Leaderboard

Here’s a teddy bear going into rocket mode. It’s gonna gain a lot of height fast after this.

Huge inflorescence on an Arenga micrantha ready to pop at the SF Botanical Garden. Everyone else was there for the magnolias

Grew this little tacker from seed, you can definitely see it is not the run of the mill chamaedorea, they are special arenbergiana!

Out walking Sancho and I peek under the cedar tree And there's a little Sabal. I'm guessing a bird planted this one. I think it's been there for a minute. I can't get much closer with the camera because I've got to move back a bunch of other branches. I guess I need to clear out around it.

Latania

A stack of dypsis onilihanses seeds to give away! Weeping form of course.

McArthur palm. An Aussie native abroad!

Hilarious and tragic that the documented sighting in Sherman Oaks includes this note: "saved it from drowning"

Satakentia, trunk is clean, smooth, and straight as an arrow. Looking good in the afternoon sun. Tim

Chrysalidocarpus titan beginning to gain more height. No trunk yet, easily 15ft. tall. Had to get a pic with the blooming vireya.

Hey! I got a mexican fan palm just today, it's around 180cm tall, eith pot around 2m. I'm planning to plant it in ground on south wall in well draining cacti soil mixed with our native soil.

A nice bit of summer heat and sunshine along with a lot of irrigation has the garden holding up pretty fair. All the critters are out waiting to bite or sting or whatever they do, just waiting to get a hold of you!

Just harvested some seeds gonna plant all of them whatever they turn out to be. Any thoughts?

Dave , that is a beauty. I planted one in my courtyard when I move here . It didn’t last the winter here, of course there was no canopy at that time. Harry Edit: they were much more common in nurseries in the 90’s . I got mine at a nursery and kept it in my green house for years until I moved here. It seems they were as common as C. Lutescens back then . I don’t see them at all any more.

Hi All, I bought the D. remotiflora as remoltifolia. I does not seed this far south as it requires a warmer climate. When it still existed in Habit its temperature reqiluirement would be North of Brisbane It is not a Dypsis lanzeana which requires more heat than remoltiflora. Had mine for many years Hope this information and Pictures help Regards Colin 20260209_185807.mp4

I guess the old saying one year seeds, seven years weeds. Only with palms it will take about 10 years before you get any seeds with some varietys. Nice little collection you got there Harry! Richard

Funny as it is, I only planted one about 6 months ago. Just overlooked them. Crazy how Australian palms are so popular overseas, yet they are ignored in their own country.

Livistona nitida seems perfect for Houston. I don’t think it burned this winter or last in Pearland

Obscenities screamed!!!’ Hadda cut one of mine down, damn, hard assed wood.

This is the first cold event that I haven't covered it. I think from now on down to about 20 I'll let it ride, under that I'll still try to cover with some heat. It's just gotten too big to protect easily. It defoliated when we had 15 with no power in '21 even with a cover. Took forever to grow back.

The old saying never trust a farmer with a chainsaw, you gotta do what you gotta do!

