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Just one Sabal (burmudana) in my garden of well over 100 different palm species but I love it. The photo doesn’t show how massive it actually is very well.

My little eriospatha growing among the lavender has been in the ground for 13 years! But it only started to motor once the the big Canary date next to it was taken out 3 or 4 years ago.

Sabal’s are all over California. But certainly more in niche palm gardens. Many people don’t grow them here because of speed of growth (compared to other Palmate palms like Pritchardia), eventual size, they suffer K deficiency with the lower leaves unsightly yellow and brown, but also, a prevalent attitude toward them in Cali. To coin the palm legend Bob De Jong, they are “Sablah”. There will be another reason they won’t be seen more in Cali, the SPW loves them Also, both Washingtonias excel in high water areas. The issue with Florida comes from water-logged alkaline soil.

Hmm, interesting topic @SCVpalmenthusiast! Sabals as a group grow great in non-desert California and have a lot to recommend them. They’re tough and take the cold and they’re not fussy about soil. Heat is no problem outside the desert. They’re not spiny and won’t get that shaggy appearance that Washies often do, if you clean them once in a while. The trouble with them is they’re slow, and can take decades to form a trunk. Bismarckias are pretty too and a lot faster growing, which I think explains their much greater popularity.

These guys are all blooming now

BISMARKIA

Yes they’re always in or near water in natural habitat.

Hi guys. Yes Carpentaria acuminata will grow well in Perth. I lived in Belmont and had a few in my garden that were doing well. The new owners cut them all down. Tragic. There was/is a large trunking and fruiting one near the airport in Belmont. Also I remember another one that was fruiting in Belmont that was cut down while I was still living there. They love a hot spot, but need some protection from the worst of Perth winters. If you grow them against an east or north facing wall that holds the heat at night and blocks cold southerly winds they should do well. Feed and water regularly during the growing season. Let them be a bit drier in winter but if you’re in Perth sand that won’t be an issue. I always planted in compost rich soil, but the sand will always win. If you know how to work with and create micro climates Perth can grow lots of stuff that normally wouldn’t grow. In South Perth I’ve seen a trunking and healthy Adonidia merrillii that was also flowering looking like a Townsville grown specimen. I loved growing Carpentaria acuminata. I wish I could grow them down here but it’s a stretch too far. They’re great to grow from seed too. They have a beautiful black seed that looks like a bit like a mini Wodyetia to me.

Here are more tall Pindo Palms (Butia) in Jacksonville, Florida. Enjoy !!!

Sedirea (Aerides) japonica in bloom.

Cold is key to fungal infection, arizona soils are generally not very cold in winter since even when temps dropped to 21F in 2007 it was 60F by 2PM. Longer cold spells with too much irrigation can be an issue. Northern CA and coastal soils are much cooler in winters than inland Cal where everything dries out faster. Also there is Plenty of dry ground around those AZ washies to grow roots. If I grow one next to a slab, half the roots will see cont8inual moisture and half will not. Habitat for W filifera in AZ is at 4500 feet elevation NW of phoenix with steep slopes where water is very temporary from rainfall. No fossils were ever discovered int he sonoran desert where tempe is. ufl.edu https://ask.ifas.ufl.edu › publication › pdf Filiferas get root rot in Florida due to overwatering.

Three for the price of one, archontophoenix Cunninghamiana, dypsis saintlucei and Arenga engleri.

Ravenea glauca

One of Royals opening a new frond

Another tough dry tolerant palm. I would go so far as to say they prefer the slightly dry side in the ground. Having grown one in my garden that endured all sorts of conditions climate wise. They will drink as much as you give them, but also tolerate and even grow well in dry times not suffering. It’s taken my one around 26 years to flower, a few seeds so far but iam waiting on that big score for seeds sooner or later. Definitely one tough palm so get your garden looking even better with a saintlucei!

Butia yatay and friends under a mist halo a couple of weeks ago.

They don’t get any easier than the ramsayi. Super tough and a lot of tropical looking palm for your garden, just add water.

Sabal plants are beautiful and very tropical, some more so than others. I have Sabal Riverside plants, which are more resistant to Chile's freezing climate.

In a subtropical climate such as my climate winters slow them down. The big one in the picture is 27 years old and the other smaller one the garden has been there for about 4 years under neglect, it has picked up pace since I started ramping up on my irrigation schedule. So I would say a bit below medium paced not a rocket ship , up there with a kentia, you turn around in the years and hey you got a nice palm. Other licualas are quite paced in containers and around the same in the ground as ramsayi. Here’s a pic of a bracteata and it’s starting to get a move on after 3 years in the ground and at the rate it’s growing I would say a bit better than ramsayi. But all the other licuala love water in my garden. The lanonia (was licuala) dasyantha is the fastest of them all for me, you won’t stop them growing quite well paced!

