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Just a few more Chams in the greenhouse!

Some of my Encephalartos growing in the front are pushing flushes, finally catching up with the rest of you in Southern California.

Update May 2026..

Loving mine in Phoenix have some color because it’s cool!!!

Some decent rain after a dry spell is always welcome. You can water all day long with a hose, but the difference good rain makes you just can’t beat!

Sold to me as Encephalartos Longifolius x Princeps. This plant has exploded in 5yrs. Planted out as a 1G with a 2-3” caudex at the most. -dale

I was surprised to see this at Leu Gardens in Orlando, Florida back in December 2025. Wonder how it handled the big freeze event?

Never been even a hint of red with this one. From what I've read here, apparently quite a rare variation - I guess I got lucky!

A nice row of hookeri with almost three in a row putting on show.

A male Xylocopa varipuncta bee feeding on my backyard Desert Museum palo verde (Parkinsonia X ‘Desert Museum’). The male has no stinger and his two evolutionary drives are to feed and mate.

Thought I’d throw in a couple of updated photos. Looking good as ever. They are now all over the garden. Tim

LOL I am currently watching a neighbor who had a broken irrigation system in sand. 4 royals are wasteing away even with our (NOT THIS YEARS) rains. They shrivel up from the grow point down. It takes a few years for them to come down. If you think aobut it and use Google AI's estimate of 63-64% water from an oil palm, it means 2/3rds of the weight can be lost in dessication. And it occurs from the top down so the tendency to topple shrinks with dessication/time. Ive also seen abandoned field nurseries where some royals waste away. The guy up the street has 3of 4 where the crownshafts are gone and the trunk is continuing to dry up and dissappear top down. I walk my dog by there everyday. As the thing dries out and loses height there will be less of a damage risk dropping it. I have thought about this a lot as I do have a fat royal with 25' of clear trunk. Its not a coke bottle so much. I'd say 28 in ch minimum trunk diameter with a max probably 5" more than that. A simple calculation on water weight is using water alone based on 64lb ft3 says that tree is 8000 lbs of water in the trunk with one third of that wood which is not counted in the weight. I would estimate 10,000 lbs for the trunk overall if wood is 0.8 the density of water and 33% the volume of the trunk. Who wants to chop down such a tree and then have to carry those 5 tons of wet trunk away? It could easily be 1/3rd of that weight and if you let it dry out and crumble you have mulch you can spread, and not have to carry away at all. Im still thinking about it for the day if it comes in my lifetime.

AMAZING!!! Harry

Yes it depends on what variety of palm you are planting that determines how much you invest in amendments. Iam amending a lot of my rarer and exotic plants now simply to give them a head start in life and that extra jump from the get go. But back in the day 30 years ago I just planted as much as I could if it lived it lived and what has lived you see now in my established garden. Iam going for round two of expanding my garden, making the most of the understory I created. Also new landscaping for all the new plants I have and I have a lot. Budget is another thing to consider as well, when it comes to my garden there is no budget whatever it cost it’s an investment. Iam about to order 50 cubic meters of topsoil. This to me is an investment in my peace and harmony in life. I wish you good luck in your gardening, just plant as many plants as you can now.

Looking at the outer edge of the garden, in there is a whole world of joy

Well Z iam still running around the block, when it comes to planting holes in my garden. Two rules apply the old saying is a $2 planting hole for a $200 palm or a $200 planting hole for a $2 palm. I have 600 kerriodoxas and I just plant them anywhere chip a hole and heel them in and leave them. If I have a sabinara that are rare and rather expensive then I amend the soil, dig a hole as big as possible backfill with the medium of choice. Turn that soil in the hole mixing it with the soil that’s been removed. Then I remove that soil again place more medium of my choice turn that soil again, by now I have excess soil that is what I want. I then plant my sabinara backfill with all the amended soil and make a dam with the remaining soil, see Chambeyronia picture. Another way I go about planting is with raised beds they are a game changer in growing palms, I make a raised wall with the materials of my choice rocks, railways sleepers or coppers logs or whatever is available. I turn the ground in that created bed then backfill with the medium of my choice. But I will say water is one trick in growing palms.

Chucking them in the ground while the rain is about, some proven winners again. Chambeyronia, chamaedorea, kerriodoxas, dypsis black petiole, Calyptrocalyx spicatus, davidson plum and a dioon spinolosum. A bit more of the tropical look happening.

A nice Chambeyronia in the greenhouse and a beautiful archontophoenix out in the garden.

