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San Francisco has 10b zones but is a mild to chilly climate. The zone designation only applies to average minimum winter temperature. It has nothing to do with the amount of daily heat. No freezing temperatures but nowhere near the necessary heat needed to support the growth of a coconut palm. Southern CA has a few areas (Santa Ana, La Quinta, Coronata for example) where coconuts will grow but likely never fruit.

Climate zone is a human made concept that really only looks at average yearly minimum temperature. I’m apparently a 10a but we don’t really use them in Australia. Cocos won’t grow until about 1000km north of me in the subtropics where average temperatures can sustain their growth. It’s the same problem for So Cal. Outside of a few known examples, the average temperatures in winter are the limiting factor regardless of how often it gets down near freezing.

This looks like it came really close to being one of those mayhem car insurance commercials....

You are lucky , Jim. The offshore winds here are no fun. We get a nice warm spell with them and most of the time they aren’t too bad. A few times a year they get very gusty and turbulent. Last year that same Palm survived 90mph gusts! I enjoy the drying out between rains , it gives the crowns a chance to dry out . This is important for damp sensitive species like Chrysalidiocarpus Decaryi. Every area has its ups and downs . Santa Paula , especially up on our hill , is a very Palm friendly environment …..until the bloody wind blows one over!! Oh well, Harry

I guess that’s my luck. A 30 mph gust here would be pretty unusual. A 50 mph gust almost unheard of. My last C. urens is fruiting way down at reachable height now but still managing to push new but distorted fronds out its top. Will keep it as long as it’s green.

@Mazat A blessing indeed. The neighbors have small children and with the holidays , they have been outside playing and coming and going. Neither people or property were damaged . We gave thanks for that. Harry🙏

December 2025.

Yeah the guy at Moon Valley, when I was there the other day, said their most popular palm is the "Pineapple Palm". 🙄 Don't threaten me with a g̶o̶o̶d̶ ̶t̶i̶m̶e̶ Phoenix canarensis!

Brahea Latania Sabal Yapa Other latania Bismarkia

My Amherstia is beginning to flower, the chandelier flowers will begin to open soon. New magenta leaves hang limp initially before greening up.

You can send the Lytocaryum seeds to me. I appreciate them. There are zero of them for sale in WA too.

I’ve been on here for like 26 plus years before the baby g name change and the questions keep coming. Only now, FWIW, I can answer intelligently.

Not a sunset, but a nice sunrise in Austin.

This is the Patric Yatay mule I got back in 2015. It had a real bad spear pull the second year it was in the ground & has since sailed through every freeze & storm since then. Took out a mandarn tree to make room for it 2015.

You are one of the ones that provided valuable information and inspiration for direction to me. I find less and less available without deep search and even then, the posts are decades or more old. Zone pushing, new plants, architecture, growth progression was what brought me here. It just feels lately like who can sound like they know the most or have the most rare. Not much for the common man.

@Xenon You forgot to include a graphic content warning with your post. 🥶

That is very impressive growth. I knew they could grow pretty quickly, but that put on a lot height in just a few years.

It's over 25 ft tall.

Never seen A sabaea before, aside from the image search I just did. 👍

Thank you, over the past decade the minimum tempatures here have been climbing, the lowest temp I have gotten this year was 33 degrees compared to 10 years ago where the mid 20’s was common. Global warming really doesn’t seem bad, much like how Lakeland Florida went from 9a to 10a in 20 years. Duval has already went from 9a to 9b in 10 years. I hope for the best!

I also think the intensity of the sun. Some of it due to latitudes or humidity or both. When I am in Hawaii or tropical areas I can feel the difference. So can the palms. Harry

Yes I find it interesting that since 2010 much of peninsular FL has escaped extremely significant, hard freezing temps (Jan 2018 was the closest). Many say it's the climate change that has taken away the possibility of such cold, but places like far south TX, Louisiana, and FL Panhandle finally experienced temps close to or rivaling those seen in the 1980's at one time or another in the last several years. Again, my theory is that there isn't a lack of potent cold air to do it, it's that the weather dynamics/pattern has simply not aligned to inject such cold air down into the peninsula in such a particular way.

The guys above explained it very well. If or when you go to both places you can feel the difference in the air. A winter day of 80f in south Florida isn't the same as 80f in San Diego. Here in San Diego we are way drier and our night drastically swing. When we do get cold in winter (upper 50s and lower 60s during g the day and 30s to 40s at night) it's common for it to stick around for weeks if not well over a month. In Florida when they dip into those temps it might only be for a day or two and there quickly warms back up. My biggest heart breaker is Areca vestiaria, they never die from one cold event but rather the long cool winter slowly kills them right before it starts to warm back up.