Since there are a lot of pics from the Jacksonville area, I thought I would throw in a few pics of some larger Butia I saw last summer at Naval Air Station Jacksonville:

Three rare ones getting my attention today. Pinanga sp BorneoAreca ahmada licuala sallehana var incisifolia

A few from LHI.. Last one is a red leaf emergent fosteriana

Here’s one I’ve grown from seed. It’s been flowering about four years, and is just now developing seeds. It’s growing away from a big Beccariophoenix, & is surprisingly stout. Nor is it very tall, maybe 2-1/2 meters.

A nice looking palm the dwarf variety. They will never flower, the only way of propagating them is by cutting them up. This one you would get 4 clumps if you attacked it with a reciprocal saw. I might have to do just that!

NoMa/Capitol Hill (Downtownish, Washington, DC—Zone 8a This winter was absolutely brutal and relentless. It had been unusually cold during the day for many weeks (high30’s-low 40’s), and unlike most winters, there were virtually no mild breaks in the cold. My wife and I returned from 3 weeks in London, mid to late January, and returned to an ice ramp over top of the stairs leading to our front down. We’ve lived here, in different neighborhoods in DC proper, for a total of near 25 years between us. The year of “Snowmaggedon” was not one of those years. I had never seen anything like it here—6 inches of thick ass ice. Driving was a nightmare for two weeks. Oh, and there was that 2 week stretch of low temperatures that ranged from about 2F through the teens, depending on whether you lived in the burbs or the city. I’ve know for sometime that our neighborhood was likely one of, if not THE warmest location anywhere in the area. It’s consistently warmer than many places far south of here(particularly our minimum temps), like Richmond, Norfolk, Raleigh, Atlanta. Especially during severe cold snaps that affect the whole eastern seaboard.. Our winter minimum temp was 17.6F (2 nights), with many (about 6-7 others) in the 21-24 range during that same awful stretch. When normally we’d have some of our days “warm up” to 50 or so, this past winter it was few and far between. I had long since resigned myself to the fact that a lot of palms and plants were likely cooked-Butia, pineapple guava, maybe even a couple Sago. I never even questioned the Brazilian Passiflora Edulis vine that grew so vigorously, and yelled many lbs of delicious fruit from September to December—I knew that plant had ZERO shot. Until today… Out on the edge of our grass, next to our holly tree, 3 or 4 small, but thick shoots, about 3 feet high, as of April 18, with undeniable Passiflora Edulis leaves. I could not believe what I saw. I have no idea how the root system could’ve made it through the horrible winter—or that it could make it through any marginally cold winter in Washington, DC, heat island or otherwise. This plant is NOT hardy. Can anyone explain this to me? I’m completely at a loss for how this was even possible.

Leptotes pohlitinocoi with its first flower in my garden. It isn't putting on the same display that my Leptotes bicolor are but it is a younger plant. Maxillaria tenufolia is sharing it's fragrant blooms again too.

Congratulation on finding that Black Sphinx. I have one in my yard that i planted in 2018. I had my first full harvest in 2025, it took my 7 years to get that harvest. I have sort of a pedigree doc about the trees source dating back to the first one in 1928. Mine hasn't bloomed this year yet but it should push blossoms soon. I had 7 blooms on it last year and pollinated with male pollinator palm i had access to with 100% success. Absolutely love this date, i think its the best tasting palm date out there. Here are some pictures.

I can relate to the cost of water, although I have a bore for water , the electric bill is paying for that. I wouldn’t use crystals I know the o ez you’re talking about. What I would do is mulch and I would put a one inch plastic pipe about one foot down or as deep as you can get, this way it give the ground a deep watering. Also a 5 litre water bottle with a small hole in it to slowly drip out. But mulch is the go!

