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Photo of mine

They should trim the hedge so the Parajubaea can be seen better.

And that's the nub of the issue really - the huge range of A cunninghamiana. It would seem more incredible to me if the Eungella population was not at least a distinct sub species to the palms at Batemans Bay in southern NSW...nearly 1600 km to the south...a similar distance to that between San Diego and Seattle. The population at Eungella is further isolated by around 200km of Brigalow, ie seasonally dry woodland pretty hostile to palms, so there can't have been much, if any, gene flow from other populations since the formation of the Brigalow belt. It's a fascinating scenario, and would be great to get some scientific input at some point...we need a botany grad looking for a phd thesis!

I'm still very confused about about the differences between A. alexandrae, tuckeri, maxima, and myolensis - only having access to potentially mislabeled or hybridized material here in the States. A. maxima in particular is an enigma here, I think that name gets applied a lot to plants that have nothing to do with the Walsh River species. I've spent a lot of time looking at Dowe's description and any other online sources and have no confidence in being able to tell them apart, even when looking at seed. Meanwhile A. cunninghamiana displays at least as much variation across that huge range and is lumped together as one species, I agree I would love to see someone look at the genetics.

Here is an update, my Royal grew until may and died today my maximas are doing well my mango and starfruit and Barbados cherrry survived. My big coconut grew 4 new frawnds in 2 months everything is doing well. I’m just scared for this winter. Plus all my other coconuts very found around Jacksonville at random nurseries or gifts. Or found in south florida

Only five hundred more years to go....

I've tried saw Palmettos in the past and I could never get one to grow, but I decided to try again and this time I decided to create artificial drainage with drainage gravel, I replaced all native soil with sand and equal parts garden soil and then topped off with pure sand. And for the first time I have a saw palmetto that's actually growing and not rotting away. I've included the drainage I've created. It's a lot deeper than it looks in the image,the idea was to make water quickly drain away down Hill.

Oh yep, they do become a tiny problem eventually

These are at the corner of N. Delaware and 1st. Thought I would share pictures, as these are starting to clear the hedge in front. Nice old house back there too.

It's only a temporary condition, they roll pretty fast once they get moving!

Although I lived in southern California for 12 years, I never had much time for the garden. We have a home in southern Spain and we have a number of young palms, all fan palms. Initial I thought that they were Robusta, but I am having my doubts now. The plants are self planted and in the region of 5.5 years old. What gives me doubts of my Initial idea of being Robusta, is the trunk for the age seems big for a Robusta. Also the fan elements are straight and stiff. I will add a picture. Any thoughts from those with more knowledge than myself.

The rainfall pattern has definitely been interesting this year even in the Panhandle. July was quite dry compared to average (supposed to be the wettest month of the year). Finished out July with 4.23". August has been much better so far and things continue to look decent in the rain department after we take a couple day long break starting likely tomorrow. Current total for August is sitting at 6.83" pending anymore rain tonight and also the medium to high rain chances that start up in the middle of next week. The last several days have honestly been exceptional. It has rained everyday since the 15th, with daily amounts varying. The storms have also been intense particularly with the lightning. Heres my daily totals since the 15th: 8/15 - 0.26" 8/16 - 0.12" 8/17 - 0.47" 8/18 - 0.90" 8/19 - 1.30" 8/20 - 1.74" 8/21 (Today so far) - 0.54" I have added 1 inch to the total for 8/20. This could very well be an underestimate. The power tried to go out at the beginning of the storm, which caused the internet to go out. For whatever reason, this caused the rain gauge to stop reporting during the heaviest part of the storm. The gauge did not report for at least 25 minutes. While other nearby stations were reporting rainfall rates up to 4 inches per hour, my station was reporting no rainfall. It was quite aggravating to say the least. The same thing may have happened on 8/19, the power actually did fully go out *twice* during that storm, but i have not had the chance to review other nearby stations to try to make an estimate for a more realistic total for that date. The palms are definitely happy, except for the Trachy. I cant seem to water that thing enough.

Thank you @Silas_Sancona , I was able to watch the video and read the article . I wonder what caused this , after so many years . Old age? There are some here in Ventura county that I remember when I was a kid on my Sting Ray , riding down C Street in Oxnard . I would see them swaying in the wind , wondering why they didn’t fall over! They had to be about the same age . I haven’t been back in many years to check on them. I am sure there is a life expectancy. Harry

My Chrysalidocarpus Jurassic Park was showing some spear damage as it began to emerge. I posted it a while back and my friend Tom in Vista suggested possible banana moth damage. Fast forward to now and that spear is opening prematurely with clear damage. The spear is easily 4 feet shorter than prior leaves asas they began opening. Damage is also visible to the next spear that will push out. I have traded ithe growth point with hydrogen peroxide and a fungicide a few times over the last several weeks. Any other recommendations?

