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Mine puts on a bit of a show too.

Bit of an unusual trait for a flower to have fasciation. Somewhat of a different flower trait, not uncommon, but a bit rare. Definitely makes for an interesting bit of a conversation piece.

A spathe standing at attention on a Burretiokentia hapala.

A big pair on this one. The boys get some additional extension when they unscrew like this.

Just so everyone can play along Richard: This is now Arenga oblongifolia. Previously Wallichia oblongifolia. Before that Wallichia densiflora. I think you e mashed up the previous name a bit with the name before that 🙂 Great palm by the way. I love anything weirdly unique.

Seeds Gromet!! Harry

We have lift off, when I germinated 600 Chams the first one to germinate got labeled number one, i thought it’s gotta be the strongest out of 600 seeds, so I decided to keep that one special palm. It’s now planted in the ground. I know the feeling you have for those special seedlings. Sometimes it’s best to just forget about them and it’s a nice surprise! Richard

A few germination successes for some rare species caught my eye: Syagrus harleyi Syagrus campestris Syagrus cataphracta Pritchardia waialealeana

Two views of one of my Phoenicophoriums. Such a pretty species.

Cheese grommet! You gotta check out Shaun the sheep show, just as good 😂 Richard

They are show worthy, and not a small palm by no means.

Boys will be boys, at that stage they would normally be covered in the weevil that does the pollination, alas no weevil for you, only boys being boys!

With the wee people standing guard. Harry

It is fun , germinating seeds . The reward is amazing . The first ones I ever did were Howea F. . I had 3 in a pot that I sowed in 1990 or so. They are planted in my neighbor’s yard and growing nicely . Harry

Another group in Houston.

Local Sabal uresana. Some or all of mine came from these trees.

@Chester B Thanks for the update. Your palms look like they are growing well. Since I have Butia x Jubaea now myself, I like seeing more of what mine will like as I am taking my time to decide exactly where I want to put it in the ground. Can you remind me about what size yours was when you planted it out? I assume it went in the ground between two and two and a half years ago when you moved to Houston, correct?

Just an update of a comment two years ago, above. I always had problems with orange leaves. Some people said it was normal for the species and others told me it was due to insufficient fertilizer. Recently I have been trying to fertilize monthly using slow release 22-7-14 with micronutrients. Plus generous doses of pee. Don't scrimp on the urine! I have not bought fertilizer since the Iran war started, so I have no idea what it costs now, but pee is always a bargain. I still have some yellow-orange streaks in the older fronds, but overall I think it looks much better. The reflection from the perpetually wet glossy fronds makes it hard to see the underlying green. After a terribly dry 2025, I'm up to 94" (2.4m) of rain so far in 2026. If you are wondering why these don't look as good growing on the mainland, abundant rain is probably a contributing factor. The new plantings nearby are growing like gangbusters. For scale the larger one on the left has about 9 ft (3m) of trunk. After 5+ years of blooming, still no hint of fruit. A recently added Pigafetta with black bristles is lurking in the rear. As hard as it is to believe, FB produced the seedlings that grew into the 4 ft tall baby on the right starting with seeds collected in 2023 at the famous Carlsmith garden. With the proliferation of private palm gardens since around 1990, Hawaii is able to produce seeds for hundreds of rare species. Even for species that struggle to set seeds like Phoenicophorium, there is almost always somebody who has a tree with fruit. Judging with how quickly tropical forests around the world are being cleared, this might be just in the nick of time.

Looks like some decent caudex swelling which equals great root expansion!

I have a causiarum and the width of the crown is very similar to the uresana. The uresana has longer petioles and smaller leaves. I am surprised how much less shade it throws than causiarum which is also much less than bismarckia. The view up on my uresana appears most sparse of the three but it is wide, ~ 25' I think. biz crown Uresana crown lighter shade. Being closer to the uresana my lens cant get any wider(17-55mm cannon EFS crop frame). The uresana also has a thick trunk with leaf based on, similar to my Biz with a smooth trunk. The pavers are 9" on one side 11" on the other. I see 3 of them on the 11" side is about the thickness of the trunk base.

