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Here’s one tough palm the decaryi. While not the most of cold tolerant palms it will take a fair few degrees of low temperatures. Give this palm plenty of room to grow as they can get quite big. Dry tolerant, I have some in between sandstone rocks on a steep site that is rather dry at times with a lot of sun and heat in summer. A popular palm, they may be common but the colour of the leaf bases in sunlight is one feature that keeps them coming back into gardens. The triangle shape is another great characteristic that makes them likeable. I like them and even planted a couple more in the garden today. I may like my understory Uber super tropicals but for a palm that takes a beating in all sorts of climates, it’s a winner in my garden!

This VERY fast growing Kentiopsis oliviformis (now classified as Chambeyronia) showing its first ring as of last month. This is one of three of this species in my garden and the other two are WAY behind in growth despite being the same age and growing in the same conditions. This one in the pictures was planted as a one gallon plant just five and a half years ago.

I agree with @happypalms . The best time to plant a palm was 20 years ago, but the second best time is today. Looking forward to watching it grow up @idontknowhatnametuse !

I finally got a palm planted this afternoon. I’ve been waiting for cooler weather but it ain’t happening so impatience won. I came home with this palm after visiting @DoomsDave a few weeks ago. It is one of about 5 or 6 palms I adopted. This one is just a bit of a push for my climate but I’m pretty confident it will be fine. I chose a nice spot that only gets sun after about 1:30pm and only for about 3 hours this time of year. As it grows , it will see just a bit more . Palmpedia says these like a warm tropical to sub tropical climate and like a rather sunny location. Digging holes in rocky soil with many mature palms sending out feeder roots is a chore , especially in 89f temperature! I dug out three fist sized rocks and chopped through a bunch of roots . There will be enough room in this spot for a few stems if it decides to clump( very likely). Harry It doesn’t look like much right now but in a few years, it will be looking great! If you are growing this species , post pics so I can dream!😂

They are almost prehistoric looking ! I have two that I planted a few years apart . They aren’t super fast growing here , but steady . Mine were about the size of your little potted specimen in the photo. I’ve watched them grow over the years and they are so different from the other palms . The fronds maintain the triangular shape by repeatedly opening on the same plane as previous ones . The purple tomentum and silvery color , plus the “strings” that hang down give the palm a very exotic appearance. Harry A perfect spot for a nap . The wee folk of the garden have claimed this one! This one is not near as lush as the one I planted in the front where there is a bit more shade. I found that the shade has benefitted this one . I also figured out , last year , in between rain events is the best time to pull leaf bases off! This area , out front , has a very diverse leaf type of palms planted close together . Roystonia O. , Chambeyronia M. , Caryota M. , Syagrus R. , and Archontophoenix A. . Throw in a few Howea for good measure! 😊 I do find it interesting that high humidity ( Hawaii ) , tropical is not their preferred environment. They seem to prefer a more temperate or sub tropical home.

Dypsis mirabilis with strings of pop beads. Tim

Dypsis Plumosa

This is a species I often collect seeds from locally and grow. They are fine with my dark soil, but I've managed to grow them in pure expanded clay hydroballs and in a concrete pile. They seem to prefer a drier climate. If anyone in the desert or semi-arid areas is looking for something worth a shot, this would be it in my opinion. They have seen mid-20s here with damage, but in a drier climate, it stands to reason they could handle a little bit lower with some leaf damage.

there is no transplant shock because it was planted, not transplanted. Transplanting involves cutting of roots of an in ground palm. It is a beauty though! Keep us posted on this one!

Chrysalidocarpus saintlucei, surely qualified for this one.

Yes, I did get it from Phil back in February 2018, and you can read the label below. From my perspective this has been pretty fast growth given that this genus tends to be a smaller palm (compared to Copernecia, Pritchardia, most Brahea and Sabal, which are all fan palms). I should get a copy of Paul Craft's book as a reference as well as a few other palm books. I will definitely check out the Cocothrinax miraguama. I will have to post my other Cocothrinax from Phil about the same time. My other Cocothrinax specimens came from George Sparkman a couple of years earlier as I recall, but the photo records are my best resource on timing.