Hi Tracy, I haven't experienced banana moths, Len is the expert on that, but it looks like rot to me. I've been using a cocktail Dennis Willoughby recommended a while back of Cleary's, Daconil, and Dithane mixed together very concentrated, like a slurry. I've rescued a lot of palms with it. If you want some Cleary's, I have more than I'll ever use, and it works well without the dithane too. Can you get a photo of the crown and the full palm? The petioles look a little different than mine, which I got from Floribunda, and the Floribunda 'jurassic park' is now pilulifera as far as I know. Mine is super cool. Will post a photo from my phone

I’ve wondered about this. If you think about some species like Prestoea acuminata, various Geonoma sp like G undata, even Washingtonia filifera now that W robusta is lumped in, then the differences between Archontophoenix species (I’m thinking especially A alexandrae, maxima, myolensis and tuckeri) are relatively small. Recently genetic study is becoming much more accessible and affordable so hopefully there can be a study to understand the relationship between all of the Archontophoenix species.

Well here’s the thing. If Dowes description is 100% correct, Archontophoenix cunninghamiana has ramenta on the midrib. His description doesn’t say - sometimes absent. So maybe we are looking at an undescribed species due to that one thing, or, it is Archontophoenix cunninghamiana without ramenta. Either way is purely an academic discussion. Probably worth further investigation. It’s pretty cool though.

looks like it just got a bit of rot on it. I think you did the right thing with the H2o2 as it looks like it's pushing through the rotten bit.

Not exactly in Texas but I think it’s remarkable that this row of coconuts along the mainland portion of Daytona FL survived 23-24° earlier this year . Even a few Christmas palms are coming back . 😱

That’s sad , I hate to see palms removed . I couldn’t read the article , subscription required. Harry

Apart from seeds of desert spp like Hyphaena, which have a legendary longevity, my experience with other kinds of palm seeds has been 100% negative. Out of 6 tried spp (5 spp tried by me as direct buyer) I had 0 success in germination. And I use a very advanced propagator for the germination. Speaking of the longevity of Hyphaena seeds, I had brought once to germination a seemingly dried out fruit sold as herb for a kind of tea. .

Yours lean filifera, given the leaf color, density of leaves in the crown, and the crease forming in the apex of the leaf. @jwitt has probably the best eye for distinguishing each. He travels quite a bit about the colder geographic limits of the species in the US.

Dave I would place in the shade and only use organic fertiliser like fishmeal or seaweed until they re established

I have both A. Cunninghamiana and C. Alexandrae that are mature . They are on opposite sides of my house so no fear with hybridization as far as I can tell. The Alexandrae is large and has flowered but no fruit yet . The Cunninghamiana (x2) has produced copious amounts of fruit . The seeds I sowed have sprouted and , so far , are true to the parent palm. I’m the only one on my street that has Archontophoenix palms . The Purpurae and Maxima are juveniles and planted close to one another . They could hybridize but that will be a while so not worried , they are still small. They were transplants from a friend’s yard who has a lot of Archontophoenix . Harry

Could you copy Dowe’s description mate? I’ve seen references to it online but not in full detail. I’m mainly interested in whether it mentions the presence of ramenta on the abaxial surface of the leaflets (I couldn’t tell from your pics but it should be pretty clear at the size of your plants if you can get photos of the underside of leaflets) and the fruit and seed size. I’d probably defer to those with more experience, but just my 2 cents: Archontophoenix have been cultivated for generations now, particularly A cunninghamiana and A alexandrae. Although there’s clear evidence that they can hybridise (Albang and reverse and some purpurea hybrids on this forum), my experience is that seed from a specimen in a garden with other Archontophoenix sp will generally stay true to the mother. There are also areas of overlap with the native habitat range of A cunninghamiana and A alexandrae yet natural hybrids are extremely uncommon from what I know. I’d guess Archontophoenix sp are nothing like Chrysalidocarpus sp which almost seem to act functionally dioecious when multiple species exist in the same garden. I’m not sure the risk is huge in Richard’s case for example, but it is something that’s good to be aware of.

Stanhopea orchid flowering ( not sure of the species ) I have inherited a few specimen's from my father and I'm not really an orchid person per se, so I'll see how I go with them...

Epic lightning and thunder last night at 2-3AM, woke me up. I looked at the radar and it raining north of here between here and tampa. As it approached my place, the radar image of precipitation just vanished. Then 15-20 minutes later, the thunder roared and rumbled to the south. I am hoping rain fell in substantial amounts somewhere nearby to help relieve the drought. At my place the accumulated rainfall was so little, it didnt wet the bottom of my straight walled rain gage bucket. I'll call it getting spit on, 0.0x whatever. Still I am hoping it fell and accumulated somewhere so we can get back to normal irrigation schedules.

They certainly like cooler climates . I’m afraid I’m a little too far inland , like my friend Dave. It would probably grow but struggle . Harry These are growing very well , about 5 miles from the coast in Ventura California. Towering over the second story of apartment building where they were planted by the Sullivans. They are on the north side of the building so they got plenty of shade when they were young. When I was first introduced to these palms , they were still well below the building .

I’m waiting for my Rhapis to become problem children. I like the thick look of a hedge of them. But when they want to start spreading I’m just going to pot up the suckers and plant elsewhere or on sell em. Problem solved.

WOW awesome, thank you for the photos and this tour

Thanks for looking

Possible transplant shock and cool ground temperatures. You may want to back off on watering if you've been doing it religiously. At least until the cool fronts stop in another week or so.