling before sunrise. For the next 7 days, not looking at anything below 50F. For the next 10-15 days, very low chances of dropping into the 40s. Spring is on, but do we get another frost? My guess is probably, or at least close to it, but i think we might just be done with freezes here. Side note, the warmth from the past few weeks (minus the cold snap we just had) has pushed everything to flower and start leafing out here. Everything is doing something at this point, maples are getting leaves now and the birches are starting as well. Oaks will follow sooner than later.

Did you read the post? These are seedlings that came up after the 2021 freeze from seed left behind by the mother palm(s) in the streetview. Some of the "seedlings" are now taller than the house lol

Best I can do is gallon bags. I think that liner there is the only one that didn't bust on me. Pirateship is cheap as hell, though. I highly recommend it to everyone for their shipping needs.

Lots of adventures but when time to post such as on the bus rides, no Wi Fi. Perfect WiFi at each beautiful hotel, but sleep called. I’ll update with more photos and captions later… Leaving again now:

I admire your determination, and the well that’s growing palms out of there native habitat situation! Winners and losers but the garden must go on so to speak! 🪴

A tray full of concinna in 140mm containers have decided grow new roots, vigorously pushing themselves out of there container. I think it’s time to repot or plant them in the ground.

The freeze put a beating on the garden and all of the other gardens in the area. Most of the tropical and subtropical palms in the area suffered heavy damage or are dead already. More will likely die as the temperature rises and fungal infections spread. Some of the palms that I figured would die are still alive, and some that I figured could survive the onslaught are slated for the bone pile. It's not all bad news. The last 15 years were a period of experimentation and success with the survivors of 2010 and their offspring proliferating. After this event, there will undoubtedly be less of a local seed stock. Whatever is left has certainly passed a big test in regard to advective cold. Come spring, the garden will begin to take on a different look. There should be more open space and some different plants taking their shot at becoming staples in the landscape. With recent rainfall patterns and winters not as amenable to growing true tropicals, there is a garage full of more cold-and-drought tolerant species that are slated to make an appearance. Stay tuned

Another royal palm in habitat with freeze damage https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/340110091

Another time capsule thread that got me to thinking about a trip to Maui-probably 2005 or so. Making the assumption that these big robust fan palms I saw in a development had to be some wonderful tropical species, I posted a picture on this site. (Sorry, can't find it anywhere). I remember thinking maybe they were some Copernicia species; but this astute group identified them as W. filifera. Which turned out to be correct. I had assumed that there would be just way too much humidity for them, but they looked as happy as clams; big & robust with nice full crowns. Actually, I have no scientific way of knowing that clams are happy, but hopefully you get my point.

I got a photo of the “famous” highway 17 coconut in Fort Meade. It’s completely fried.

I just want to show how dry the air was over north Florida on the morning of Feb 24th. Here is a computed sounding profile from the GFS model run initialized at 6Z. The bright green squiggly vertical line on the left is the dewpoint temp. The red line paralleling it to the right is the temperature. At the surface the dewpoint was 20F and the temperature was 35F. The dewpoint spread (the distance between the dewpoint and the temperature line) is very big at all levels of the atmosphere above the surface. In fact if you go up to around 2.75 km above the ground (near the 750 mb level) the air is bone dry as that dewpoint spread hits is maximum value. Only at the surface was the Relative Humidity (RH) at it's highest point (48%). At every point above the RH was much lower. In this sounding, for the entire depth of the atmosphere there is only 0.16 inches of Precipitable Water (PW = 0.16in). This also proves that the atmosphere is very dry .... I will come back to this point below. On the far right hand axis labelled at the top "Inf. Temp." The "Inf. Temp." is the Inferred Temperature Advection (degrees C / hour). At every level of the atmosphere, except around the 750 mb layer you see cold air advection taking place (the blue vertical rectangles on that axis). Now, coming back to the Precipitable water available within the entire depth (column) of the atmosphere (PW = 0.16 inches). Let's look at the Sounding Climatology from the nearest location, Jacksonville FL : Here you can see that for February 24th the 10th Percentile value for PW is 0.32 inches. That morning north FL was seeing values only half of that. In fact the values being seen were very near the all-time lowest values seen via real soundings. The air was extremely dry above north Florida that day. It was very clear to both incoming Shortwave and outgoing Longwave radiation. The lack of water vapor and no mixing allowed for very strong cooling of the air. -Matt

Page 7 looks like a bountiful garden compared to my disaster in Oviedo. Not sure on casualties yet but looking like severe. Royals, several very large Adonidias, 100’s areca’s although the lowest are green, coconuts, citrus, bananas, mangos, ti, ginger, crotons, aboricolas, colocasia, fiddle leaf, birds, you name it. Torched. Even the Bismarcks got hammered but should do fine. Only the Europeans, sabals, and livistonas appear unfazed.