Bees are a welcome addition in getting attention! IMG_1608.mov

I know this is starting off on a bit of a tangent, but the fact that Nevada has native California fan palms is not up for debate. That was settled decades ago, and if we'd simply respected the Native Americans' autonomy to begin with, it would've never been in serious doubt. I digress though. The best way to find out whether Tennessee has native dwarf palmettos, now that I think of it, may be to ask the Cherokees. No one from 1838 is still alive today, but maybe they passed down their traditions through the generations and remember what was there when Andrew Jackson shamelessly drove those that didn't hide in the mountains west? Even if they weren't yet there during the Little Ice Age, that wouldn't be the end; there are also seemingly-wild palms in Hornsby, a more contentious Hardin County population in the ditch along State Route 128 and plenty of other rural locations in the state close to Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia they could be hiding. It's also possible dwarf palmettos may have naturally spread further north in the Coosa Valley since the Cherokees were unfortunately exiled from their original homeland. Still, the Cherokees surely could answer whether there were wild dwarf palmettos in Bradley County Tenn. in 1838, and if they say yes, that should put the dispute to rest and leave only Virginia as a source of contention. Article about Nevada palms for context: https://www.xeri.com/Moapa/wf-hr-foreword.htm P.S.: It's been over two years since I sent my email to MTSU about the Hornsby ones, requesting an expedition. Still no dice. I'm tempted to ask TTU, UT or ETSU, but it feels crueler to ask them to venture all the way to West Tennessee for something so trivial than it did to ask MTSU which is more centrally located, especially after even MTSU seemingly missed or ignored my email for this long.

Easy to grow and looks as nice as the most tropical Licuala - what more could you ask for? This one has done well for me in the pot since I got it, finally picked out a permanent spot for it. Excited for bigger leaves once it gets established.

Great info and that makes perfect sense. What they did back in those days is just so sad. But then it still goes on now. I’m glad they are looking a rehabilitating certain areas.

They are all over:

Everyone should understand that Spanish colonists also brought date palms to America. Spanish culture received them from the Phoenicians (Canaanites) in antiquity, and later from the Arabs and Jews. The date palm itself was already depicted in the great Temple of King Solomon when European civilization did not yet exist. Later, these Spaniards, dominating the West and discovering America, also discovered a paradise full of palm trees that you marvel at and which you also managed to conquer.

Final roll call as the days spring walkabout reaches the end.. White Rhatany, Krameria bicolor.. Flowers look like an Orchid but the genus lies within the same plant order ( Zygophyllales ) as Creosote, Guaiacum, and Kallstroemia < ....And Tribulus ..the Bleepin' Goat's head weed that wreaks bike tires ...and bare feet > Genus is also semi- parasitic, often growing near other stuff which it derives some of it's nutrients from. Tough as nails regardless and a ..somewhat twiggy / spiny < -ish > gem of a smaller bush if you can get it to grow in a garden. Erythrostemon palmeri, bloomin, and full of seed ..but not completely awake yet. Western Soapberry grove.. Unusual, South American Jatropha sp. with Pseudobombax - like leaves ( ..on others i have seen ), and Bursera - like bark.. Nice to see what the flowers look like before i pick up a couple.. Cottonwood gallery along Queen creek. Perlite / Apache Tears mine area in view in the distance.. The world famous, Ayer Lake Apache leap, and Boyce Thompson's House ..AKA: the house with the best view in the area.. Some scenes from the Picket Post Mtn Trail Access point nearby while checking in on some stuff there on the way back down the hill... Picket Post = One massive pile of Pumice and Tufa.. Superstition Wilderness in the distance Weaver's Needle.. ..Can't remember the name given to this particular formation.. Alamo Wash.. Dry, crunchy n' dusty, and not much going on out there now.. Hopefully not for long though. Despite that, quite a lot of Butterfly activity already. While some of them are gearing up down in the valley, no signs of budding on the Saguaro up here just yet.. Majority of Palo Verde are past peak bloom. Aristolochia watsonii ..Same specimen i've been tracking since 2021. ..Is also where seed for my plants / all seed sent to others from my specimens originated.. Dried up ( for now ) remnants of those infamous " Devilish Blondes " ( Proboscidea althaeifolia ).. Since it has been a few years, checking on the colonies growing out here to be sure they're still around / see if any are pushing early growth.. Appears this particular specimen got knocked around at some point over the last couple years and a section of it's tap root was partially unearthed and then damaged.. Will survive but, interesting being able to see ..easily, without needing to do much digging, just how thick the tap roots are on these. Signs of continued persistence in another colony growing in a different area ( Up on a hillside rather than on a gravel bar near / within a wash ). Fingers crossed, things look much different when i return in a couple months.. Looking west towards the table tops in the San Tans from Gonzales Pass.. Look closely enough and you can see distant buildings that represent the eastern edge < ..for now.. > of Queen Creek and San Tan Valley.. How long that edge holds will depend on how quickly the rest of Hwy 24 is built. Will connect the 202 in Gilbert, to Hwy 60 / 79 near Gold Canyon once that section is built. Will make the trips out here a bit faster too. Straight shot from the house, vs added drive time having to loop up and around Apache Junction / Gold Canyon currently.