True it is not the temperature it is the combi of cold and wet! If dry they can handle a lot of cold, I live in Central Portugal and here it is wet in winter but it hardly freezes at night and during the day normally it is like 13°C, My Dactylifera even produce pups.

Explanation is easy. Like Richard had written right above, it is the combination of cold and wet that does Phoenix dactylifera in. Real date palm may be even cold hardier than CIDP but in an arid climate. High air moisture does not suit it well. And iberica is just another dactylifera. Many growers call deliberately Iberica common dactylifera specimens growing and fruiting in Spain! There is not a separate iberica sp, we can find genetical traces of a wild sp in some Spanish date palms but this does not mean that this wild sp still exists. Similar situation with the Neanderthal genes in the DNA of European population. Another grower in north-western France saw his iberica declining slowly. Perhaps an F1 hybrid of dactylifera with theophrasti could offer you the opportunity to grow a dactylifera without such problems.

May and June = Graduation Season ...So, in the spirit of the season, the first of this years' seedling grads moving from their com pots to 1gals. In this case, Bursera fageroides from my specimen. While i didn't end up w/ as many as i'd hoped, 6 isn't bad for the inaugural batch. Already forming fat caudexes. I'll hold on to them until i see flowers and know what sex ( ..es? ) they are. Pseudalbizia sinaloensis, Another fast growing tree i'd never buy ..bigger than a 1gal, if i couldn't start from seed ..which this one is from check - in - on as we head toward the start of Summer ...and what will come next, hopefully.. 1st Picture is from Aug. 2024 ..approx a year or two? ( ..planted right after we'd moved here ) after i stuffed it in the ground as a whippy 2gal screaming to get out of it's pot. Mid May, 2026? = Even if it is going through the gawky, " early teenage phase, growth -wise, atm, pretty good progress, even compared to 2024. Well on it's way to " Gold - trunked monster " status. We'll see how much growth it adds by October. Slaughter Pink and TLD shots, for the heck of it.. Another means of sus -ing out the differences between the two ...and other, yellow flowered " Celadine look - a - likes " 2 clear and parallel leaf margin veins? = real deal Celadine. Single vein? TLD.

I don’t see many sabinara on palmtalk, iam sure they are out there I just don’t see many here. I have 4 in the ground and a few seedlings. Surely iam not the only one growing them, are there any Australians in a subtropical zone growing them. Or am I the only one growing them this far south.

The first flower opened last night with a bunch more following today. Despite that, it is just getting started. I really need to get a ladder out to photograph the flowers properly.

Chamaedorea adscendens.

Great night to plant the clearance rack Washy…

You wait and see what that shovel can do, a good operator on a machine like this can perform gardening miracles! Richard

Sounds like it’s just to cold and wet, and the varieties you have chosen are just not suitable for your climate.

Some interesting ideas here. I never thought about killing the palm and letting it desiccate and dry up before whacking g it down. seems like a smart idea to have it do less damage.

Looks like they are loving life in the shade. Here is one of my hookeri that popped two days ago. light passing through the leaf is flame Light back reflecting off the leaf transits different chemophore compartments(mostly epidermis) and is dark red

Where there's a will, there's a way. Home depot rents 32 foot tall ladders for $50. I rented the ladder, edited my Bismarck, and had the ladder checked back in at 3 hours time. Planning out the job ahead really makes things go smoothly.👍 aztropic Mesa, Arizona

Edited a palm and it tried to edit me.

As one would be aware of I just can’t get enough of this palm. An absolutely gorgeous palm. If I see one for sale, the dollars are thrown at it!

So nice! I will find one someday. Harry

The heat may have backed off a bit last month, compared to March, ..But " Sizzle " was the theme in the sky, last month.. ** Don't forget, all images are property of yours truly.. Don't get yourself in big trouble by trying to $teal them.. ** 04 / 03: Streaks n' stuff... 04 / 04: Molasses and Gold.. 04 / 05: Sky Tones.. 04 / 07: April Lava.... Pt. 1??

Hope not. I’m not up on this tech stuff it appears I’m okay. Maybe message palm mod?

Thanks for all the input. Hopefully some of the suggestions so far may be included in this new Version. It is promised to have many new “features.” Some things I will be learning along with you. So, as we learn, keep posting here for everyone’s benefit. After the new Version is up and running, feel free to post any answers or tips you may find that address any of the suggestions given.