Better weeds than human pin cushion ! Harry

A species that probably doesn’t get much attention on here - Gaussia maya. It’s been bulletproof for me on a north facing brick wall which probably helps with additional heat retention. Love the chunky base, will look great when the leaf bases start to fall off.

My chamaedoreas are flowering again and these little tenella are gorgeous palms to have. The male and female are pretty easy to tell the difference between them. If they are seperated in the garden just collect the male pollen when ready, and then when the female is ready dust away, you can store the pollen in the refrigerator if the female is not ready. Daily observations is all that is needed for a successful pollination. Female male

Coccothrinax are a splitters dream. So many variants and hybrids to nitpick. Most in the US are, or are hybrids of, barbadensis, miraguama, and to a lesser extent borhidiana, and crinita. When you get out to California, from general sellers especially, it’s going to be the common ones or common hybrids. Palmpedia can’t identify them correctly, and I’ve got a bunch, from reputable Cuban Palm sellers, and 1/2 of those turned out to be misidentified hybrids. So I approach them like a good lumper, hopelessly, like I approach rarer crotons now…. I lump them into broad categories for the most part. If you like it and it looks great, I’m not sure it matters. That being said, yours looks very much like my, Miraguama ssp roseocarpa, which looks nothing like Miraguama ssp miraguama. A couple of years ago…. Now 9+ feet to the tips…. Note the leaf….

There’s always something to look at in and around the garden!

Indeed they are deciduous in my climate. They hold on for as long as they can, once they start dropping that is when I know the weather has definitely changed into winter. They hold on next sign I get in my garden is the clivias flowering once I see that happening winter is definitely over, two great signals I look for. It’s been a fairly mild winter this year a good sign in a way for palm growers. But a definite sign that we should taking notice of for the planet, is climate change real they say, well I guess time will tell! Richard

Growing fast, this photo is one fay after it was planted. I still don't see any transplant shock and the spear is growing faster than it did when it was potted. The palm was root bound and was difficult to get out. I didn't break/move any important roots.

Ouch sorry to hear!!

It's doing pretty well, all things considered. I lost most of the Chambeyronia, Archontophoenix, and Veitchia, but my two large coconuts are still kicking. Overall survival in the yard was around 67% or 2/3rd of the garden. Considering all of the crownshaft palms and other sensitive species, that's not bad. My replanting scheme is going to include a lot of Brahea and Livistona species so I can enjoy myself more when it cools off. The threads below cover the damage in my area pretty well. This way I won't completely hijack @JLM 's thread My own personal thread: https://www.palmtalk.org/forum/topic/52296-palms-and-others-of-interest/ February 2026 cold damage thread: https://www.palmtalk.org/forum/topic/92659-2026_02-florida-palmageddon-observations-and-damage-photo-thread/?page=10 Threads for the municipal gardens (Still in the process of getting updated photos) : Downtown: https://www.palmtalk.org/forum/topic/94081-downtown-lakeland-lakeland-fl/ Lake Hollingsworth: https://www.palmtalk.org/forum/topic/93816-lake-hollingsworth-lakeland-fl/ Lake Wire: https://www.palmtalk.org/forum/topic/61996-lake-wire-lakeland-fl/?page=2 Common Ground: https://www.palmtalk.org/forum/topic/61890-common-ground-lakeland-fl/ Tigertown: https://www.palmtalk.org/forum/topic/75211-tigertown-lakeland-fl/ Hollis Garden: https://www.palmtalk.org/forum/topic/18482-hollis-gardens-lakeland-fl/?&page=2

Dioon mejaie flushing today

mine is Dioon mejaie flushing today

@Estlander Your place looks wonderful!