I do believe the bellmooreana grow at a higher altitude than the fosteriana. Amazing pics in habitat I must go there one day. And that emergent red leaf puts any Calyptrocalyx to shame!

My own experience with Sabal when living in southwestern Mississippi was that S. palmetto and S. causiarum are quite fast-growing providing they are grown from a roughly one-gallon size placed into their permanent spot in the ground in an amenable position. I planted a half-dozen Sabal palmetto of that size around our house there ca. 2005. By 2014 they were about 10' O.A. and a 2024 Google Streetview shows them at about 25-27' (height of the house). Meanwhile around 2006 a friend there bought about a dozen good-sized field-dug (about 12') specimens from a contractor in Baton Rouge and had them craned in and planted in her courtyard. They grew very slowly and today are probably only a few feet higher than they were at planting, which I attribute to issues with transplantation in this genus. Caveat here being that I planted those small palms that grew so well in full sun with southwestern exposure. Others I planted in a north-facing courtyard position were only six feet tall when we sold the house in 2019! So position, sun, heat makes all the difference in the world. And S. causiarum purchased in one-gallon size from YuccaDo Nursery around the same time grew like rocketships, even in semi-shade. They were also as tall as the house within about 12 years. Meanwhile S. mexicana grew significantly slower (but still nicely) in our courtyard and I believe I had either a small S. uresana or S. rosei and a S. maritima in a good amount of shade that barely grew in about a dozen years. As far as California goes, there are Sabal species planted around here and there...the L.A. County Arboretum has quite a number that were planted I think in the '50s. They look fine in general after all these years but S. bermudana has always seemed to me to have a very nice and unique appearance in the cooler California climate areas, and seems to be the best adapted for those areas judging by its somewhat cool native locality (and per Jim's comment above, thriving in Los Altos Hills); with S. 'Riverside' doing very well also in the inland areas in particular. But it's understandable that they would never gain popularity in coastal areas where nights are perpetually cool and there are so many other choices that grow faster. There are quite a number of what I think are S. 'Riverside' here in the Palm Springs area...at the Indio Polo Grounds there is a large planting of very nice specimens I believe to be of the 'Riverside' ilk. Another one that I think is a 'Riverside' is planted in front of a house a couple of blocks from our house here in Rancho Mirage. I'm sure there are plenty more if you look carefully around the Coachella Valley. It's a fallacy that Sabal species need humidity. The only thing that humidity really gives them is a climate with automatic warm nights during the warm season. Since palms grow at night, and most Sabal really need heat, it follows logic that they are a perfect fit for humid areas with warm nights for maximum growth. But we also have warm nights here in the desert for much of the year, and many people in desert areas (quite a few documented in Arizona) around this forum have had good success I believe. I'm growing quite a few species but they're all small at present but seem perfectly happy from the low 30s to the mid-120s F. But again I think it's those warm nights that make the difference in reasonable vs. unreasonable growth rates. Here's the most recent (2024) Google streetview image showing two of those S. palmetto I planted back in 2005 in Natchez, Mississippi, 19 years from a one-gallon mail-order:

Maybe was greenhouse grown and not sun acclimated?

Repost of the tallest Thrinax radiata's I have seen in a local residence

A nice dypsis plumosa in the sandstone countryside and a Areca vestria not wanting to miss out on any attention!

The Atlantic Tall officially has a shot as it is putting out its first full-sized frond

Looks good @iDesign here’s an update on mine that was posted back in 2019 on this thread. I planted it in my “new” Garden in 2021. It’s now multi trunks, flowering and massive! Full Hawaiian sun, close to sea level. Maybe 100 ft elevation. Size 10 sandal for scale: here it is from the outside of my fence: And here’s what it looked like in 2019 after digging it up from my old garden. It stayed in this pot for 2 more years til being planted in 2021:

Wow, that is a bold strategy but definitely paid off, gorgeous palms. I’m sure they weren’t in a hurry for your neighbor’s irrigation to get fixed

Looks great! I have a P. Microcarpa as well that I continuously water. Grows much faster that way I’ve noticed. Do you have a picture of yours?

Bruce, That’s just my method. There are other Parajubaea in my neighborhood and the ones with very little summer irrigation are WAY smaller than the ones that get ample water. I’ve watered mine in 100° plus degree heat. One is growing right at the street where the asphalt get super hot at times. All of mine were planted as single leaf seedlings. Rarely a car parked there but here’s a photo of the palm. Neighbor’s irrigation would flood my Parajubaea’s area daily in summer. That went on for a few years until it was repaired.

Butia's in Augusta, GA: Butia paraguayensis - Butia odorata Butia seed variety: