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Verschaffeltia splendida has always been my "white whale" palm — the one I find most beautiful, but also the one I'm least likely to pull off in my location. Here's an AI interpretation for fun (the trunk is a little squished, but otherwise nailed it!)... That's actually my palm on the whale's back, picked up from Rancho Soledad last week while grabbing another "Evansii." It was on the loading dock straight from Hawaii and had to sit there a couple of days for inspection. I came back for it, and now that it's settled into my living room, I'm very much having that "what have I done?!" moment. I already know outdoor survival isn't happening in my zone, so the plan is to try keeping it alive indoors. Right now I have a small humidifier aimed at it and I'm about to order a more powerful dedicated one for that corner of the room — open to suggestions! I did think about the bathroom for maximum humidity, but came across a post where someone tried that and still lost theirs, possibly from the humidity swings. So I'm leaning towards creating a less humid but more stable environment instead. From what I've read, supplementary lighting might not be necessary since it's an understory palm — but I'd love to hear whether a grow light would actually make a difference. Light is decent but does vary throughout the year (as the sun shifts). Totally willing to buy a grow light if you think it might help. So far all talk has been about humidity, so that's mainly where my brain is at. But lighting is of course another factor. The only Verschaffeltia splendida I've seen near me are at the San Diego Zoo and Sherman Library Gardens, both indoors in borderline "sauna" environments (with anthuriums, orchids, etc). I would love to be a third success story... but I also fully accept that I may have doomed this poor palm. Current status: Humidity in that corner is reading 70% (with the temporary humidifier running) Still in its original volcanic substrate and original pot, with one root poking out the pot I'm planning to move it to a larger pot once it's more settled — unless sooner is better? Watering with distilled water, but not sure how often is best, and whether to also water the stilt roots? Not currently getting any supplemental lighting, but bright indirect lighting from the windows. Any suggestions (even if you don't own this particular palm) are hugely appreciated!

If they grow that fast you might need to add a second story to that corner of the house!

At my old house I had a heated greenhouse . It was the only thing I found that would easily care for true tropical plants . I would let the temp drop to no less than 58f . Before I left for work , I would soak the pea gravel floor ( about 4” deep ) and by the time I got home in the afternoon , it would be near raining inside . I had a fan (oscillating) in the corner with a vent up high near the gambrel roof. I built it from an old Sunset book diagram . Unfortunately, we had to leave it behind when we bought our new house as there was no area that would accommodate it. The tropical plants all died , even with the best care I could give the plants . Indoors and outdoors in a protected courtyard , one by one ….gone. I do wish you better luck than I had . Tropical plants are very tough to grow in a temperate climate whether trying indoors at home or outdoors with protection . I did not have a Vershafeltia in there but I had a large Licuala Grandis and Spinalosa , Veitchia , Ptychosperma , as well as a few others . All of them looked awesome in the greenhouse and were pretty easy to grow , some in crushed lava. Good luck , that is a beauty ! The very first one I saw was in the Palmatum at Rancho Soledad. They had a couple of them in large boxes , fully stilted and quite lovely. If you have room , I recommend a greenhouse for growing tropical plants. It is like cheating. 🤭Harry

That actually looks like an ideal setup right where it's at.Keep the humidifier going,or the leaf edges will probably brown out but not enough to kill it. I suspect it may not like San Diego night time temps, even in summer, so keeping it inside is probably a great idea.👍🌴 aztropic Mesa, Arizona

Wow, great Dave! I’ve been waiting YEARS for the two of mine to start to trunk. Still waiting.

The plant I acquired as Encephalartos horridus Steytlerville form has a couple of flushes working. The main caudex is behind the next largest caudex.

My mature male (I think) Ravenea glauca tried to aid in reproduction and is now kinda spent, till next time around. Those inflorescences are kinda cool looking.

Eye popping palms in any garden if conditions are right. I have three in the ground, two growing on rock with very little soil. They are also the oldest, about 12 years from one gallon containers. Recently they’ve had growth spurts which means their roots have found fractures in the lava rock. They look impressive at any size. These are all M.darianii, photos of insignis would be awesome. Tim

Harry, my tropical palm trees haven't died. They live inside the house. No problem. You should bring the tropical kingdom to your home, my friend.

