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The latys are coming alive!….

A couple plants/palms I saw today in London specifically at zsl.

To my knowledge, the only Worldwide example of Archontophoenix alexandrae “Alba” came from a batch of regular Alex seed germinated in SE Queensland a number of years ago. Subsequent seedlings were distributed amongst a few lucky Aussie growers and are now maturing. Seed from these first generation palms appears 100% true to the “Alba” form. Not only do they have a yellow crownshaft, but some also produce pink/red new leaves. Gorgeous palms. Look incredible planted together with Archontophoenix pupurea.

An easy palm to grow for that cool subtropical to warm subtropical climate. I have dozens of chamaedoreas throughout my garden, they are just that good for the understory.

Licuala poonsaki

Chamaedorea microspadix

Silver Copernicia hospita in 7 Gallon Pot-$125. Pick up in Satellite Beach. All my Copernicia’s survived the 27F Freeze here. Beachpalms@cfl.rr.com

Last year, I created a YouTube video titled “The Palm Trees of London, UK,” where I explored some of the most impressive and unexpected palm specimens in the city. In a few weeks, I’ll be traveling to Dublin and would love to create a similar video there. I’m particularly interested in tracking down standout palm trees—especially species like Phoenix canariensis—that really push the boundaries of what’s possible in Ireland’s climate. If anyone knows of specific locations, addresses, or hidden gems in Dublin featuring notable or unusually hardy palm trees, I’d really appreciate your recommendations!

Good information. But the reference is very weak. And it doesn't appear in all books. They are few or nonexistent. Or they play a minor role. It only exists in the minds of people who know about palms. And those people know more than the botanists, academics, or researchers themselves, or publishing houses. And even less prominence is given to Attalea, Iriartea, and many other South American palms hidden deep in the jungle. Only Floribunda in Hawaii loves these palms and treasures them all in a single display. It contains them very well in one place. And no other place can compare. Who can compare to Floribunda? Only the Singapore Botanical Garden can boast such wonders as Floribunda. The owner of Floribunda in Hawaii wants to buy hundreds of Juania australis seeds from me. He is truly an experienced person, and the head of these palm kingdoms. He is the master and lord of containing such great exotic luxury. Hugo Aravena Chile

Well hears 3 more of that 400, so only 397 more to go!

Mr. Jim, you have a paradise. I hope you reap seeds to confirm that you have a paradise. And expand it even further. Because it's not New York. It's a complete paradise. 🌴🌴🌴🦜🦜

I made it back over there and grabbed 3 inflorescences.

Just thought I would share photos of this Mexican fan palm that I have been tracking for a couple years. Self seeded right up in the rocks along a bayou here in Northwestern Florida. Very tough palm, has survived some flooding and a rare Florida snow with a few inches.

Not mine. Located at Ann Norton:

The everglades palm is doing really great. Cleaned it up and you can start to see some trunkage

azalea flowers!

Last but not least my favorite Cycad Trappes valley Latifrons. This is my second biggest at 5” and has thrown every single year since I bought it as a seedling! This one has very stacked leaves.

This one is E. Arenarius x Latifrons. I harvested a pup about 3 years ago you can see behind it and there is another pup on it right now. All 3 flushed at the same time almost like they were talking to each other and said LETS GOOOO!!

Iam not stopping now, I’ve come this far! Richard

@Eric in Orlando had a quote that summed it up pretty well. Paraphrased: In 2010 (and 2026), tender stuff died. In 1989, hardy stuff died.

Got a stack of microspadix seeds ready to pick!

Thanks for sharing the link.

You're right, my friend. There are palm trees that no one cultivates, only collectors like those in the Floribunda of Hawaii, and perhaps a few other large botanical gardens. But not all of them. The realm of palm trees is unattainable. We'll all die without ever being able to collect every genus and variety. It's a world apart. But even so, we're content with what we already have.

That’s the one understory dream palm, so easy to grow and work with, you dont need 50 acres to grow them. A small courtyard you could pack a couple of dozen varieties in easily. Elegans goes great as mass planting, I get that many seeds of my ones they soon create there own ground cover.

It’s amazing how they just show up in random little places and survive

Part of the title of this is "progress" for stuff i have gotten since moving in, and its been overdue for a while. So its time to update with a video of the plants in the greenhouse. There are a lot of plants now, and many have grown quite a lot since they arrived. More alive and well than have died, and i leave the imperfect leaves as reminders of oppsies made and lessons learned. The rest of the yard is looking not so happy; the drought and hot weather are making even irrigated plants slow or stop. no need for sound its just fans running. VID_20260425_185334794.mp4

https://eureka-farms.com/products/phoenix-reclinata-single-roebelinii-date-palm-hybrid?variant=49427836109081 This site seems to have some, but I dont have any personal experience ordering from them. I have actually been meaning to make a post to see if anyone has bought from them in the past becasue i too would like one of these hybrids

New frond on my smaller one.

Pinanga sarawakensis looking good!