@Harry’s Palms if it grows for me it should also grow great for you. Looking forward to lovely future pics.

Nice one, who needs patience when you’re a palm grower. Just plant em in the ground, my motto is if there is no frost in the garden or threat of frost, then the best time to plant anything is 20 years ago! Hot, cold, wet, dry to me it doesn’t matter. If the plant has survived these conditions in a container already in the collection then it’s fair game for planting in the garden, keep em coming Harry, there’s always room for one more palm in the garden, somewhere 🤣 Richard

That "Jungle Music argentata" is certainly not argentata. I used to live in a forest of them on Big Pine Key and we had large specimens on our property. C. argentata doesn't have those beautiful, neat, light-colored mummy-wrappings you show here, Tracy, and what fiber argentata does have doesn't extend down that far below the crown; and the leaves have a different form, they have a bit of a wave and the tips droop, it's not one of the "stiff" Coccothrinax. Also, I think you'd never see C. argentata attain the sizes you have here, when grown in coastal SoCal, in any reasonable time-span. It is slow even in a tropical climate. But these also don't look at all like the C. barbadensis/C. alta I know, which, as Bret notes above, doesn't have a blade fully encircling the hastula (mine here only cover a little over a half-circle). Though it's the species I always expect to see growing near the coast, since it may be the fastest-growing. This is why it's the one you really find in the trade in Florida on any sort of scale (often sold there as C. alta), it's maybe the only profitable one to grow. I have quite a few of them here in Palm Springs and have acquired them both from Phil and from Florida sources...and they match, so I think what Phil has sold (at least recently) as that species, does seem to be accurately labeled. I remember several decades ago, it seemed the most common one you'd see in SoCal was C. miraguama, and I have a feeling that may be what this is. The mummy-wrappings in particular on your beautiful specimen. I planted a miraguama at my old apartment-building in West Hollywood in the mid-90s (probably bought from Phil), and this looks somewhat similar in my memory, I remember how beautiful the wrappings were...unfortunately that one was removed at some point in the intervening years so I am relying on old memories. Some of the photos of miraguama on Palmpedia really resemble yours, though of course you have to assume that their pictures are accurate as well. But you might want to try to key it out in that direction (and note there are three subspecies with differences in the fibers...see Paul Craft's book on the Palms of Cuba). Phil has also carried C. montana in the past...I bought a "Coccothrinax sp." from him a year or so ago and spoke to Ricardo at the nursery about it, he said in his recollection they had carried C. montana in the fairly recent past, and I am inclined to believe what I bought there as "sp." may be that one, but it's very stiff, definitely looks different to me from what you're all showing here. Hopefully someone with some good Cocco-chops from Florida will chime in here with a more authoritative idea. This genus is a really underused one, in my opinion, just the right size for home gardens, especially courtyards, and I wish there wasn't so much confusion with all the species (and that more species were readily available)...also I wish they grew a little faster, but at least there are a couple of them that grow well in a variety of climates. The nice thing is that they're very ornamental from youth, so there's no reason to decide against planting them and enjoying them, at any size.

Hey! I bought one from Phil as well . Mine was not labeled and when I posted pics here I was told it was C. Barbadensis. Mine is about the same size . It grows slow and steady. Jungle Music had a few Cocothrinax species when I was there about 20 years ago so not sure if mine is the same as yours. Very small when planted and full afternoon sun . The fronds on the one I got don’t stay stiff and tend to relax with age . It has an orange-ish hastula . Harry Trunk is pretty typical Cocothrinax The fronds are more relaxed a year or so after opening Orange colored hastula. I’ve got this one labeled Cocothrinax Barbadensis. I was at one of Jungle Music’s sales many years ago and Phil had some that had no label and were too little to identify . These pics are from when I posted a while back ( couple of years?) . Someone on PT said it was Barbadensis. Since these photos were taken , and seeing others , I started giving it more water and feeding it . I believe mine is a different species than yours.

