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Not entirely true... Over time, I've learned to never say never when it comes to a particular plants survivability. Both the Jubaea and Parajubaea CAN definitely be grown in the hot, dry, desert.They may not look California perfect, but they don't just die, either. Arizona summers are notoriously famous for having over 40 days a year at 110F+, with several nights where the low temperature is still in the 90's F. I have both species planted in my Arizona garden for over 15 years now. The Jubaeas actually do fairly well in Arizona, so much so that our local moon valley nursery has imported and sold dozens of them over about the last 5 years. I started a batch from seed myself in 2016, (last few available are in 15 gallon pots) and have also sold a couple dozen of these trees locally. Growing in full sun, the only thing I notice is that they do yellow up just a bit over summer,but the yellowed fronds actually do green back up over the cooler winter. Parajubaea,on the other hand, while it will survive here, burns considerably over the summer, although producing about 4 new fronds over the winter, so only looks good about half of the year. We have already had several days around 110F this year,and you can see the burn setting in.🤷‍♂️ While I would recommend a Jubaea for my area, I would caution against a Parajubaea, as it will not live up to its potential under our extremely hot summer growing conditions. aztropic Mesa, Arizona

The utilis a garden favourite of mine, this one is around 26 years old, endured many a dry spell and heat along with seeing temperatures around 2 degrees celcius. It’s proven itself in my garden as a nice exotic palm that’s super tough. Catch them at the right time and they have a glorious colour to their new leaf. There aren’t many palms that split their trunk dichotomous is the word I think. A lovely palm with a few strange traits.

The Chambeyronias throughout the garden are pushing new leaves, a welcome bit of winter colour!

Thanks. Appreciate that. Here is a picture in 2016 when I initially planted it. You can see the sprouted coconut to the right in a pot. That's the red spicata. Good growth in 10 years. Queens are gone and old man palms died when hurricane Irma broke a small one at the base and the other died of fungal infection...crown rot. Garden has been added to over the years. Behind this there is more....tri bear, Fiji fan, sabal Lisa, bucaneer, a couple Chambeyronia oliviformis...just can't see them in the pic. They were added in 2017.

Yeah, reckon they'd cook without a cool down at night. @kylecawazafla Livistona mariae, L rigida, L alfredii would all handle the heat, if you could keep the water up...I'm sure you already know that though!

I finally got around to building (assembling a kit) a small greenhouse for my seedlings. I had so many taking up space between other palms in the garden and also dominating my work bench. I really don’t have much room around the house so it had to be very compact. It took me about a day and a half to put together , including a 4x4 wooden skid to give it height . I finished it today and quickly put all of my babies in there to enjoy the nice , warm environment. I have a few varieties now and more sprouting so it was time for a dedicated space. Harry It is squeezed between two large Syagrus R with enough room for my ladders. A nice vent to keep it from getting too hot . The wet pea gravel will hopefully raise the humidity a bit . I just opened the vent more to allow it to cool down and circulate the air. I plan on adding a solar powered fan at some point. These are very reasonably priced but take a lot of assembly time. There are many sizes to choose from . I chose the 4’ x 6’ . Harry

Nectar from the flowers on these are toxic to all native bees ...and Honey Bees, if i remember correctly.. Hummingbirds may investigate them, but also avoid sipping from the flowers as well.

Like Jim said, too early to tell for sure. But assuming it is a hybrid, it certainly looks like it’s got some canariensis in it.

I am so upset, that tree was my favorite one. Always wanted an aflie but didn't have a house. First thing I hunted down when we got a house and planted it out. Splurged and got a 30 gallon because I wanted to see it get some nice height in my lifetime. In one day they undid years of my life. I hope I somehow can get it to survive.

A nice wet winter day with the sun coming out in the afternoon.

Borassus flabellifer were looking good at sunup this morning...

Yes I watered it once in the 3 days, from now I do it every day in summer now, it can be very hot here in July and August 40+ and in winter very wet and even cold! Sometimes night temperatures at the 2 or 3 °C and during the day 13 °C

A nice looking dypsis, that I have no idea as to what variety it is, the label says dypsis NM!

As was said , the watering is key . Also , when you get ready to plant , be careful with the root ball . The less you disturb this palm , the faster it will acclimate when it goes in the ground. Harry

At least there’s plenty of soil moisture in winter!

The garden is loving the cool temperatures, summer is nice, but the change in season brings a different perspective for the garden.

I think that's the point here. Parajubaeas and Jubaea can definitely survive periods of hot weather 40c/100 f plus temps, no probs for a few days, but if that's the average temperature for three months...?? It's a pretty big ask I'd say. And edit...but if no one ever tries, we'll never actually know!

Thanks, it would have been a prize in my father’s collection!