Mauritiella aculeata with its powder white underside.

A nice bit of variegation coming through on the Adonidia. A good sign at a young age, promising sign of things to come, that is if winter doesn’t has its say time will tell!

Your 9b climate isn't the same as the Orlando area 9b. Unfortunately, Coconut palms are not long-term in the Orlando area despite a few long term survivors. And, there are some examples of Coconut palms that are "survivors" in the Orlando area. The ones that come to mind immediately are those at the corner of Orange Avenue and Kaley Street just South of Downtown Orlando. They have been growing there for some time now and seem perfectly at home. In fact, the last time I was by there, one of them seemed to have immature fruit on it. Those have grown well there due to a perfect set of circumstances. And, barring a 1989 type freeze, will most likely continue to do well there. But, in your location in Duval County, it is much more likely that Coconut palms will not survive long-term. But, I wish you lots of luck in your attempts. Back in 2000, I planted a Roystonea at my Orlando area home. I wrote into the local horticulture column asking his advice. He basically told me there was zero chance that my tree would survive. Well, here I am 25 years later with my Cuban Royal palm towering over my home. It is now about 40 feet tall and I now consider it long-term. I still get people who ask me what is that beautiful palm tree you have there. I believe that the urban heat island now reaches my Seminole County location. And, there must be something to this global warming phenomena. So, in my case, it was selective siting, selective genes (another story for another time) and pure luck that has allowed my tree to thrive. Perhaps you will also be successful with your choice of site, luck with the genes of the trees you have selected and the continuing global warming phenomena... Good luck to you and keep us informed as to your progress...

Still in business after nearly 45 years. BUT, we moved to a close-by location. New Location: 1111 URANIA AVE., ENCINITAS, CA 92024 Phone: 619 291 4605 Email: phil@junglemusic.net Over 100,000 palms for sale, about 300 species, all sizes

Another big looser: Syagrus kellyana. Gets spotting every year but this year's fog really did a bit to it. Should grow out of it i think. Howea belmoreana, foresteriana, chamaedorea and chambeyronia were all made for this Ficus dammaropsis seems happy in this also

I was talking to the guy that didn't know any Latin names and he seems pretty proud of the wine palms which is why he showed them to me. I casually asked price I think he said 8 or something like that but I wasn't paying too much attention. I wasn't buying one and I don't have the space for a monster like that. He had to assure me that the price comes WITH installation and warranty🙄 I've never been to a nursery that has a sales office like I'm buying a used car, so that was kind of a new experience for me...

2022.

I think when your zone limits choices, the names can seem superfluous. I started palms in zone 9a where perhaps less than 2-3% of all palms can grow. trade names seemed to be sufficient, but now in a solid 10a the numbers of palms I can grow have increased dramatically and things like trade names for sabals, livistonas, dypsis, kings, chambeyronias, copernicias/yareys, etc all have a frustrating lack of specificity in trade names and make researching care for them more difficult and error prone. How many have planted a palm in the wrong site and wasted money and more importantly time due to lack of information? You want to push a zone make sure you have the right sabal, and some like being very wet while others hate it. There are two that will kick it or be severely burned at 25-26F degrees in an advective event. When I want palm specific growing conditions for planning my garden I want the scientific names so I can determine water and fertilizer or cold protection needs. I dont buy palms from nurseries that dont even have the scientific names on the label because they often don't know what that palm is and I cant identify many palms at a young seedling stage that I buy. How many of us have bought a misidentified palm and were frustrated when we didn't get what we paid for? I have planted half a dozen misidentified palms that didn't grow or thrive as expected. Im not wasting my time with sellers that don't even know what they have, the expense of caring for a palm eventually exceeds the purchase price so I want to know how to care for them. My favorite palms have almost invariably come from sellers that know the palms so I can research them and care for them properly. I used to get frustrated by the names too, I don't like being forced to memorize anything I cant use, so I understand if you are in a cold zone or are not that interested in palms as a hobby. I lived away from my garden for 7 years and rarely posted as I was not taking care of them week to week. I also saw old friends disappear from this forum, sometimes by choice and sometimes not by their choice(RIP). I got tired of the redundancy and all the coconut palm posts but you can zoom right past the really basic or redundant posts if you are not interested, or don't have the time to help someone new. Personally, this forum has been a goldmine of information for my #1 hobby, and I want to give something back, as there were experienced people who did that for me. I was one of the ones that insisted on the cold hardy palms forum, if you are zone 8 or 9a that might be the best forum here for you as you will be able to find what you want faster with less effort. When you live in zone 10 or 11, its different and you cannot get a lot of information without reading about and asking about palms, and if you are serious the scientific names really matter. I have looked at several other sites, and found them lacking in at least one of several areas I wanted to explore. I am not looking to sell anything or for the off topics that often contain just gabbing or trolling. Palmtalk is a well moderated site that I can get away from all the $%^ out there in the world that is often represented by a small number of the population that is angry or frustrated with their lives. I am too old to let someone I don't know drag my day down and kill my qi. I can come here for information, or to help someone, who like myself at one time, needed it. Palmtalk may not be for everyone and that is ok, there are other sites that cater to various degrees of involvement and content people may desire. This one is more about the rich information and help available almost nowhere else in help for selecting and growing your palms. You can be starting at square one and get help, or more experienced and looking to branch out in your garden. I sometimes ask myself what would my garden look like if I had not joined palmtalk? It would probably be a pretty boring garden I might have never been bitten by the palm bug. I may have chosen the low maintenance approach everyone else around me has. Bkue you can grow this one very well in your zone. I never would have known it but for palmtalk when I had it planted it in 2011. peace