I went back to review how my coconut recovered from the 2018 freeze. Took a good 1.5 years to regrow the entire crown. 2018 min was 28F. This year was 25F and change so about 2-3 degrees lower. I believe freeze duration was 4 to 5 hours longer. Pic is Feb, June and Nov of 2018.

Here is an example of my cordyline. Same plant impacted when exposed vs ok under the eave. Also optimistic the foxtail spear appears green.

Yup. I was sold two shade-grown "reclinatas" which had super soft, tropical-esque fronds. They turned into this - super rigid. Even the leaflet tips are sharp. No suckers, and a crown the size of canariensis.

Port Richey, in Jasmine Lakes. We were extremely fortunate with the wind direction remaining slightly west of north during this event. Our low minimum was 28.0°F for 3 to 5 hrs (guessing on duration. I still need to check our weather station data). Veitchia Arecina, planted December 2021, this year, I was having a bad Lupus Flare and was curious about the cold tolerance. Completely unprotected through the 3 nights of freezing and 3 to 5 nights close to freezing. My Beccariophoenix Alf. was also unprotected with the 28.0°F. Alexander Palm, toasted, but alive and the new spear has grown about 6 inches. Foxtail, foliage crisp, new spear green and also has grown a few inches. Dichrostachys "Kalahari Christmas Tree", surprisingly was defoliated but will recover. Pretty sure the wind was the main culprit. Not to mention it too was uncovered. My Coconut Palm and 2 small Teddy Bear Palms were my main concern. One Teddy Bear, oddly enough the one I boxed and blanketed, defoliated, but the green spear has grown slightly. The other was on the southern side of my husband's big work truck, which must have helped protect the foliage. I wrapped the base up to halfway its height. The end of the big frond eventually did brown mostly, but not as much as I anticipated. As for my Coconut Palm, the C9 lights actually burned each frond and they fell over *smh* but, the temperature stayed about 70°F with the cover. I was hospitalized for a few days after the freeze and left the lights on to keep it cozy. The spear has actually grown about 3inches since. The photo driving down Jasmine Blvd (heading east towards Little rd - I was not driving) is of Royals, Coconut and Caryota. A bit crispy, but nothing like the carnage to our east

Currently at Hollywood Studios, this park isn’t too reliant on tropicals, appears most things will survive for the most part. I don’t have the heart to go over to Animal Kingdom which is deep in the dead zone. I’ll make it over there in March.

Two lots over caught my eye today.

This is a few pics from our self guided tour . You could easily have a @happypalms self guided tour . I can’t remember what the fee was but it was well worth it . It wasn’t crowded but there were enough people going through to pay for the cost of the upkeep and a bit of income for the owners. Harry The pathways had plenty of shade in the tropical sun . The plants were well maintained A jingle of tropical plants much like yours. ‘Not just palms. “ C’mon Dad , we aren’t even half way yet! 😊 “My daughter actually liked the Koi pond and was patient throughout the day as I took my time to see as much as possible. I could see this for you as a way to share your love of your garden and help fund your obsession! Harry

Scenes from Hanoi

For removal , I would hire a tree service to take them down . Get quotes from different ones . After my huge Caryota fell down , I was quoted $1700 to remove and dispose of the tree by my regular trimmers. It was laying across my neighbors driveway so I didn’t have time to source it out . I had two friends with chainsaws ready to help but a landscape company was working across the street and offered to do it for $250! They had it cut up in less than an hour. After the work was complete , they hauled it off. Then I got a text from my regular trimmers saying they would do it for $700 …..as a favor. “ No thank you “ was my response. Harry

My large inground hybrid on the east side of my property in between two large Tri Bears has Zero damage. Had protection from the freezing winds, I guess. The pic above is unprotected on the West side of my property. Will have to think about wrapping it in the future for protection.

