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A view from my deck ! 15 years old and my largest of 4 Lepidorachis.

Troy is the best grower, ever !

Good for you, Harry! They look super healthy now. You almost can’t walk through my landscape without seeing Archotophoenix. They’re everywhere. Nothing here seems to ever bother them either. Without them, I’d have WAY fewer palm species since they are the main shade producers. The low winter sun manages to get through though which is a plus.

Damn.

Here’s my Verschafeltii that just showed its first flower at a young age. Bring in a lot of sun at low elevation I think causes this sometimes here in my garden.

Gorgeous

Palm perfection Troy well done!

I love the photo of both of them they both look like one big palm together! I have seen them in habitat on creek bank with at least half the root ball exposed to the elements from erosion, there sure tough as adult palms, seedlings a different story. You did well as a palm lover transplanting them from the office to your garden!

Beautiful pics! They are still a favourite of mine. As yo say so easy to grow and very forgiving just add water and you have a fast growing palm. Next time iam on the Gibraltar range west of my town I will try to collect some of those ultra cool tolerant varieties that grow up there at high altitude. Its no wonder they are so popular overseas planted on mass there just divine, although I don’t think Hawaii would think so being such a weed there.

Cool, no copyright laws @happypalms

These are nice!

2021-2022 was the last barely 9b winter, everything else post 2021 8b/low 9a, 2019-2020 and 2018-2019 were zone 10. 6 out of the last 15 winters have been zone 10 at Hobby and >=28F at IAH. IAH from 1997-2009: zero 8b winters, 2 9a winters, everything else 9b or 10 Hobby recorded only 9b/10 winters for the same time period. So the potential for warmth is still there. We're just succumbing to recency bias. Even with all of the recent cold winters, the standing 30 year averages at IAH and Hobby are ~25F and ~27F. It would take several more zone 8 winters with an absence of anything 9b+ which seems unlikely. But anything can happen I guess.

I like "Baldy in Chief" David Reimer

If you've lived in pennsylvania or do, you know this image is very true LOL

Rick, I’ll bring some orange lichen over. 😊

@Jim in Los Altos, you have a pair similar to mine . I had to do a double take . Harry These were in a pot in an office where my shop is. They were sad and full of spider mites . They were very small and I wasn’t sure they’d make it . Then a few years ago , I cut a bunch of the roots to put a pathway in. I thought for sure they would die ….nope! They have thrived .

Richard is the master of packing and sending plants, Never had a plant arrive that was not perfect regards Colin

I found them quite easy and satisfying to germinate as well. I was given some fresh seeds at the palm society sale at Fairchild Botanical Gardens in the Miami area back in November and all 5 germinated within a month. I used the baggie method and one grew up so quickly that it punctured a hole in the baggie!

Geese Troy, it looks perfect! Tim

Flawless!! Well done!

Absolutely awesome. Well done.

What a stunning specimen!

Thanks for the bump. I have not been checking PT recently, so glad I caught this update. Before he left on a trip to South America a few weeks ago, everyone's favorite Big Island palm nurseryman called to check on this year's crop of Kerridoxa seeds. 'Are they ready yet? You can drop them off at the nursery while I'm away.' 'No, they are still rock hard, but typically begin to fall in mid October. I'll drop them off after you get home.' Well today I discovered the horrible dry weather we have been suffering this year has apparently accelerated ripening. I have three females but only one male. This year the male bloomed several weeks before the females, so I was only able to get wilted male flowers with the last traces of pollen to shake over the female flowers. Apparently if you can see any trace of dust falling out of the male flowers, that is more than enough to get the job done. In previous years I was probably treating with a 100-fold excess of pollen. One female inflorescence emerged a few weeks later and got no pollen at all (yellow arrow). No pollen, no fruit. The last couple of years I've been delivering 1000-1200 seeds. I expect about the same this year. Someone should be happy when he returns from his trip later this month. Here is a context shot. When they don't get set back by cold winters, Kerridoxa can get some size. This one is 12 years old and about 10-12 ft tall (3m). You might be able to make out some Verschaffeltia stilt roots in the back to the right. Most photos on PT are looking down at knee high plants. It is a different experience when you have to look overhead at the huge fronds.

Ok you got me there, that’s a cracker of a palm. You have found something that grows to perfection in a refrigerator!