Thrinax radiata is a great palm. As a native, it’s now on the favored list, and is planted by the hundreds in every parking lot, and along every road and highway and median down here. These do look better with a little shelter and care, but they are planted out in the open right on the beach and still make it, though they get beat up there.

I can see why as well!

Those are massive and pretty close to the house! I had a thought that you could pre drill a few holes and put copper nails in the trunks. I have killed a ficus benjamina stump that wouldn't die with stump rot etc this way. It kept coming back till I put the copper nails in. It took a few months to kill it, now Im waiting for the rot to set in. The Cu nails themselves will need a hole drilled as they are mostly copper and not stout like iron nails. I purchased them on amazon. Dave, I remember your archies from 15 years ago, I didnt realize they got this big! I will cut back fertilizer and irrigation water on mine. I see royals come down here after drying out, seems like they dont topple but just waste away. A dry palm is likely less than 1/3rd the weight of a live one. Might be better to let them dry out before felling them. It does prevent a garden redo for years I expect. After seeing these pics I am looking around my yard at what will one day come down. I used to think I wanted fast growing big tall palms, at some point my view changed due to aesthetics, but now safety and removal are looming larger.

Hey y’all, I had a question. I’ve had this palm for probably 12 years. A great grower, looks good all the time, almost no burned leaves ever. A few years ago, it began flowering. A little sporadically at first, but now it’s to the point where every leaf base has a flower spathe underneath. The upshot is that it flowers like crazy, millions of little flowers falling, all throughout the year. But absolutely no fruit has ever developed. Any thoughts is what might be causing this? It just looks and grows so dang good in every other way, it’s hard to believe that it’s missing nutrients. Thanks in advance!

Smaller, winged trail side company... One ...of several.. locally native Blue sps in the Polyommatinae subfamily seen puddling where ever there was moistened ground throughout the garden. Has been a surge of these in the yard over the last couple weeks as well. Puddling? ..or gathering mud?.. Not quite sure but, this Digger Wasp sp, possibly in the Genus Sphex < ....It's a legit genus name btw ) was doing it's thing among the blues gathered at this particular seep. Texas Crescent, Anthanassa texana... Another that made a quick stop in the yard a few days ago.. I don't recall seeing any of our locally common Crescents before ..July.. Female Pipevine Swallowtail, Battus philenor, tending to the duty of depositing the next generation on a patch of our native Pipevine. Not a species i expect to see pass through the yard this early but, ..already seen two. Even up at Boyce, and while wandering around a nearby wash on the way home, these are typically less abundant this time of year compared to once the Monsoon arrives. Not this year though.. One of these days they'll start frequenting the yard more often since there is plenty of Pipevine waiting for them.. You know winter was warm when sightings of -any- of the Phoebis genus Sulphurs are a regular occurrence outside late summer / fall, after Monsoon season rains have provided ideal conditions for breeding. Summer rainfall pattern using the presence of these butterflies is so reliable that you can track just how wet a year might ..or might not.. have been by the general abundance ..or lack thereof... of species within this " tropical " genus of butterflies. After the heavy rains we saw last fall and the warm winter we experienced afterward, it figured i might see a few around down in the valley. Was more surprised to see ..quite a lot.. fluttering around up at the garden this early. remember, Boyce sits at an elevation where they can se an occasional, light dusting of Snow once or twice during a colder winter. If ... this summer does indeed end up wet, both locally, and across all of Northwestern MEX, this could be a big year for Sulphurs.. In this case, pretty sure all of these are Phoebis sennae, Cloudless Sulphur. That said, it isn't easy to tell this species apart from P. agarithe, Large Orange Sulphur, ..and a couple other species in the genus that turn up in AZ from time to time during the " boom - cycle " years. Regardless, Big, Orange and bright Yellow, < or Greenish - toned > butterflies wandering through a garden = a taste of the tropics. Been awhile since i've seen this AZ / Southwestern US region oddity, the infamous " Red - Eyed " Bee i'd mentioned encountering several years ago.. Not sure if this is Centris caesalpiniae, a locally rare Oil Digger more commonly seen in New Mexico, or Red legged Centris / Oil Digger, Centris rhodopus, which is < supposedly > more common west of PHX.. We actually have a few sps of Centris in AZ but only these two have red colored eyes. Pallid Desert Digger, Centris pallida, typically has bright yellow or green colored eyes, rather than Red or Gray. Black - legged Oil Digger = light colored eyes.. A couple things are fairly certain with these interesting Bees, 1, Seems the " Red eyed sps. " are highly attracted to species in the genus Krameria.. ..Where i've seen them every time i see them. Other species in our area are often seen around blooming Palo Verde and Desert Ironwood. 2, they collect oils / resins produced by the flowers of these plants, < and some others, > much the same way Orchid Bees ( Tribe Euglossini ) do, and have the " beefy ", fuzz - covered legs for the assigned task.. While Oil Diggers collect oils and resins for their nests, rather than a means to attract mates, like Orchid Bees do, highly likely one evolved from the other, imo. Both groups evolved in the Tropics though Centris were able to spread into slightly colder regions north of Mexico, esp. here in the Southwestern U.S. 3, ..Skittish and quick to fly off = they're tough to photograph, lol.. so being able to get a few, decent shots is a real reward for hanging out in the heat waiting for one or two of them to chill out on a flower just long enough to get the kind of shots i'd aimed for, esp. the Red -eyed beast. Interesting article related to another Centris sp. ( C. nitida ) that found it's way to FL. from Central America back in the late 90s.. Not too long before one of the Orchid Bees turned up in the state. https://bugoftheweek.com/blog/2019/1/21/oil-bees-if-you-please-centris-nitida First sighting of the same species was recorded in AZ back in 2022.