Not a particularly exciting freeze update. After several winters with hard freezes there aren't many surprises and I've generally shifted towards adding duplicates/new colours of whatever is doing well for the various tropical perennials. Palms - Winners: Cham. radicalis (acaulescent form): ~20 plants, no damage, some of the more protected ones look to have kept their fruit too. Cham. microspadix: ~20 plants, no damage, under high canopy. My one large plant that I bought with several ~1 m tall canes and have complained about after the previous freezes seems to have finally toughened up. I think all the original canes have died and the new growth from the base is better adapted to the conditions. Rhapis excelsa: the most exposed leaves are fried, but otherwise fine. Palms - Neutral/Losers Cham cataractum (neutral): covered and protected with Xmas lights. Had to be severely pruned due to its size and now looks ugly. The only damage is what I did to it. Arenga sp. (loser?): ~10 plants. They made it through last winter without losing any leaves and finally put on some size this year, and one made its first offset. However, they were now too large to get buckets over them. I doubt any will die, but they are going to lose all their leaves which is a pain because they are slow. Tropical Perennials - Winners Justicia rizzinii: might have finally found a tropical plant which can shrug off a hard freeze and continue flowering. Going to be propagating a lot of this one. Callistemon phoeniceus: freeze didn't even damage the tender new growth, these have definitely toughened up. Tropical Perennials - Neutral/Losers Lobelia sp. 'Candy Corn' (loser): from Northern Mexico, was hoping this wouldn't get torched by the freeze. I assume it will regrow. Halleria lucida (loser): was in flower and just isn't getting the chance to form any solid wood with the annual freezes. Calamondin (loser): now have two of these and both sustained heavy damage. Everything else gets a 'neutral' rating: I expected them all to freeze back to the roots and I assume they will regrow in the spring. The various firebushes (Hamelia patens) are being watched. Several are going through their first winter and I have found these harder to overwinter than expected, especially the smaller ones. I regularly saw these in Austin pre-2021 (not sure whether they are still around) and they returned fine after normal winters there. Cham. radicalis. North facing and had to deal with all the wind. Cham. micrspadix. All the surrounding tropicals are completely torched. Arenga sp. The ones over the back with a bit more overhead canopy might keep some leaves. Justicia rizzinii. Have several in various locations and all are undamaged. They have had mild damage in previous years. Callistemon phoeniceus. Didn't even lose the new growth. Still no flowers though. I don't think they get enough sun.

Another flower coming on my dypsis saintlucei, and the kerriodoxas are loving the heat!

NOTE: In the temperature ranges below, the lower temperature in ranges typically comes from an Ambient Weather model and the higher temperatures come from a fan-aspirated Davis Vantage Pro 2. If there is no range, both stations were within a degree of each other. If you own an Ambient Weather station, know that the low temperature will be slightly depressed most nights compared to the DVP2. For a full write-up on the comparisons between these models: https://www.palmtalk.org/forum/topic/76970-weather-station-experiments-and-brand-comparisons/ Overall Winter Synopsis (thus far): This cold season started early and didn't disappoint people who love cold snaps. The first cold snap on 11/11/2025 brought the yard almost uniformly down to 36F. This was a full 8F lower than the previous daily record low of 44F here. 11/12/2025 followed with 38F-39F here. December 31st finished off 2025 with a bang as the temperature dropped to 34F-36F in various areas of the yard. Most of January was up and down, with cold events within typical norms frequently interrupting warm periods. The low for the month in the garden was 31F on 01/16/2026. The garden recorded a daily record high of 86F on 01/25/2026, while the airport crushed the previous record high by recording 88F on the same day. The cool-off came swiftly, with multiple nights in the 30s leading up to the February cold blast on 02/01/2026 that brought 24F with 13MPH wind gusts. This event was followed with consecutive nights of 26F-28F, 30F-31F, 38F-39F, 42F-43F, 34F-35F in the garden. The stats below summarize this section, using the DVP2 numbers for the garden temperature: Thus far, most coconuts and crownshaft palms look like they were hit with a blowtorch. Especially affected have been Archontophoenix alexandrae and Dictyosperma album 'conjugatum'. Most Adonidia merrillii, Wodyetia bifurcata, various species of Veitchia (arecina, joannis, winin), Beccariophoenix fenestralis, Roystonea regia, Ptychosperma elegans, Pritchardia thurstonii, Chrysalidocarpus prestonianus, Carpoxylon macrospermum, Hyophorbe (Bottle + Spindle), Caryota mitis, Chambeyronia (macrocarpa, oliviformis, various forms) and Satakentia liukiuensis are heavily damaged to defoliated (80%-100%). It's likely that any Adenium (Desert Rose) left outdoors is dead. More moderate damage (40%-60%) has appeared on Phoenix roebelenii, Beccariophoenix alfredii (some are undamaged), Latania lontaroides, Carpentaria acuminata, various former Dypsis (Chrysalidocarpus decaryi, lutescens, lanceolata, cabadae, pembanus, letptocheilos), Ptychosperma macarthurii, Syagrus schizophylla, Saribus rotundifolius, Cryosophila warscewiczii, Encephalartos ferox, and 2 x Thrinax radiata where the fans face the wind. Light damage has shown up on Howea forsteriana and Hyphaene coriacea in a few spots. No damage has appeared thus far on Coccothrinax argentata, Leucothrinax morrisii, Pseudophoenix sargentii (some in town do show damage), 1 x Thrinax radiata with fronds parallel to the wind, Chrysalidocarpus decipiens, Kerriodoxa elegans, Zamia furfuracea, Zamia integrifolia, any Livistona (decora, chinensis, saribus, muelleri, australis), Arenga engleri, Copernicia (alba or fallaensis) or pineapples. Medemia argun has no cold damage in the ground or in a pot, but they have other issues here. The typical bulletproof palm genera ( Sabal, Serenoa, Acoelorraphe, Chamaedorea, Chamaerops, Butia, Brahea, Syagrus, Phoenix, Rhapis, Rhapidophyllum, and Washingtonia) had no issues, either. This is why many of these were the backbone of gardens before Lethal Bronzing. Silver Buttonwood appears unaffected at this point. Trachycarpus is fine through this event, but is difficult for most areas to grow. My potted plants were placed in a cage near the Atlantic tall coconut bed and suffered no cold losses as they were completely shielded from wind by a cement wall and plants in all directions. As far as hardwoods, it looks like all of my tropical hardwoods will defoliate, but the branches feel solid. This includes: Ficus aurea, Delonix regia, Bursera simaruba, Mange (Glen), Avocado (Choquette), Coccoloba uvifera (Sea Grape). Philodendrons were laying flat on the coldest morning, but perked back up in front of the house. A few neighbors weren't so lucky. Their plants look like spinach. Crotons and Ti will likely defoliate, minus a few branches that were low enough to stay safe from wind. This cannot be considered a final report. The full extent of the damage won't be known for a significant amount of time. My hope is that everyone's favorites will recover and the rest of this winter won't be as terrible. That said, I have heard rumor that another similar outbreak is expected sometime in late February or early March. For now, a few positive photos: Areca vestiaria survived at Hollis since it is small and surrounded by really tough cycads. The former Lytocarium - now Syagrus weddelliana - did really well If the tree trimmers let it alone, the Satakentia near the parking garage should make it. A few of my coconuts show growth for now.