Beautiful specimens. I hope to get some Cycas revoluta very soon. I just bought two Pachypodium lamerei. They are gorgeous.

My two tolerate the chillier winter as long as it warms up, and lower humidity in the afternoon as long as it recovers at night. Low 40s stopped them growing, but its never for long here like there. I agree on that spot, the bigger issue will be when it gets too tall, mine started as 4 inch pots from Floribunda 2 years ago and are now 5 feet tall like that, so it doesnt take long at all to get a big one if they are happy. Good luck with it! But whatever you do dont get a phoenicophorium borsigianum, they will not grow below tropical steam bath temps at all, even here in central florida in a greenhouse i only get growth the hottest time of year, nights and days. The V splendida grows more in the cooler times though.

For those wanting an Aloidendron that branches early, you can't top Aloidendron ramosissimum. Here is the one I planted in March 2024, pictured earlier in this thread both in ground and in a pot.

I have a uresana slower to to than slow maybe 1-2 fronds a year!!

I’ll try to remember and post a follow up picture in about 5years and hopefully by then will start to see some branching. I’m so amazed by these things it makes me want to throw another one in my yard- LOL

I was driving away earlier from a jobsite in the northeast foothills area of town and happen to see a pretty good size Pachy with multiple branches. Might have been about 6-8 ft tall and about the same in diameter. Wondering if owners make sure to cover that thing on our coldest nights. The nice thing about Tucson is that freezing temps usually only last a few hours right before sunrise and shortly after. If there’s no cloud coverage, we get that nice winter sun to warm things up again.

Sorry my friend but I dont ship plants. Im just a backyard hobbyist with a full time job. I know there are plenty of people who do ship plants though. Best of luck! Steve

Pretty annoyed about St James Park being offline as that is the warmest station in the UK from March - October and likely the warmest spot today. Anyway, 34.8C at Kew Gardens it is. 34.7C for me here. London snapshot around 3pm… 594 DAM is currently over us. The same as in Saudi Arabia. The heat dome isn’t going away in a hurry either. A month from now in June, this same setup would probably produce 38-40C nowadays.

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

I could have added this under the Texas Palms thread, but I thought this might make it easier to find for people to find. If you have ever asked how fast will a newly planted Washingtonia grow in its first year, here are the results from my experience here in Texas: Planted last year on June 1st This year on February 1st after taking a bit of winter damage: And tonight, just shy of it's one year mark in the ground: With this filifera putting on this much growth in its first year, it kind of makes me wonder what a robusta could have done.

It has been another year since I planted my backyard Washingtonia. I thought it would be good to post another update so I can track growth over the years. Last winter saw an ultimate low of around 20F and freezing rain. While two nearby Sabal mexicana of similar size spear pulled, this washy did not. After its spears grew out though, it was clear that it did take some damage to the fronds that were emerging during the freeze. At planting around June 1st 2024: Then October 2024: Feb 2025: Then May 2025: December 2025: And today: I am 6'2" for scale (1.88 m for our friends outside the US) These grow so fast and so easily in this region, it seems no palm garden would be complete without one. I need to clear the grass back from the base, but I haven't prioritized it enough, since it continues to grow so fast...with no extra care.

Currently planting the last batch of Pseudophoenix sargentii seeds for my lifetime, and have more sprouts than I really need. Now offering some pre sprouted seeds through eBay, in quantities of 20, 40, or 100 as people prefer electronic payments, which I don't have any longer due to hacking issues. Prices start at $13/20 seeds. This is a slow growing species, so consider it a long term project to eventually produce some rare and valuable palms. https://ebay.us/m/9xNcPd aztropic Mesa, Arizona