Well, good luck to my fellow Texans the coming days. I still working my way through protecting palms but I am 70% done. Thankful for headlights so I can continue this evening. Unfortunately, this has now become a yearly ritual. I am also facing the tough decision of cutting fronds in advance or not!

Yep at again buying more plants, or doing a bit of trading nothing beats the barter system. A few good ones and throw in a Calyptrogyne ghiesbreghtiana and a nice anthurium claudiae with a zingiber sp and you have the perfect recipe for the tropical look, and why not I say!

Online!

And I bet you don’t buy from those sellers anymore after a bad experience with them receiving the wrong plants, it’s all about quality and keeping the customer satisfied. After all if you go out for dinner and get a good meal you go back to that restaurant.

Thanks Tim & Richnorm. Pinnae arrangement look similar to both scottiana and particularly to sahanofensis, but the inflorescence on the palm in question is unbranched. Reading about sahanofensis, the inflorescence is branched to two orders. Definitely getting closer. Tim

Yes it depends on customs, some countries are fine with it others not so fine. It basically comes down to are you willing to risk it, myself for one no way would I attempt to smuggle or get anything sent. One strike and my importing days would be over in the seed business, I respect our bio security for good reason, Australia is a beautiful country with an amazing ecosystem, I most certainly don’t want to be the one individual who stuffs it up! Oh and there’s a lot of palms I haven’t got, and there has been a lot of dud seed batches that prevented me from having more varieties, it’s not from lack of trying trust me!

Dypsis sahanofensis also close.

It appears the jury has come to a verdict, male!

@gyuseppe and @Phoenikakias are correct. I will say a boy and a girl, or if you want to get technical staminate and pistallate flowers!

After 42 long days, the Trachycarpus ravenii seeds from Rare Palm Seeds finally arrived at my address 🌱 A total of 200 seeds, of which 50 belong to my friend. I soaked my 150 seeds in water just now. It will be fascinating to follow their development and observe which characteristics they express over time — growth rate, cold tolerance, phenotypic variation, and more. The journey begins now.

it looks like a female

I am not good at knowing the difference on these . Perhaps @happypalms , or someone else can help with ID. Harry

Nice guide for those that want to do this. Germinating seeds is sometimes very slow unless you have the facilities to move it along. I guess it would be easier to buy seedlings as I did when I started in the early 1990’s. Harry

Yes, I know Psillakis, I guess everyone on PalmTalk knew him. Perhaps a relative of mine, since we have the same surname.. may he RIP. Do you have a list of your available seedlings somewhere?

Phoenicophorium borsigianum, a Seychelles palm. Tim

Been a long time lurker of this forum and finally decided to make an account to share the freezing conditions at my parents' home - wunderground stations show 22-23°F while the weather channel displayed 24-25°F My personal hygrometer didn't drop below 27.5°F and my Alfies still look green on camera (I am away from there at the moment). We seem to be in a location where the cold "funnels in" from the northwest (lucky us!) so I did my best to plant the Alfies on the south side of the home. They already took two shots down to 26°F this winter but this has to be undoubtedly the coldest morning this far. The hygrometer is reporting 5.5 hours below freezing and counting, but at least we're on the upswing now. I will say, I am thoroughly impressed this far on how these 15 gal trees have faired thus far. Fingers crossed, knock on wood!

lilium tiger bicolor

Bismarkia new frond

Chrysalidocarpus Leucomalla dropped another leaf and features a unique yellow that is almost glowing.

This view

Chambeyronia piersoniorum with a nice new frond - a blue/silver that appears more vibrant in real life than I can capture in photo. Similar colour to its relative C oliviformis but perhaps even more striking.

When the light radiates through a palm frond

Nice silver on this Bismarck and this Heliconia.

Laos. Not exactly known for it's challenging winters.

Hi there, I thought it is ok to bump this one, because... Number one and... ...number two went into the ground (after the expected one year). So, now I can call myself one of those "people-growing-kerriodoxa-elegans". Thread's mission accomplished - happy growing! Lars

Some other photos showing various areas of the garden: The entrance to Tiki Key: The pond with fountain: An old style plant tag: Got to keep the wabbits away: Back in the nature preserve section: If you put your hand on the right spot, a secret door is supposed to open...