They love there water, as suggested above. Your little palm has been on the dry side of life. In habitat they thrive in wet gullies creek beds, almost cool temperate conditions in dark shaded areas. They break through the canopy and take all the sun they can get, while there root system is in dark forest wet conditions. They dislike drying out.

You have them in your nypa swamp, the aliens! Good gosh you guys get up to to some strange stuff in sunny warm Tazzy, and I thought I was strange on the full moon, I guess what happens at sea stays at sea I suppose!

To everyone waiting for updates or interested in growing embothreum coccineum (Chilean fire tree) in the humid southeastern U.S., I've got updates and pictures. First, I have to talk about the long journey I've been on learning about this special tree. Everything I've read tells me it will fail anywhere in the U.S. outside of western Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia. But, I have high pain tolerance, and I think this is a rare tree that not enough people have attempted to grow here. So maybe I can trail blaze and contribute what I've learned about it. First, over the last 7 or 8 years I've attempted to grow this tree at various stages, from seedling to 3 feet tall and flowering. I've probably killed 8 - 10 trees, but I've currently got 3 growing (two from seed and one 4 foot tall and flowering). I've experimented with soil amendments, different soil moisture levels, and various levels of sun exposure. After all that, and several years of partial success and lots of failure, here's what I've learned. Soil permeability and temperature are the most important aspects of keeping this tree alive. It must have excellent soil porosity. If you're starting with clay soil, remove a few buckets worth of it, and mix in a few bags of coarse sand, gravel, and pine bark nuggets. Do not using potting soil or even compost. It can deal with poor soil just fine. Also be sure the soil stays cool and moist (not overly wet). After you've planted it in the perfect spot, give it bag after bag of mini pine bark nuggets around the area you've planted it in to keep the soil underneath it breathable, well draining, and cool. The 3 foot tall fire tree I planted had all that done, and I replaced its top 6" - 8" of soil as straight pine bark nuggets. That keeps the soil acidic and extremely well draining, as well as cool. Site location: The 3' tree that's stayed alive is now in its second blooming and growing season and was given the best spot it could ask for. It's about 4 - 5 feet away from a brick wall on a slightly downward slope, facing east. It catches full sun until noon, but during the hottest part of the day it stays shaded because of the brick wall. The heat and high humidity of north Georgia still stresses the tree though. In its first growing season it dropped half its leaves, which apparently is a survival mechanism for trees that think they'll lose too much water through transpiration. However, we watered that tree nearly daily the first year, and it rewarded us by staying alive after it bloomed its heart out. A few months ago I got worried because I read something that said if Chilean fire trees ever have a stressful year, they'll forever stop blooming. However, that did not end up being the case. Even though in its first year it was completely covered in flowers, the tree still gave us blooms this spring as well, just far fewer. We had probably 7 or 8 clusters of fiery red blooms, plus a lot of branch and leaf growth. Since these trees only bloom on new growth from the previous year, it may be promising that its grown so many new branches and leaves. However, I wouldn't be surprised if it dropped more than half its leaves again, and put itself into survival mode just to get through the dog days of summer here. That would mean only a few bloom clusters next year as well, but still worth it. I've read it wants night time temperatures below 65 degrees F in order to rest at night. Without that, it stresses. However, if you keep the roots cool and moist, and don't fry the plant with the hottest afternoon temps, it seems to do pretty decently here. Again, it is a protea, so don't fertilize it with any phosphorus. For my part, I just skip fertilizer altogether. They seem to do just fine without any of that. For all the other proteaceaes I grow in my yard (several types of grevilleas and Gevuina avellana), it really helps to put down some other ground covering plant. For example, my Tasmanian mountain peppers and Gevuina avellana were planted in among Asian jasmine vines, which keep the ground underneath cool and moist. It's the only way I've been able to keep those alive, and I'm sure it would help with Chilean fire trees as well if I were to plant new ones. The Chilean fire trees I planted from seed are another story. I have one that's probably 5 years old at this point, and was grown from seeds I purchase from the U.K. The one that's still alive from that batch shot up like a weed its first and second year, but now that its been planted in the ground, it grows very slowly. It's probably 10" tall at this point, however it did not have the benefit of being planted on the east side of my home. It was planted on the west side, which means it gets the brutal afternoon heat. But its saving grace is that it was planted right at the top of a retaining wall, on a slope that receives constant moisture from my AC condensate drip line. It also has the top of its soil covered in several inches of pine bark nuggets. The small hill above it has had many bags of sand mixed into it, and the retaining wall has nothing but gravel behind it. So it has very permeable soil and stays constantly moist, but not wet. This is enough to keep it alive with some small amount of growth each year, but I suspect if I could've planted it on an eastward-facing slope where it only received direct morning sun, it would be doing much better right now. The third fire tree I have is a seedling from the 4 foot tall specimen that has the perfect spot. I took seeds from it last year and got a couple to sprout. This is the last one to have survived. It's in a small plastic pot with its soil a mixture of coarse sand and peat moss. I put oak catkins all over the top of its soil line to make a carpet that would keep its soil cool and prevent it from drying too quickly between waterings. It's only about 1" tall at this point, but you can see its top is already splitting into two crowns. This one will likely be a multi-branched cluster if it survives. But interestingly, now I have fire tree genetics from both the U.K. and an Oregon nursery. I hope this inspires someone out there to give the Chilean fire tree a try (or two... or ten). It's a fickle tree, but to behold it in bloom is indescribable. In my opinion, this is the most beautiful tree in the world when blooming, and still a pretty tree for the other 10 months of the year. One last point, deer seem like the taste of the leaves, so protect it with a chicken wire cage if you have deer in your area. Good luck