I guess this could be considered a ring! @tim_brissy_13 here’s another Gaussia , sharing the spot light here in Southern California. One of my recent acquisitions. Harry Gaussia Gomez Pompae . I peeled the leaf base off when I got it home. So far , I believe wifey , who loves my palms but not like me , has claimed this one . Probably end up in a sunny spot later this year. I think somewhere out front , they are so cool , they deserve attention for sure.

While definitely not its first ring, I’ve always loved how defined the growth rings are on Hyophorbe Indica. -dale

Hi there, I had already the impression that there was something going with one of my seed grown Bismarckia's but couldn't make it out from the accessible side. So, I approached it from the backside - I had to work myself through a couple of weeds grown already men-high close to the fence but got finally rewarded... First pic,... Back in September 2020 after being planted out. Here it is now... ...and here approaching it from a different angle: Well, still not really clean but I think we have got some 'evidence'.... 🧐 Lars

Rhopalastylis Baueri getting the ring. Planted out as a small 15G in the winter of 2020 it’s grown way more than my other Rhopalastylis. This one is happy. -dale

I originally bought this copernicia alba from Ken Johnson. It had 3'+ of trunk in mid august 2011, with a tiny crown due to sitting in 90 gal pot for years. Ken said nobody wanted it and he recommended it to me. It was delivered with a few other specimen palms(C oliviformis). Over the years I notice that each year a bunch of spears(~10 or more) at the same height rose up and pushed the previous years leaves down towards the horizontal. The new leaves open pretty quickly when the palm is ready. They can be seen separated against the sky fromt he old ones in a cluster. It reminds me of a new flush of flowers. SO I use the term "flush" when a good number of leaves open is quick succession( a couple weeks). A couple days ago against a story sky but some sun peeking through at my back I took a pic to show the "flush". The only other palm I have that does this is P, rupicola. The rest take a week or more between the opening of spears. This palm was hit by Hurricane Milton and lost some was as leaflets were bent. It was one of the better performers of the well exposed palms in my yard. Here it is with the dead leaves from Milton still hanging on. You can see this years flush is separated from last years by angle to the horizontal. As you can see its in sandy soil and has a little clay underneath at 2'. Its not in a wet spot irrigation or soil wise, and it did suffer in this drought but looks ready to go after the recent rains. The leaves are now self shedding to a smooth trunk the latest 3' of trunk(out of view here). Does anyone else out there have an alba story or a newly planted alba?

I wouldn't cross off Licuala species from your list, just cross off L. Grandis. That one is a zone 10 palm. I have Ramsayi, Sumawongii, Distans and Spinosa. They all did great at 22.5F, with minimal damage on most. Only the three Ramsayi in full sun took some significant burn, but the Ramsayi in shade took 0 burn. My two Grandis were burnt to a crisp but are still struggling to put out a new frond 6 months later. All will need some PM shade except maybe Ramsayi, which seems to be adapting ok to full sun. Copernicia Alba took no damage, but Baileyana, Gigas and Fallaensis took a lot of burn but survived and are growing back fine. Arenga Engleri is a goof hardy choise. Dypsis Decaryi (Triangle) is the only one that survived. Pembana, lanceolata, Leptochoilos, Lastelliana, all D-E-D. Lutescens is slowly groing back from the roots. Attalea Speciosa, Brejinhoensis, Phalersta and Cohune were all badly burned but survived. Cohune is the wimpiest, speciosa is probably the toughest. Chinese Fan is a great foundation palm too, along with others like Decipiens and Nitida. If you like the fan palms then they are all hardy and could be good for long-term shade. So is a silver Bismarck, and many Sabals like Palmetto, the "Lisa" mutant, Causiarum, and many others.

