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Here’s my little grouping. Excuse the weeds. They go mental when it’s wet. The ground is sloppy and saturated and water runs out of this area all winter. These pictures were taken a couple of mornings ago when it was about 2C. Brrrrrrrrrr

And a Nypa!!

I wish I had wet soil like that, prime Johannesteijsmannia real estate. Raised beds would be a game changer for you. And as far the weeds go it depends on what type they are, but some weeds give a ground cover and that green look.

Water has much higher heat capacity than air or soil so I guess it would moderate root temperature somewhat. Maybe even at the fronds it might help surface temperature just that little bit to avoid heavy frost settling. Definitely an interesting observation. You’ve convinced me - maybe it is worth a go with R rivularis. Would say full sun is a must though. While you’re at it, give the same strategy a go with Dictyocaryum and Cyrtostachys renda 🤪

First pics were taken june 2021 and the following two today. It isn't slow after forming a trunk.

A natural JxS hybrid I grew from seed. Grows about 4 times as fast as its standard Jubaea brethren. I had 2 of these hybrids come up from a batch of seeds I collected from the 1 blue Jubaea at mission beach. Gotta love it's very upright growth pattern when planted in close quarters.🌴 aztropic Mesa, Arizona

One of the younger garden beds features two Hyphaene species. The first photo shows two Hyphaene thebaica I got from @LowDesertBoil . They survived the 24oF onslaught with leaf damage and are putting out another leaf. The second photo shows three Hyphaene coriacea. My oldest seed-grown specimen is on the right with mature fans. The two younger specimens were added later and survived in varying degrees of health. They are pushing new, healthy leaflets, so my hope is they will be back to form next year. The third photo is one of my two Ptychosperma macarthurii. Both survived the cold, with this specimen being more in the open and losing two trunks.

@kylecawazafla glad to hear about your new place! There’s a lot of cool palms that will make it out your way, though possible cold will likely limit more than heat. Caribbean palms and Bizzies and Medemias are a good start!

That area is semi protected but in a real cold year it may get a mild frost. I haven’t seen below zero since the winter of 2023 thankfully. In open exposed areas I’ve definitely seen below minus 2C. Not good. These guys yellow a little in that situation and sail through. By summer they’re crankin. The sun came out today after a bit of drizzly rain. I thought I’d take a picture of the water flowing through the area. BTW further back in the thread Tim said I’m closer to Sydney weather than Melbourne which is true. I wish I had Sydney winters though. They’re glorious and sunny. Anyway to give my climate an eastern states perspective the closest I can find to my winter temps is Nowra. I may be a tad cooler at night in winter but definitely wetter by about a factor of 50% to 100% more than Nowra. My garden has already seen a min of 0.5C with no damage this year. There’s a lot of winter to go though. Generally though if my lakes fill up, the risk of a hard frost disappears. There could be an exception though but if the rains are late, beware. My lakes filled up on June 15 but it can take until early August to do that in a dry year. The earliest I’ve seen was May 3rd. That was the year the place flooded. No frost that year. I think once the atmosphere gets more moisture in it, the chance of cloud cover increases and the risk of frost decreases.

It’s a boy, observe daily they are tricky!

A nice old Livistona Australis flowering.

So far no damage that has been detrimental for a palm grower. With temperatures dropping to 5 degrees Celsius, cold and wet, everything seems to be doing well. A few winter cold spots on some brassiophoenix schumanii, but I had them written off last winter and was wanting to just throw them out. But apart from that the rest seem to be fine, even some good growth on a few things. But the real winter is only just around the corner, let’s just say it’s not over yet!

Those beloved rats that all palm growers could do without, have a fondness for chamaedorea seeds. Clever little sods I say and on the menu is chamaedorea adscendens seeds. If I didn’t place these simple clip lock sandwich bags over them I wouldn’t get a lot of seeds. It’s a proven method that works for me.

They most likely used the elaitor as nesting material, if your after any more metallica let me know I got a few floating around.

You can see why they are not a popular little animal in many ways. They get stuck into there fair share of things in my garden, not to mention the seedlings. It’s a continuous process of trapping them. No baits iam to green for that, I even let them go after trapping them. Heaven forbid as to why I do that!

Rats and mice have a lot to answer for with damage in many ways.

Looking great Tyrone...that's going to be super nice when they all start trunking. Do you get frost in that area?

I had a pretty bad event recently. They got in my greenhouse and destroyed a bit of valuable stuff, but I only discovered later that they got to my south facing garden on the blind side of my house which I don’t check often. My female Chamaedorea Metallica is likely done for; a chewed hole through to the growth point and spear has pulled. And check out the pruning job they did on my Cham elatior pair - like a bad haircut! Luckily they left the growth point of the C elatiors though.