Plants are confused and flushing with the unusal warm winter I’m having.

Made me green with envy that I could drive 30 mins uphill and find plenty of warmth and sunshine lol Yeah! That damp cold just penetrates any sweatshirt or jacket. Most plants can tolerate these conditions for a short while, but the longer these conditions persist, the more cell death you start seeing on the more tropical stuff. Even completely "hardy" stuff begins to show signs of cell death - i have several mushy spots on some agave leaves. Agave attenuata boutin blue is especially sensitive. Agave marmorata and Agave celsii as well. Both hardy enough (i mean 39F is hardly a threat to these!) but they just begin to suffer in prolonged cold and wet. I also lost a nice astrophytum asterias. The substrate was bone dry, but the plant just melted. Too cold and too wet for too long. I found it oozing one morning and the entire plant was one mushy mess inside. The plumerias are south facing, so now that the fog is broken up by sunny afternoons, they are getting the sunlight they need, and also drying up. The last time I had damage similar to this was in 2022 with the long, cool, wet spring we had. I did remove all of the leaves to increase airflow and allow sunlight to penetrate. I also sprayed liquid copper fungicide on the stems, and applied a soil drench of Garden Phos as a systemic to guard against root and stem rot. I had anticipated a wet winter, so I had given them a dose of systemic in October, and again in November. This is the third application of the systemic, so I'm hopeful that is enough to get them through. Fingers crossed for more sunshine! No more endless fog, please!

I guess folks have moved away from using names like C.plumosa or C.australis. King Palm is applied to a couple different species. That's likely driven people to use Latin names. Unfortunately, with the recent shuffling of genus assignments, even calling out Dypsis or Chrysalidocarpus is not a sure bet. Luckily, you have good resources in your local CFPACS club.

@richnorm we had our saws ready then the landscapers across the street came over and offered a killer deal to do it. They did it by starting at the base , as you and others suggested, and worked their way up . They were done in less than an hour ! Those big Husqvarna chain saws ate that palm so fast. Harry

Yea , that palm had been there for 28 years . I grew it from a seedling . I had been thinking about cutting it down , as @DoomsDave had shown me what happened when his came down. The thing is , it had just opened a new beautiful frond . I checked the whole tree out for spathes after it was down , nothing. The roots were compromised though . That was the tallest palm on that side of the house. I have one more smaller one over there and I will be cutting that one down as well. Caryota Urens are for open space planting where they can’t cause damage when they come down. Harry