I can manifest a wild, unsupported theory regardless of the moon phase...ask the aliens who live in my Nypa swamp!

If you're OK with seeds, the Lake Wire palm collection has around 100,000 seeds laying on the ground at this point. It's roughly a 1 hour drive, but would save you a little hassle other than sprouting them.

First flowers on our indoor Rhapis multifida

Good signs as the season starts ..of more to come, ....Hopefully.. A bit blurred n' wiggly, but, that's what happens when a surprise storm catches one off guard and they are minus a " temporarily displaced " tripod to camera plate. Regardless, for holding a camera as still as possible for 30 seconds on said tripod, repeatedly... not the worst of outcomes.. " Temporarily displaced " item relocated = less blur ...this storm a touch closer? would've been nice. ..that and continuing to spit out bolts rather than winding down as quickly as it flared.. 3AM Dreamtime Indigo Sky showers ...while the sleepy sleep.

The species can live happily IN WATER so you can’t over water yours. Water yours daily and even twice a day if the weather is very hot.

I don't grow these palms in containers, my archontophoenix sp are in the ground. But they love water and this palm looks very dry. Water it consistently is my best suggestion.

Surprised nobody mentioned the obvious palms: jubaea and parajubaea torallyi. Some desert livistonas too. Many phoenixes to choose from.

I would say definitely try Hyphaene, but if you’re only going to be there for five years you probably won’t have much return by then.

Congrats on the milestone Kyle and for the future vision.. For the moment, definitely looks like you've got a nice, blank canvas to create something one of a kind. Since i'm sure you're well on the way to solving the " where to find stuff " angle, some thoughts on the ..other considerations / factors ...or whatever you choose to call it. Being ..essentially.. right next to the Gulf, you're humidity values will be better than here ..more often than not at least.. during the summer = plus.. Some humidity there during the winter too, but since the Gulf itself is cooler and general flow across the region during the cooler months is out of the West / Southwest, air is much drier than it can be during the summer. ( = a good thing as it regards frost potential, compared to areas over the hill, closer to the coast at least ) That said, El Centro sits in the driest portion of the overall Sonoran Desert Eco -region, and just outside the core region for " reliable " Monsoon season rainfall ...a minus, as far as summer rainfall is concerned. You can get more rain than we might from late season tropical stuff though during a good year. Obviously, you can mitigate that " less than ideal rainfall " challenge, esp. if like @BayAndroid mentions, you get canopy - forming trees or palms in the ground, essentially right from the start.. More of it you have? more tender ( to the sun ..and occasional sub - 32F cold ) things you should be able to get away with.. It is pretty amazing what i've seen growing in yards w/ well established canopy. Despite what some seem to assume, El Centro is zone 10 ..solidly, ..if not easily flirting with 10B ATM ..and headed forward.. Worrying about a few days in the low 30s or ..at the worst, the 27 -29F range is silly.. I see the same " risk / possibility " each winter here ...that is when a given winter is actually " cool ". I've also had no issues with some assumed ( ..according to what is suggested by research ) 11B -12B stuff i've grown for ...years... outside, all winter, ..even during the coolest ones i have experienced. You're in a better spot for some of that stuff than here above 1K feet also. As mentioned, keep in mind that being where you are, air is drier, ..compared to somewhere near the coast, or some place like FL. so ..even if it did drop to say 30F on a morning or two in a given winter, that 30F typically only occurs right at sunrise. Very rare that within an hour or two, you wouldn't be back above -at least- 40 - 42F ..So, No, cold won't be your biggest challenge. ..Not 98% of the time at least. You may be many years into enjoying the fruits of your future plans by the time some big, scary cold spell hits that area, if it ever does again. Damage risk caused by heat / all day, full sun exposure? Yes, that is your top mitigation priority, just like it is here.. FYI: for checking the weather / historical stats content, El Centro is technically within our / the Phoenix NWS forecast zone.. Don't depend on weather app non sense. Welcome to the " Desert Rat " club btw, lol While his focus is native /native foraging - centric, you might check out content from Brad Lancaster, author of a couple books / website / YT content related to rainwater harvesting techniques in /for dry climates for any ideas you might not have considered, and adjust said ideas that might interest you as you see fit for what you want to create in your yard. Regardless, Good luck, and look forward to seeing what you create now that you are somewhere where others won't be able to constantly thwart your vision, lol..