After a few years of only receiving small amounts of Pelago mesocarpa seeds, (and sprouting them to sell as seedlings), I’m happy to have received a large amount of fresh seeds this morning. $6 each (minimum 5 seeds). Plus shipping. Beachpalms@cfl.rr.comZelle or PayPal(only if No Fees on my end), Checks or Cash.

That palm is living life on edge, and to its fullest potential!

Stick with the hose Harry, a moat might attract sir Lancelot from Monty python, something about a holy grail and a bunch of nuns, and a rescue mission gone horribly wrong for sir Lancelot. Zoot I think her name was.🤣 Richard

If the question you are asking is, you want to remove the palms in your picture? Yes quite easily depending on a couple of things, how much labour you want to put into removing them, or can the palms be accessed by machinery. Looking at the photo you could cut them down and let them rot at ground level, job done and time is your helper. Or you could cut them down and manually dig the remaining trunk and root ball out with a lot of muscle involved. Last effort cut them down, get a machine in remove all the brick walls that are the large container they are sitting in, dig the root ball out, replace the whole site with a bit of flash landscaping and perhaps a better choice of palm or plants. Or just level the lot and a nice clivia border to match the garden behind the palms.

Pretty well much anything from Australia has to good, and the good old Bangalow is one example of such greatness Australia has to offer, that and vegimite!

Hooked is not the word completely obsessed with palms and anything related to palms more like it! Richard

This came straight from Australia (the seeds) I made about ten of them

I’ve had rats chew my Chamaedoreas up. Some will defoliate them, others will chew through the trunk and leave the rest dead on the ground. Monsters.

They’re coming to get ya. 😜🌴🌴🌴🌴🌴🌴🌴🌴🌴🌴🌴🌴🌴🌴🌴

Although not in this picture or area I’ve found that Archontophoenix purpurea loves growing in full sun at least until about 2pm in boggy soil. Those I’ve tried in shade just languish and do nothing in my climate. Put em in the sun in a boggy pig sty and they wake right up. Just like Ravenea rivularis.

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.

I’m definitely not trying to under play the importance of water to R rivularis. It’s a water hog and enjoys swampy conditions when it’s warm. Tyrone’s winter averages are significantly warmer than mine. He’s closer to Sydney averages than mine, and I’m closer to you than Tyrone. It doesn’t surprise me that R rivularis could grow nearly in standard water there, but it seems to be a different story for me and I suspect it’s just that routinely getting down around 2C or so and being boggy might be the combination that it wouldn’t like. All that being said, I haven’t tried in a truly boggy spot so who knows. They are common and available enough to give it a go so why not!

Great looking palms . Harry

2026 update

Bismarckia nobilis winter colour.

I've been collecting palms for 23 years and have never had a flowering Chambeyronia. Looks like this C. hookeri in my yard could be my first! 🤞Can't wait to get seed from my favorite palm species!

Dioon edule, first flush in several years

Bp x pjc hitting its stride.

Small queen palm showing some nice colour.

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.

We've crossed the midpoint of the year. The daylight hours for us in the northern hemisphere are counting backwards now. As everything in the garden that didn't die or get removed begins recovery mode, a photo of the Livistona decora and a small Copernicia alba and then @palmfriend's Okinawa Garden featuring Livistona chinensis and Arenga engleri. Happy Summer!

I started a community pot of these to try in southern Germany. So far they're growing strong!

Mine has flowered 2 or 3 times now but no seeds yet. The spathe and inflorescence looked somewhat dwarfed. Will see what this year brings. Has a larger one now. Started flowering with 6 feet of clear trunk below the crownshaft last year. Planted out in full sun as a 3 gallon in May of 2016, so now 10 years in the ground. Has much more shade now since the gardens have grown. This picture is from September 2025. Good luck with yours.

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.

Congrats Kyle! Obviously I can’t help unfortunately but I know it’s been a source of frustration for you not having your own place and full control of your collection. I fully expect your palm collection and obsession will get completely out of control now if you’re anything like me 🤣

My Encephalartos ituriensis is flushing but this is a very difficult one to photograph. In order to get the whole plant in the photo I have to stand pretty far back and lose detail while the tall leaves blend in with the canopy. Also, the existing leaves are erect and do a good job at hiding new flushes. Here’s a couple of photos from different angles trying to show the flush.

Hi everyone, I'm looking for Chamaedorea radicalis ‘Arborescent’ seeds or small plants. Shipping to Germany should be possible. Please send me a pm when you have anyone of these :-) Best regards, Sebastian

Definitely a SCAM!!! Email address does not belong to Jerry. Another clue is misspellings and incorrect use of the english language. 🤦 aztropic Mesa, Arizona