Triple 5 gallon metallica palms, $95, have about 5 -Joe 760-300-7339

A few of the palms this June. Sabal uresana, Sabal palmetto "Lisa" and Butia odorata to the right. Neighbors's CIDPs behind. Washingtonia robusta CIDP Butia yatay x Jubaea chilensis Phoenix sylvestris Bismarckia nobilis Trachycarpus latisectus

Original palm is not a pure Jubaea. Personally I don't think this is even a Butia x Jubaea. Looks an awful lot like Butia odorata var "Strictior" to me

Lepidozamia peroffskyana cone, the biggest one I have seen in a while!

how do i find a local group

My last connections , other than @DoomsDave was in the early nineties . The Sullivans , Karl Doebler , and John Talman , all of Ventura. John has passed on , Karl retired , and the Sullivans are no longer active. Harry

Howdy! I’m the past President of the Palm Society of Southern California, shoot me a pm if interested. @Darold Petty up in Sam Frank’s Disco can hook you with a Northern California group. @Harry’s Palms maybe you can hook him up with a central California group?

Yes I know the name change and all, iam kinda old school if I got it as fairy palm it stays a fairy pslm in my book. They are a fantastic palm though any a garden visitor asks what’s that pslm over there. Merc got the last batch of seeds of me, so there out there somewhere!

Someone like @DoomsDave or @Harry’s Palms can probably point you to a California group. This website changed a week or two back and the links are not the same as they were.

People, this is a great deal. Larger plants are hard to find. Also, not slow with rich soil and plenty of moisture. My plant pushes three spears at once!

Bismarkia

A couple of Ernie’s in the garden, one is 30 years old and the other is about 3 years old from @tim_brissy_13 growing quite well!

Actinorhytis calapparia. Tim

I’m sure they will be right at home! That R. Baueri will take off. It is about the size of mine and it is growing pretty fast here. Harry

A new V splendida leaf did…

Licuala mapu and licuala peltata sumowongii loving the rain.

Thanks!

Imagine if Don Corleone said that. . . .

Yike a Rooney!

Alas moisture is what I exactly miss here. Dead rats get mummified.

You have heat and moisture. Always best to recycle, though I realize it’s a lot of work.

Roystonea, Queen and Phoenix reclinata leaves were the bane of my existance in my previous garden. I had to cable tie them to the back of my wheelchair and drag them out of the way. Effective in dry weather but after rain the wheels would just spin and I would be going nowhere. Determined not to make the same mistake in the new house, I only planted palms with average leaves....or so I thought. The tiny Teddy Bear I planted morphed into a monster very quickly with some fronds hitting the 5 metre mark. Okay not as bad as former garden but with a postage stamp sized yard there's no manoeuvring room for the tie and drag trick. Everyone knows how averse I am to rampant consumerism so I had to force myself to suffer through the retail experience and buy a cute little chainsaw, with a 30cm 'blade'. I can now slice the big leaves into little sections and hide them under the mulch. Peachy

My giant Roystonea reemphasized how ginormous its leaves are, apparently in response to this thread.

I’ve buried my share of dead rats in the garden.

I wouldn’t want to under it when it decided to come down! Harry

Here’s a Roystonea regia leaf by a Chevy S10.

Maybe they've suspended enforcement of the rule. I'd be curious to know the reasons, so I can push back in case they try anything like that here.

Roystonea regia; they can weigh up to 70 pounds when they fall. Like 35 feet long including shaft-thingie.

Caryota Obtusa . I have to cut into several smaller chunks to fit them into the brown can . I move my cars out of the driveway and lay them down , then proceed to cut, cut , and more cutting. They are , by far , the largest fronds in my yard. Harry

"Snake Palm" on my property in Pepeekeo Hawaii. (What is the name of it?)