Updated pictures of my Copernicia Fallensis and Tahina Spectabilis as of today….

I know that many people can't do this, especially if they live in high density suburban areas, but I keep chickens, and all my garden waste, weeds, scraps, anything green goes in to the chickens. They scratch thru everything and turn that waste into fine soil full of worms. When I plant a new palm, I dig a big hole and put a wheelbarrow load of well rotted chicken soil in the hole with even more pelletised chicken manure and an organic rock style fertiliser with trace elements. I wish I had a time lapse camera, because in no time, if the plant was a bit pale and hungry, they green right up and take off. I'm on soil that retains water and nutrients so that probably helps, but if you are on sand it's probably even more necessary to do that, unless your growing a coconut in beach sand, but then they will love organics in the form of seaweed extract at the very least. Even palms that need sand (extreme drainage) I will still give them pelletised chicken manure and organic fertiliser with rock minerals at the very least, washed in with fish and seaweed emulsions.

For the first 25 years of my garden I never used organics, since I did not want to raise the soil elevation relative to the hardscape. I had a trunked Lepidorrhachis with nearly mature fruit. Don Hodel visited, and pronounced my palm 'the best he had seen ex situ'. The palm died about 2 months after his visit from two common pathogenic nematodes, root knot and sheath nematodes. Reading about these pests revealed that they are always present, but usually kept in check by other microorganisms in healthy soil. They become a problem in sandy soils, with heavy irrigation and an exclusive reliance on synthetic salt fertilizer. This was the exact description of my garden. I live about 1.5 miles inland from the ocean. The native "soil" was just beach sand, so loose that one could plunge a shovel down with just arm strength and with NO nutrition. Compost and organics are always the answer, they increase the tilth and water retention in sand, and also lighten and aerate clay. I use greensand (Bentonite) for K, feather meal for N, and crab/shrimp meal for nematode control. This thread reminds me that I am overdue for this year's spring application !

Thanks Ryan, that is pretty cool. Antidotes like this one adds so much to the general culture and creates interest. I’ll remember that when giving my next palm tour. Tim

Cal-Lip-Tro ahGhinny Gees brehg tee-ahna... It is a lot of syllables. This species is a long time favorite of mine and your plants are flawless. It also grows well here in S. Florida and may be kept perfect in a pot or most landscapes. We saw this species in habitat during the '08 Biennial in Costa Rica. Seeing a lot of them sprawled across the forest floor was amazing. In addition to being pollinated by bats, the undivided leaves serve as a daytime 'game hide' for them. During a trek along one path, we came across one specimen that had a distinctive folded leaf. It was bent at the rachis and was hanging down, almost like a tent. The attendee group that was there began to guess why it was like that, so we took turns peering under the folded leaf and found a bat, hanging upside down, feet clamped onto the peak of the 'tent'. It knew how to chew the rachis just enough to fold it over, but not to break it, forming its camp for the day. After a couple attempts at taking its photo, we left it to sleep. We pointed it out to the guides and the other attendees and continued on. Ryan

Wow Tim, that is beautiful. I remember trying to grow this one in my area, but just could not get it to go. Funny, I always thought of it as a small understory palm, but using your shovel for scale shows that it’s pretty darn big. Great looking palm...

Wow. Beautifully grown