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Yes, he and his brother operated the nursery off farmland they owned. He invested heavily in inventory but not infrastructure, and unfortunately it caught up to him. From what he had told me any profit they made came from basic cold hardy species sold wholesale to local DFW landscapers. The rarer stuff was a dream of his for the business , that eventually became a massive loss. He spent tens of thousands on seeds from RPS alone, and that was before their shipping went crazy . He traveled to California , Florida , etc and bought every specimen level, seed producing age Cycad, Palm , Yucca , Dasylirion etc. he could get ahold of. From what he told me most of the rare stuff survived in his better greenhouses and he has kept for himself. He has absolutely no interest in being affiliated or caught up in the hobby/industry again.

Heres a brief overview of pretty much every palm I have in the ground. So much of it is totally burned that I’m not sure how helpful this is. On the other hand If some of these make it could be useful. Exposure, 1,2,3,4 - least to most 4 = out in the open, 1 being fully artificially protected, 2 = naturally covered on 3 sides, 3 = naturally covered on 1 or 2 sides. Could also be a combination of the above also. In other words, a palm up close to the house and near the corner of a fence but with fronds extending well above protection might be 2 and 4. Young/small, maturing/medium mature/large or combination of the above. Level of damage Level of exposure Age/Size of Palm Status one week after cold front. Pritchardia sp? 40% leaf damage, level 3 exposure, Young to maturing, 3/4” of spear growth. Aiphanes minima - 100% leaf damage, level 3-4 exp. mature 12” wood trunk, no spear growth. Beccariophoenix alfredii - 0% leaf damage, young to maturing, Level 2 exp., appears to be growing. Caryota mitis - 90% leaf damage, level 2,3,4 exp., Mature/large, growth status unknown. Chambeyronia olivoformis - 85% leaf damage, level 3 exposure, young to maturing, 3/4” spear growth. Gaussia princepts - 0% leaf damage, level 2 exp, maturing/medium, growth status unknown, Coccothrinax sp? Argentata/barbadensis? - 10% leaf damage, level 2 exp. Young/small Appears to be growing. Coccothrinax argentea? - 0% leaf damage, level 2 exp., young/small, status appears to be growing. Coccothrinax miraguama - 0% leaf damage, level 2 exposure, young/small, status appears to be growing. Coccothrinax alaxandri - 0% leaf damage, level 1-2 exp., young/small, status appears to be growing. Ravanela (traveller tree) - 100% leaf damage, level 4 exp, mature/large, status unknown. Vietchia spiralis - 100% leaf damage, level 3-4 exp., mature/large, unknown. Chrysalidocarpus basilongus - 0% leaf damage, level 2 exp., maturing/small status unknown. Ptychosperma elegans - 70% leaf damage, level 2-3 exp., mature/ medium, Status no growth. Normanbya normanbyi - 100% leaf damage, level 3-4 exp., no growth. Cyphophoenix elegans - 90% leaf damage, level 3-4 exp., maturing/medium. Status no growth. Gassia gomez pompae - 100% leaf damage, level 3-4 exp., maturing/smallstatus unknown. Chambeyronia olivoformis - 95% leaf damage, level 3-4 exp., maturing/medium, status no growth. Coccothrinax miraguama havanensis - 0% leaf damage, level 3-4 exp., maturing/small status appears to be growing. Pseudophoenix vinifera - 100% leaf damage, level 3-4 exp., maturing/small, status unknown. Ravenea rivularis - 75% leaf damage, level 4 exp., maturing/medium, status unknown. Latania loddigesii - 0% leaf damage, level 1 exp., maturing/medium, status 1/4” of spear growth. Chambeyronia pyriformis - 0% leaf damage, level 1 exposure, maturing/small, status 3/4” spear growth, Chambeyronia macrocarpa #1 - 100% leaf damage, level 2-3-4 exp., mature/large, status 1/2” new spear growth. Burretiokentia viellardii - 90% leaf damage, level 3-4 exp., maturing/medium, status slight spear growth. Becarriophoenix fenestralis - 85% leaf damage, level 3 exp., maturing/nedium, status 1/2” spear growth. Coccothrinax macrglossa azul - 0% leaf damage, level 3-4 exp., maturing/small, status appears to be growing. Ptychsperma elegans paddle leaf - 98% leaf damage, level 3-4 exp., maturing/medium, status no growth. Chrysalidocarpus pilulifera - 100% leaf damage, level 3-4 exp., maturing/small, status no growth. Chrysalidocarpus prestoniana - 95% leaf damage, level 3-4 exp., maturing/medium, status unknown spear is green. Phoenix sylvesteris x2 - no damage full exposure. Brassiophoenix drymophloeides - 100% leaf damage, level 3-4 exp., mature, medium. Dictyosperma album rebrum - 100 % leaf damage, level 3 exp., maturing small, status no growth. Cyphophoenix nucele - 99% leaf damage, level 3 exp., young/medium, status no growth. Dypsis rosea - 0% leaf damage, level 1 exp. maturing/young, status appears to be growing. Chrysalidocarpus loucoubensis - 100% leaf damage, level 3-4 exp., maturing small, status no new growth. Chambeyronia houlouensis - 100% leaf damage, level 3-4 exp., maturing/medium, status no new