@happypalms No matter how many of these pop up around my garden and grow into lovely palms , I never get tired or them. Their versatility is welcomed . Sun , shade or anything in between , they thrive . Those are beautiful . All them look quite “ happy”. 🌴 Harry🌴

No boron te in the first stuff?

88F at 5:26PM, after making it to 90F, at least briefly ...even with the breeziness at times.. Up, ...at least a deg or 2, tomorrow.. Neighborhood numbers around 4PM: Hump - day P.V. check: Could it be ..closing time???

The old saying down under is have you got a spare minute, well if you have two minutes to spare you have got over 70 varieties of palms packed into just this part of the garden. A small amount in comparison to other collections. I don’t know how many varieties I have in the ground or in the greenhouses waiting to get planted. I do know I counted 70 in this section of the garden alone. Plus whatever other varieties of plants are in there. The garden is getting close to 30 years old and iam not stopping until that day they throw my ashes in the garden. And even then the palms will have their say as to who really rules the garden. I will quite happy knowing I fed them one last time @happypalms! IMG_9614.mov

My Cordylines and Crotons were all defoliated. We'll see if they leaf back out when it warms up. If not, there is a reason I put a few Sabal minor 'McCurtain' between each of the crotons.

Sabal mauritiformis with the dypsis saintlucei in the background followed by a chamaedorea adscendens that’s 26 years old with a young kerriodoxa elegans.

Pigaffeta is definitly the less frustrating palm to grow. A little less than a year from seed.

In the seventies, when this palm was introduced in Holland as a houseplant, it was named Chrysalidocarpus lutescens, later on I was told to name it as Dypsis lutescens, but is it now named Chrysalidocarpus again????

When iam finished, or at least I think I have with my old propagation medium, I usually tip it out on the potting bench and just use it as any other additive for my soil mix. And usually there are old or what I think are dead seeds in that mix. They say never give up on old seeds but sometimes you just have to move on to new seed. So it’s a wonderful surprise when they start popping up in the potted palms. Especially licualas, not sure what these varieties are it iam sure something good, and another physokentia is most welcome in the collection. The seed is one way of getting an identification. I just tip the pot upside down and simply remove the seedling!

My lafazamanga caught my eye this evening, and I thought I’d share a photo of it post-transplant (which happened months ago). 🪏 as far as I can tell, it’s very happy in its new location, and hasn’t missed a beat from the move.🤞 Has been such a great plant for me, so I’m hoping it will do as well in the new (equally prominent) location. 💕

Another dypsis it’s labeled as Faneva, but iam quite certain it’s not, it does have a small dypsis look about it, and the only place I can sort of remember where it came from was Merc spillakis (rip). So another mystery dypsis, it looks nothing like the ones on palmpedia. The dypsis mystery strikes again!

Always inspiring to see you doing so much work. With so many different and rare species. I try to do so but on much smaller scale. Today was licuala lautherback and Basselinia favieri

If indeed this is C mitis, obtained as Caryota sp., looks like C mitis to me, as a monocarpic palm will the flowering trunk soon croak?

Most of the ones I cut down are a little shorter than that . I cut one or two stalks every year or so. I have four clumps around the house , so there seems to be a flowering trunk or two every year. I like the look of them and it isn’t too hard to cut them . I do have one clump out front that gets large , probably over 15’ . I cut two trunks a couple of years ago and they had to be cut in sections. I can understand , they certainly are not self cleaning . It is more than just a trimming to have to cut trunks down . The one I tell people never to plant in their yard is Caryota Urens , they have a really bad habit of falling over! Mine fell and it never flowered. Harry ‘The C. Urens towers above the C. Obtusa . It fell over . Luckily the neighbor had left for work so no damage . It had just opened a beautiful dark green frond , no inflorescence ever appeared.

That’s a task that will never end, trying to find space for more palms!!!

I purchased three germinated L. weddellianum seeds from an ebay seller in Hawaii just over a month ago and thought I'd try to document their progress here with you guys. They were shipped in moist sphagnum and arrived quite healthy, each having about 2-4 inches of developed root and starting to show signs of their first leaf. They have continued to display robust growth over the five weeks I’ve had them, it's been great to see the first fronds develop multiple pinnae. I estimate these specimens to be around 2 months old. Pictures taken 9/22/22.