Your mule was pretty amazing Allen. I have really enjoyed many of your videos as well. I am only planning to protect for the first year or two if some nasty (by TX standards) winter weather is predicted. My first two winters here have both had some freezing precipitation, which is not the norm according to the locals. On the other hand, it has only been lows of around 23F and 20F. So I am hopeful I can get this established before we get anything too ugly. I know of a home pretty nearby that looks to have at least one mule in the backyard that are in the 6 to 8 ft of overall height range. From what I can tell freezing rain and 20F caused 40 to 50% from damage. It has recovered quickly though.

Let’s hope for better winters going forward! Statistically, we should have warmer ones lined up after these last few colder ones. Definitely go with the Mules, they’re great. Yes, the droopy one looks awesome. Sadly, out of the four that I have only one has the droopy characteristics. Seems to be a rare trait.

Surprised the rostratas didn’t bloom This year as they all overwintered with no hiccups. Hoping next year they bloom up good.

@SeaLaVie that property you have is amazing! With all that open space, I'd start planting a bunch of live oaks first and foremost. I've found that when grown in tighter spacing, they can actually fill in an area pretty quick. If they're planted 20' apart then you're not waiting for one tree to shade the entire area, which can take a lifetime. Instead each tree only needs to have a 20' crown and they'll all work together to shade a huge area. If you planted a bunch of live oaks, I'd bet you could have great shade and canopy coverage in 10 years. I'd also bring in a bunch of the mature sabal palms. Then you only have to wait ~3 years for their crown to grow back in and you've got mature palms. That'd give you alot more options in the future for plantings.

yeah another of my palms in the process of growing taller than I want. I like them right where they are at 8'+ trunk.

My Carpoxylon caught my eye, I think I’ve had it 3 years ish…

Chelated iron does more than supplying missing iron. It is a pivotal element for absorption of NPK and other minors. So getting nice flushes around the application of iron is a result completing the missing key to other trapped elements.

I must have a palm from the same source. I bought mine from Jungle Music as well. I've seen your previous posts about it and have wondered if there was any official ID.

I have one too!

Tracy, was that a Jungle Music purchase? I have a spitting image from them; argentata if I recall..

Similar to @flplantguy, I'm west of US-27, so I consider the location West Central FL. Here on the ranch, the only survivor is a Chambeyronia oliviformis (syn. Kentiopsis oliviformis). The Houailou held on for dear life for a while, but eventually gave up the ghost. The Chambeyronia macrocarpa and the Watermelon variety died about 2 months after the cold from their injuries. There may be some survivors in the city gardens, but we'll see as my schedule permits. My guess is that there are probably some survivors on the east and southeast sides of large lakes in Orlando. A few of those locales stayed at or above that magical 26F mark where stuff like these tends to skate by with some damage.

If you're looking for other varieties of bamboo, I have Dendrocalamus validus, B. textilis mutabilis, B. chungii barbellata, Triple hybrid Dendrocalamus latiflorus x D.daii x B.textilis and B. guangxiensis. Even though everything just started shooting, I may take some divisions as I need to clean up many of these.

Chrysalidocarpus Robustus with shoe for scale.

A couple of palms getting the ring in my New Caledonia planter. Chambeyronia Houailou: Kentiopsis pyriformis:

So happy you are ok and the plants are recovering somewhat. I think Pritchardia are a bit more hardy than some think , I never expected mine to do as well as it is. Hopefully soon yours will be pushing along at a normal clip again. The fact that it survived is really saying something. Four fronds a year sounds about right for a healthy specimen in Southern California . Again , glad you are ok , thanks for checking in and progress report . I can’t imagine going through what you ( and your plants) have had to endure . Harry

So sorry for your loss. That’s heartbreaking stuff. As others have said leave the green stuff alone and trim off the dead. My advice would be to go gentle gentle with the fertiliser and maybe head towards the seaweed fish emulsion direction and give them a good drink with that regularly. There’s plant growth hormones in that, which is missing from an NPK fertiliser. They need a tonic to give them the will to live. That and time will help. All the best.

Looks like the area is ready for a joint tour by CFPACS, FCPCS, and SEPS.