sabal causiarum is the fastest palm in my yard. Water plus heat= over 35' in 15 years. All sabals are a little slow before trunking but in my experience causiarum is faster than any other sabal pre and post trunking. july 2011 it goes into the ground as sabal domingensis(later confirmed causiarum from inflorescences, fruits) then in early summer 2013 then in mid summer 2015, 4 years after going into the ground the leaves lengthened quite a bit. overall height 10' or so In summer 2020 it was well into trunking Today after I removed 15+ hurricane damaged leaves it stands tall, over 35' less than 40' All things considered, it put height on as fast as my fastest of two royals in that time. Bismarckia is also very fast for me. If sabal causiarum is growing slow it probably needs more water and less sun in Arizona. Bismarckia were slower in AZ for me, might be the dry heat slows them a bit. They didnt burn from heat but didnt seem to go vertical as they do here in FL. Bismarckia will be more sun tolerant of arizonas dry heat than any sabal except possibly uresana.

Well I'm sure that was a monumental task all into itself :)

It was a great trip, we saw some very nice palms, especially the Lanonia's. And really fun catching up with old friends and then meeting a few new ones. Jeff

The one I planted is on too its second leaf. After only been in the ground for ten weeks so encouraging. It has survived two winters so far in a hothouse, a bit of winter protection and we will see if it’s going to be the new talking point in the garden.

Thanks Dean, they both blow my mind every day. I should say several times a day. Tim

Couldn’t help it. It was looking so grand yesterday. Tim

All the time in Hawaii, although there is some variability

I’ll never forget the awe-inspiring entrance to Casa de las Palmas!

Thanks for the ‘bump’ Cindy, you can compare the difference that two years make. I actually noticed what I think is a spathe starting to poke its head out. First time, if it is a flower. Mike, I probably fertilized early on when the palm was small with a fertilizer with micronutrients, but I haven’t done that in ten years or so. I shred the palm fronds and spread around the base of the palm which eventually becomes mulch. So far so good. Tim

Nothing compared to the ones growing in Hawaii, but I am going to plant this one out in the spring. Been growing it for 3 years and it’s really starting to pickup the pace.

My insignes:

On Saturday, HIPS sponsored a tour of one of the Big Island's finest palm gardens. Bill Austin gave us the history of his working for Jeff Marcus, and how he acquired some of the amazing palms in his extensive collection. This pic of some of the HIPS tour group in a very Jurassic Park-like grove of marojeyjas gives you an idea of the scale of the 40+ year old plantings.

Dave - they do fine here in the Kona coffee belt. Here's a few in the garden. Shovel for scale in a few of the pics.

They don't make it for me, and I've tried a few. The late Dr. Darian had one at his place, which, while not big like the ones in Hawaii, was impressive enough. They're thirstier than multiple schools of Irish Fish as an Irish friend would have said. They're happy in Hilo, I have no doubt. Anyone ever try one in Kona?

Smol one. I boringly went for the green, not-undead variety.

Here’s the one I am growing in my Hilo garden. Love these and many more will be added to the new property.

These are a favorite. I have six of different ages and will probably keep adding more in years to come. My three largest ones were shredded in a storm last December. They will look pretty sad for another year until they grow a new set of fronds. They bloomed like crazy last fall, but apparently only produced male flowers. No seeds this time. Here is a five year old that started from a one gallon pot. It is located in a shady, sheltered spot. The fantastic entire leaves made it through the December storm without damage. The dense canopy forces the plant to stretch the leaves a bit more to collect the little light reaching them. I'm estimating the longest frond is around 12-14 ft high. For scale the large anthurium leaves on the right are each 4-4.5 ft tall. Marojejya grow fine in full sun here in Hawaii, but then the leaves are a little smaller and more easily damaged by wind. Too bad these are such water hogs and sensitive to cold. Every palm nut should be growing these, if only.... A Licuala peltata Sumawongii is photobombing on the right.

Here is the youngest one obviously growing in plenty of soil. A monster of a palm. That’s a 5 gallon bucket for scale. Tim

As requested. I dug one of them up I potted to take photo.

I had a few minutes extra driving so naturally took an exit when I saw a nursery sign! A non palm obsessed person with me asked me what the fruits were on the gravel below as I was looking at the pots on the benches. Yes, a fruiting P. henryana! I asked the first employee that I saw who turned out to be the owner, if he would sell me some seeds. He has tried for two years to germinate some and no luck. He threw in twice as many seeds when I said I would try to get advice here. He also had a Copernicia baileyana, a Beccariophoenix fenestralis and a Salacca magnifica! So please help with germination suggestions. I have 10 seeds and have them soaking in water. half float and half sink. For example, do I scarify or remove the outer warty coating or let it be? Thanks so much!

Three seedlings are up! It took about 7 months but none have rotted so I have hopes all will sprout. A forest of these sounds good. They are all protected now in my new (dare I say it) rat proof box. When first planted the rats unplanted a few but did not chew them. Taking no chances though as I lost a Roscheria seedling gnawed at the base last week and some other damage as well.

I had three seeds which went from Ortanique as a gift to the Central Florida PACS. I have no idea how they were collected, or how they were handled afterward. The seed sellers usually won't tell people anything, and often they don't even know anything to tell anyway. Good germination, Cindy.

Here's a quick visual of what to expect a few weeks after germination. The shoot takes up growth faster than the radicle at this stage, so allow as much height clearance as depth of soil, if germinating them in enclosed boxes.

Bill, the bumpy stuff is the fruit. It can be removed and the seed will look like what John is showing... Kathleen, I want to reemphasize the importance of patience on this one. I can't say anything about successful germination , but I can say I have a whole bunch of them for 6 months or so and none have germinated. I have only lost 2 or 3 so far to fungus and the seeds are still firm (and viable?). I am going to just leave them be for 3 years and keep my fingers crossed that they will grow one day! Good luck with you Pelagodoxa adventures! Update us when yours germinate!

This is a picture of the 3 seeds, with a US Quarter shown to scale. Each of them has the heft of a very juicy good sized orange (they weigh more than they look) Thanks for the info John. I want to avoid over-watering? I am assuming just don't let them get dried out but keep them humid. I PM's Fiji Jim to see if he has some ideas too. Bo, I did get back on - still feeling less than confident with the technology. When you put them in the boxes with the lid on, do you mean "tupperware". If you use a plastic container with a lid, do you moisten the soil, do a good squeeze to get it mostly dry and let it stay in there? How often are you checking on it. Does the moisture stay in and just recirculate in that nice moist environment? Most of the time I have just silly seeds that don't matter so much, I put them in a pot, stick them in the greenhouse and they normally germinate. No irrigation, the rains take care. Pretty careless gardening, great for lazy gardeners. But now it really matters to me that they germinate. Thanks for your help, Kathleen

Good morning Kathleen! Glad to see you were able to figure out how to get back on PalmTalk! I just checked my records, but unfortunately I didn't make a note of when I received the seeds. They germinated sporadically. In other words, some took 3-4 months, some took considerably more than that. I kept all mine in plastic containers with the covers on. Hopefully we'll have more responses here! Bo-Göran

Hello Kathleen, In my experience with germination, the seeds were supplied to me cleaned, as you can see at the bottom of this photo. It certainly won't do any harm to clean them, but that is something I've not had the option to try myself. As you can see, they are half-buried in moist compost, and the box has under-heating. Temperature range is about 75F-90F and obviously very humid. I had 5 seeds sprout in about ten weeks, but I hear they can take up to 2 years. I have 20 seeds in all. I keep mine in the box until the shoot is about 2" long and then pot them up in my greenhouse. They haven't grown much since then, but hopefully that will change in a few weeks time (roll on, Spring). I'm in a Mediterranean climate, so I have no option but to create mini-tropical environments to get some species started. My seeds came from a fellow forum member, FijiJim. He would be able to give you some good advice since he is in the tropics, and I think he cleans them himself. The only problem I have encountered so far, is damping off of two sprouted seeds, and the surface soil was barely moist. It was probably the cool temperatures this winter that did it. So yes, I would avoid top watering unless it is very warm and there's good air circulation. And before anyone says it, yes there is a labelling error in this photo, and it wasn't me - honest!