Red spicata is great!! Almost fluorescent orange colors. This picture is from last year. Planted as a sprout in May 2016, so about 9 years in the picture. A bit bigger now.

Kyle, I forgot to mention you should attend some of the next Palm Society of Southern California meetings for the auctions. There are always plenty of things people donate for the auctions. I have acquired many palms at those meetings over the years. I think based on your posts over the years, you know what won't survive in El Centro and have a pretty good idea of most of the genra that will either thrive or at least have a chance in your current home. Added bonus, you will probably meet people that have germinated a few things in their gardens that have extras at a meeting.... i.e. the backyard growers.

Good luck, get a vision of what you’re after and in time it becomes clear. That’s what I did some odd 30 years ago!

Congratulations! I know you've been in need of some land for so long! There were some people in Arizona on YouTube growing out fruit forests in the extreme heat. They were able to grow all kinds of cool things. Lots of wood chips and established canopy and you might be surprised what you can pull off.

I suspect El Centro can get colder lows in winter than you have in Phoenix but I did immediately think you would have the best recommendations for Kyle for his climate. Given that many of the palms you mention are slow, no better time to start acquiring than now. Perhsps a shade cloth area for Kyle's backyard would be appropriate given the time of year. Kyle you may be better served acquiring from someone in Phoenix for plants already acclimated to heat. You can also throw in a few cycads that will add to the tropical vibe.

Its raining hard now, sounds like a waterfall. but radar says it likely wont last. Sarasota and inland to the east do appear to be getting big rain on radar. End the drought!

I will, start to water it every day!

What a great front areas this is.

This one looks good... Kelapa Pandan Wangi from Thailand

That's pretty swampy alright, those mud pigs are loving it! Must be paradise for Archontophoenix there.

Spot on I think - most look bad because of neglect and not enough natural rainfall rather than it being too cold. Some of the better ones I’ve seen are out in the outer Eastern suburbs in the foothills of the Dandenongs where it gets pretty chilly but receives more rainfall than near the CBD or around Bayside suburbs. Same goes for Archontophoenix. I will say though, that Ravenea rivularis was susceptible to crown rot for me when young in Spring. It’s grown out of it now, but I suspected it didn’t like cold and wet conditions while it was still establishing. I planted in a cooler area of the garden in mostly shade intentionally based on what I’ve seen with specimens that dry out too much, but I think that’s the opposite risk when you go too shady and cold. The best one in Victoria I’ve seen is the one at Geelong Botanic Gardens. It gets morning sun but is well protected from all sides from wind and looks to stay quite moist in that area. There are a few mature specimens around Melbourne - this one down the street from my place looks pretty good. Doesn’t look like it gets extra attention but I assume the roots have tapped down deep now. The tree to its north must help with preventing it drying out too much too. I planted this one nearly 25 years ago. It’s the only survivor of about 5 originally planted in this garden. Soil is nearly pure beach sand and no irrigation. This is the result 🤣. And here’s an interesting planting - Singapore Botanic Gardens have them as aquatics. They like it in there in the tropical climate, but I’m certain it would be a death sentence in cooler climates.

Not sure I’d call him a nursery, but Joe Palma has a pretty good selection for a “backyard “ guy. Btw, some desert guys have had great luck with Medemia, which has become easier to find and is surprisingly fast growing. Loves heat.

Cmon Tim where all like you🤣

You would be in luck if I was in the neighbourhood!

So.... does anyone have backyard nurseries in Southern California? I cannot buy plants in Arizona as there are agriculture inspection stations when you enter the state so was hoping people in Southern California had backyard nurseries, since it's not very easy to find exotic palms in California.

Helpful but as Kyle observed, they do get frost in El Centro. Those 2 to 3 degrees F lower in December and January are averages. It is the lowest lows and their duration, as well as the duration of the highs that determine survival of sensitive plants at the margin. Good info all the same Jim.

Here are the averages for each city.

Bismarkia and White Triangle

Becarriopheonix handles the desert, many folks here in AZ have Royal palms they thrive in heat.

Here’s one of his rousellii from a couple years back..