Further up A1A, Paradise Beach park https://www.wunderground.com/dashboard/pws/KFLINDIA326/graph/2026-02-2/2026-02-2/daily 1/31 34.3 2/1 26.2 2/2 32.7 2/3 35.4 Sea Hibiscus (Hibiscus tiliaceus) Coconuts are cooked, even on the beach Sea Grape (Coccoloba uvifera), I never thought I'd see them like that on our beaches. Spiny Fiddlewood (Citharexylum spinosum) last picture are sea grapes facing the beach

Another common one, but somewhat rare nowadays for sale! They make a great place for epithyts! The phoenix robelleni is here to stay especially in the cool climates.

Probably not that exciting for most palmtalkers, but a healthy Chrysalidocarpus lutescens in my neighbourhood is not common at all. Probably the largest one I know of in all of Melbourne. North facing wall, less than 1km from the beach. The popular opinion is that they don’t grow here but can do ok if conditions suit.

A spot of pruning and turning around the old kerriodoxa was beaming. And the sallehana is starting to put out a new leaf and likes its new home!

Really hoping the winter temps in the central valley and northern CA stop these from encroaching further north. I'm reading that other related palm weevils are killed and harmed below 50F, so I'm really hoping this weevil is at the northern limit of its possible range and doesn't continue to expand much north of LA or inland from the coast. It seems the most likely progression of these might be northward along the coast - San Fernando Valley, Ventura, Santa Barbara, Santa Maria, San Luis Obispo... then? it might be too cold for them north of that. Certainly too cold for them in Monterrey. This is where you begin to see coastal redwood habitat which is cold and foggy/gloomy. They certainly wouldn't cross Tejon Pass in fall/winter/spring - and if they do cross in summer, our winters would kill them I would hope. Would be a shame if they start attacking the Joshua Trees in the high desert.

coldpalm i really highly recommend them sometimes shipping to greece can be a little delayed but the palms stay just fine and healthy i ordered phoenix reclinatas and p.reclinata x canariensis plus silver queens these should do pretty well in my area

Which seller? All of them look very healthy.