Sir, as this forum's most prominent dumbass, I'm gonna have to respectfully disagree with you on this point. I mean, on one hand there's a few threads about how to get new blood into the hobby and bring younger people in - but expecting everyone to pick up on Latin and biological names isn't really gonna do that. If someone says spindle palm, cat palm, or bottle palm, we all know what they're talking about. I mean, as long as we can understand each other is it really that important? I mean sure, we can Google it and copy and paste the scientific names pretty easily, sure, but as long as we all understand does it matter? Like, I can say hamburger or I can say grilled ground chuck portion in patty from from Bos Taurus (and yes, I googled the scientific name for a cow). I'm not trying to start an argument by any means here, I'm just saying that everyone isn't as educated and knowledgeable as most of y'all and that's okay. I've got stuff I don't even know it's common name and I've got stuff I'm not even gonna try to spell it's Latin name. If this hobby is gonna experience a revival, we're gonna have to accept people that buy plants at Home Depot. And don't get me wrong, I've learned tons of stuff from my 5ish or so years on here, but (here's where I'm gonna rustle some jimmies) if we really want a revival to grow this hobby, it's gonna have to branch out to become more than an exclusive travel club of people well versed in botany. It's not much different than cars as a hobby. I can tell people my old truck was lowered about 5" in the front and 7" in the back, or I can say that yeah, up front I flipped the ball joints and used Eibach coil springs and modified 69 Camaro shocks and in the rear I used a set of dearched 4x4 leaf springs with the middle spring pulled and the ends chopped off of the overload springs and bolted on some 18x7 Japanese Rays Payton Place Knight Barons on 225/40/18 tires. There's levels to this and it's ok to be a rookie. We need to embrace them. As long as someone doesn't say like fluffy green thing or whatever, it's cool. The 4x4 springs are shorter but the trucks sit higher because the shackles and hangers are mounted lower on the frame.

Dypsis “Big Curly” lookin pretty good today. Getting some size to it. Going to be a bit of an annoyance for a few years due to its placement close to the walkway but I wanted it to be close so I could smack the fat crown and trunk when walking by. 👍🏻 -dale

For sure. These go crazy when grounded. Or mine did anyway. Here’s both of mine in different parts of the yard. Both have flowered before also. I need to look into identifying sex of these. Haven’t bothered. one thing to note, they both split after flowering also so they are doing that multi head thing now. Not sure if this is normal. -dale

Ive been on palmtalk since 2007. Posters have changed but it was always worldwide. There are less floridians as a percentage of posts perhaps but you are in 10a, you should be able to grow what I grow. Of the vast thousands of palms in the world perhaps 10-20% are good in zone 10a Florida. Scientific names prevent confusion, trade names are often confusing to me., in a world of thousands of palms the trade names are not specific enough to identify a palm. Many have no trade name as they are not common in general nurseries. I believe kinzyjr has a cold hardy list you should be able to choose from. WHen I look back many of the most experienced palm growers are not posting much these days. People get older and their garden mature so they are not searching for potential palm information so much. Get the list of 10a palms and do a search for the scientific names. Some palms are referred to as partial scientific names like for instance a search for bismarckia will turn up bismarckia nobillis or roystonea will turn up roystonea regia etc. WHen I started the names seemed difficult to memorize so go with a 10a list from kinzyjr(pm him)

Nice young Zamia standelyi new leaf flush!

I think you've gotta make your own connections...there are people posting here from all over the world and after a while you figure out who posts stuff relevant to your situation and you hook into that community. As for scientific names...have a look at this current thread to understand why most of us prefer them

I haven’t been here 5 years but I have seen plenty of helpful advice on growing of all palms , whether exotic or common. Scientific names are helpful to me as that is what I normally go by . Harry

Will, this is its third winter in the ground and it’s fattening up now. Growth nearly stops in the winter but it speeds up and is steady late spring through later in the autumn. It’s in mostly shade. I bought another one from Floribunda last summer and it’s done well so far in full summer sun. Here’s a photo of the one in the shade.

Hey Jim, How's your experience with this one so far? I've been considering it, but if it's looking too much like it's struggling, I think I'd rather choose other palms to grow.

Merry Christmas from Houston, TX! Currently 80F/27C for a near record-warm Christmas Day after 4 years straight of quite cold 12/25.

Afton Canyon CA..

Unusually progressive Spring Wx pattern over the last few weeks keeping subtropical high cloudiness stashed away in Mexico = minimal sunset opportunities thru the rest of April.. Still, ...A couple noteworthy mentions ...and not from wayyy down the road either 04 / 19: Stellar Rays... 04 / 30: Fiery lumps

03 / 16 : Brush strokes of fire... 03 / 17: Seventeen shots of a St. Patty's Day Stunner....

It looks like the blunt leaf form. My favorite. I have a few that I have planted from 1 gallons about 2 years ago and already seeding. First pic is fine leaf and second is blunt ( Kahulii)