I've expanded and have maybe a dozen alocssias, several varieties of colocasia, a couple begonias, and everything is cool except the Ensete bananas. The big one I bought keeps getting holes in the leaves, the last one I bought I had to cut down to solid flesh just like the last one - so fortunately Wellspring sent me a free one. They do videos of order packing and chose me this week and even gave a shout out to my wall of bananas so that's cool. On the palm level the Causarium and hybrid seeds I got from @Bigfish are popping like crazy. I had 2 of the Paupau bananas sprout and quickly die off but banana seeds are like such a gamble anyway. I'm branching out into tissue culture growing, I've started a pink Musa and ordered a white and yellow one along with some more philodendron. Also salvaged some more colocasia alocasia and a black Cardinal philodendron from the Blue Cart of Death, and I've got maybe 20 alocasia corms rooting out. Time for me to mix up another stink bucket of Bokashi compost, I cheaper out on my coco coir and tried another brand this last time and probably the hardest substance known to man. Papayas are taking off, and I've got some sprouts in mystery pots I didn't label. That's what happens when I go.in the grow.room after taking my night night meds - caladiums? Colocasia chunks from cleaned up rotten bulbs? We'll find out in a few weeks. A few bananas are throwing pups. So despite a lack of posts on here I've been busy. I joined the dark side and went back to that other social media site, I'm under Sancho B Plants and ofc Sanchosgreenpaws on Instagram and YouTube.

Calyptrogyne ghiesbreghtiana a couple of nice seedlings!

It’s safe to say that Royals have visibly outperformed Foxtails by quite a wide margin. Having said that, the amount of devastation was worse than I expected. Animal Kingdom will take many years(if ever) to look like its former glorious, sprawling self. Many of my favorite tropicals and trees in the area have been reduced to rubble. I can’t even begin to fathom what would have happened if 1980’s type cold events would have hit…

Just buy that plot of land the sooner the better, and plant as many palms as you can. Iam happy with my block of land, 28 years living on my land and love it. Buy your plot of land and build your dream garden. It does take a long time for a palm garden to grow so the sooner you start the better, and if you need more time before you buy, start growing your collection in pots so when you get your land, you will have a head start on the palm collection and palms to plant good luck. But never stop growing and collecting palms and one day your dream garden will appear!

The one (formerly) nice coconut here that I was aware of and posted here previously is totally dead. I drove by today out of curiosity and it looks doomed. Owners haven't removed it yet but it doesn't look promising. They didn't protect it whatsoever, so not too surprising. Would've been interesting to see how it would've done with some protection. Another home nearby had its young foxtail likely killed - I see they've left it for now but bought a replacement foxtail that they planted in another spot in their yard.

Enter the sandman off to never never land!

I'm about to sow them now, they look to have ripened fast idk but like they started to get darker just five hours from picking them

I don't know exactly but from my understanding it is near Portsmouth in Hampshire on the south coast. It seems there are a fair few more Juania in the British Isles than first thought. I saw another on google maps at Kells Bay Gardens in Ireland. I knew one was growing there, but I thought it was much smaller. This one has been there longer than I thought. The first image is from 7 years ago back in March 2018... I believe these two Juania in Northern Ireland are the furthest ones from the equator... The one at Tremenheere in Cornwall... Glendurgan Juania in Cornwall last year... Also I visited the Juania in Salcombe, Devon last month... Just seen this private garden in Essex as well on the eastern coast of England... the amount of exotics growing there...

Also on the subject of bromeliads, was lucky to spot this Fascicularia in nearly full bloom in my garden. They only stay open for a day, so it's pot luck!

This has been a great grower for me and it can fit in any area

No thoughts anyone? I'm guessing the bigger one with the red blush in the centre is a Neoregelia due to the flowers in the tank...the others tho???

Here’s a few different angles from this evening

Wow. Absolutely beautiful and glad to see the first one to seed! We need more photos once the flowers open

They look like they could have came from the same batch of seed. Not sure how old

Do you know how old those alfies are?

Fantastic! Hope it makes viable seeds!

What a strange Friday the 13th... The shock and surprise made us think about how old the palm was, when it was planted etc. so Jeff went into his office and dug out his 'little black book'. It held all the details on when the palms in the nursery landscape were planted. He found the following info on the Beccariophoenix alfredii... - The specimen was originally labeled as Beccariophoenix sp. 'Valley Form' (a precursor name to B. sp. 'High Plateau' which later became B. alfredii). - It was obtained from Dr. Pete Balasky and planted in May 2006, as a 2 ft. (0.6m) tall, three-gallon sized plant. (almost 14 years old) - In March of 2010, about 10 years ago, the palm was measured at 8 to 9 ft. (2.4-2.7m) in height. Fun facts. We shall see what the palm will do next. Ryan

- Had to get closer. I don't remember getting the ladder, it sort of 'appeared' in front of me. Climbing up to almost the last rung, I leaned in and there it was. I was fast-to-face with an emerging spathe. It is very dense and resembles the tip of a spear made of solid wood. After getting my photos, I thought "I bet Jeff doesn't know yet." - I climbed down and went in search of Jeff. He was off in another part of the nursery pulling plants. When I caught up to him, he was on the phone and I had to wait a minute. When I got his attention he said: "Yeah, what's up?" - Me: "I have a photo to show you." I leaned in to show him a shot of the spathe on the back of my camera, but he couldn't make it out. "Oh is it something flowering... something new that hasn't before?" - "Yes." - "Well, you got to give me a hint, like tell me the genus." "If I do that, you'll get it rather fast!" - "Well, just say it anyway!" "Beccariophoenix!" - When I said that, his eyes lit up like he had just found a bowl of unattended candy. We jumped on the golf cart, left the other plants behind and went straight to the palm. He was as surprised as I was and went straight up the ladder. I got a photo of him as he turned to show his reaction. (B) As he was looking over the spathe, we wondered if it was the only one or if there were others. - He came back down as I went back up the ladder to take another look. I started poking and prodding, moving leaf bases around, pushing the fiber out of the way when I found a second inflorescence spathe, just to the left of the first one. This one was smaller and seemed to be emerging at an angle. I would guess that it was at the same point of height along the trunk as the first one was positioned. Now we were hooked and had to keep looking... Ryan