My queens are still mostly green. Most of the small queens I've seen around town are still mostly green too 😝 I'm looking forward to the repopulation of queen palms. It's looking way too much like Myrtle Beach around here lately

A very nice stroll . I had a friend that lived there years ago . When I asked how he liked it , he said “ lovely , except most of the critters can kill ya” . It seems you are having no problem cohabitating. Thank you ,Harry

Wow Colin that certainly looks like the real deal based on the inflorescence. Do you know if there are any further north which have set seed?

I really hope that your beccariophoenix fenestralis will recover. What a rare, absolutely beautiful palm.

Another warm day in the east valley of AZ...high of 83F and low of 57F.

Any interest this year? Mixed species (maroon leaf, red crown-shaft). .35 each or $30/100 Beachpalms@cfl.rr.com

The beaucarnea trunk was wrapped in heater cables and a large tarp was put over it. It probably would have been ok with just a tarp in these temperatures, it looks like the leaves may have some burn though.They are fast growing in wet humid climates, that was a 5-10 gallon maybe 4 years ago . Here it is in May 2022 compared to now. You can’t tell but it has two trunks now.

It's funny, I still want to plant it but I kinda don't now that I know it's irreplaceable.

@Husain Quite lovely ! I saw a few varieties of the Latania Palm when I was in Hawaii , even gathered seeds while I was there but they never germinated. Harry

So i do believe the fallensis and gigas WILL recover from 29,25,23 uncovered. Heres yesterdays pics

Beautiful healthy looking kentia if I do say so myself, they are quite tough the old kentia, you got them down pat as they say good growing! Richard

Thanks for the update. I guess this could be considered a "Zone Defining" event. I have a 40' tall Royal palm that has been growing at my Orlando area home for 24 years. It is mostly fried. But, I believe it will survive as the growing bud is so high off the ground. But, it will take months to regrow the crown. Thanks again for the quick response. It will be interesting to see if any of those coconut palms along A-1-A beachside may survive.

I think the winds were just too strong on this one and microclimates didn’t make a difference. When I used to drive here I would have to look for the exotic palms, now I just look for brown and that’s how I spot them. An unbelievable amount of fried exotics in new Smyrna, right close to the beach. Arecas, royals, foxtails, spindles, bottles, coconuts. All fried. Only thing that seems to have made it is queens, Washingtonia, and sabals I know like a lot of us zone pushers I was hopeful driving through areas like this in the past but this is eye opening. After this freeze my perspective has completely changed, I will always have a few exotics but it will be a much smaller collection now. Now looking for cold hardy tropical looking palms for my main palms such as beccariophoenix alfredii and maybe some ribbon palms. Already have queens and Washingtonia Too devastating of a loss in the yard. Lost all my juvenile exotics

Generally the area hit 25F on day 2 and 29F on day 3. The coconuts are completely roasted. About half of the palms cultivated in the area are defoliated. The first batch of pictures is from roaming around Turkey Creek in Palm Bay, of damaged plants that grow wild. Here are freeze damaged giant leather fern (Acrostichum danaeifolium), Florida Butterfly Orchid (Encyclia tampensis), and Golden Pothos (Epipremnum aureum)

When I spray with fungicides I do it in late morning, when temperatures are high enough but there is still plenty of time for the spray to dry out before evening. I don't think it will stay wet till the night.

The Florida seller offers two different variants. One that is green but eventually shifts to green gray, and a more silver form. They get bluer and more silver with age. Intense sun definitely helps . I have 1 green-grey from them in Pearland and 3 of the silver variant in Lago Vista, although they hate alkaline soil and may eventually croak from a combination of that and the cold. I add soil acidifier for now. Above is the green “Butia x Jubaea hybrid”, which is obviously just Butia

One more Cyprian cocos planted by a little old Asian lady. Ten years in the ground - purchased at Ikea. 35 degrees North lattitude.

Here is an update on the FB 1 gallon planted three years ago that almost died shortly after going in the ground. It is all recovered and doing fine. This morning I was going through the garden with an umbrella (58" of rain in the past 31 days) and noticed the new leaf had just opened. I have several species that are purported to push up new red leaves, but most of them are pretty disappointing. This is by far the most striking one that I have. Hope new leaves keep flashing this intense color as the tree gets bigger. The red lasts about 3-5 days.