growth. Hydriastele beguinii obi - 20% leaf damage, level 1 exp., mature/medium, status 1/2” new growth on spear. Cocos nucifera red spicata - 100% leaf damage, level 2-3 exp., maturing/ large, status 1/4” new growth on spear. Pinanga javana - 25% leaf damage, level 1-2 exp, maturing/medium, status 1/8” new spear growth. Pinanga adagensis - 45% leaf damage, level 1-2 exp., maturing/medium, status 1/4” new spear growth. Chambeyronia macrocarpa #2 - 60% leaf damage, level 2-3-4 exp., mature/medium, status 1/2” of new spear growth. Archontophoenix tuckeri #2/3 - 70% leaf damage, level 3-4 exp., mature/medium, status unknown. Clinostigna savoryanum - 40% leaf damage, level 1-2 exp., mature/medium, status very small growth on new spear. Burretiokentia hapala - 40% leaf damage, level 2 exp., maturing/medium, status 1/4” of new spear growth. Calyptrocalyx polyphullus - 0% leaf damage, level 1 exp., mature/medium, status appears to be growing. Euterpe edulis - 0% leaf damage, level 2 exp., maturing/medium, status appears to be growing. Veitchia arecina #1 east - 100% leaf damage, level 4 exp., mature/large, status unknown. Chrysalidocarpus rufescens - 0% leaf damage, level 2 exp., young/medium, status unknown, Prychosperma elegans - 20% leaf damage, level 2 exp., mature/medium, status appears to be growing. Normanbya normanbyi #2 - 100% leaf damage, level 3-4 exp., mature/medium, status no new growth. Veitchia arecina #2 east - 100% leaf damage, level 4 exp., mature/large, status unknown. Pseudophoenix sargentii - 15% leaf damage, level 2-3 exp., mature/medium, status appears to be growing. Licuala grandis - 0% leaf damage, level 1 exp., maturing/large, status appears healthy. Cocos nucifera HD - 100% leaf damage, level 3-4 exp., mature/large, status 1/2” new spear growth. Cyphophoenix elegans - 10% leaf damage, level 2-3 exp., status appears healthy. Chrysalidocarpus lanceolatus - 60% leaf damage, level 1-3 exp., status some parts appear healthy. Thrinax radiata - 20% leaf damage, level 4 exp., maturing/large, appears healthy. Areca catechu dwarf - 0% leaf damage, level 1 exp., mature/small, status appears healthy. Wodyetia bifurcata - 95% leaf damage, level 3-4 exp., mature/large, status unknown. Licuala ramsayi - 10% leaf damage, level 2-3 exp., maturing/small, status appears to be growing. Pinanga speciosa - 50% leaf damage, level 1-2 exposure, mature/small, status 1/2-3/4” of new spear growth on 3. Archontophoenix tuckeri - 95% leaf damage, level 4 exp., Mature/large, status unknown. Ptychosperma elegans - 85% leaf damage, level 4 exp., mature/large, status unknown. Pseudophoenix sargentii #1 - 85% leaf damage, level 4 exp., mature/medium, status unknown. Bismarckia nobilis - 0% leaf damage, level 4 exp., mature/large, status slight shock? Appears to be growing. Syagrus schizophylla - 95% leaf damage, level 4 exp., status unknown. Satakentia liukiuensis / 100% leaf damage, level 1 - 4 exp., Mature/medium, status 3/4” new spear growth. Crownshaft and trunk covered/warmed leafs exposed. Roystonia regia - 90% leaf damage, level 4 exposure, mature/large, status unknown. Chrysalidocarpus pembana - 100% leaf damage, level 3-4 exp., no new growth. Caryota mitis - 100% leaf damage (main trunk) level 3-4 exp., maturing/medium. Status no growth. Rhapis excelsa - 0-5% leaf damage, level 3-4 exp., status appears healthy. Syagrus amara - 60% leaf damage, level 3-4 exp., mature/medium, status no growth/unhealthy before front. Arenga engleri - 100% leaf damage, level 3-4 exp., status new spear appears ok. Ptychosperma schefferi - 85% leaf damage, level 3-4 exp., maturing/small, status unknown. Sabal mauritiformis - 0% leaf damage, level 3-4 exp., young/small, status appears healthy, in pot. Carpoxylon macrospermum - 75% leaf damage, level 1-4 exp., mature/medium, status 1/2” new spear growth. Lights and heater used to protect lower part of palm. Neoveitchia storckii - 20% leaf damage, level 1 exp., maturing/large. Status 3/4” new spear growth. Most damage was from lights used to protect it. Caryota gigas - 70% leaf damage, level 1 exp., young/large, status unknown, covered by pot. Chambeyronia hookeri - 15% leaf damage, level 1 exp., mature/small, status no new growth. Hyophorbe indica red - 0% leaf damage, level 1 exp., maturing/medium, status 3/4” new spear growth. Attalea cohune - 80% leaf damage, level 3-4 exp., maturing/large, status unknown. Veitchia arecina + winin pair, 100% leaf damage, level 2-4 exp., mature/large, status unknown. Areca vestiaria maroon - 0% leaf damage, level 1 exp., maturing/small status appears healthy. Areca catechu semi dwarf - 20% leaf damage, level 2 exp., mature/large, status unknown. Protected by Bismarckia fronds. Licuala grandis - 0% leaf damage, level 1 exp., maturing/small, status appears healthy. Licuala peltata sumowongii - 0% leaf damage, level 3 exposure, maturing/small, status appears healthy. Hyphane coriasia - 0% leaf damage level 3 exp., maturing/small, status appears healthy, in pot.

Just perlite on a heat mat plugged into a 12 hour on/ 12 our off timer inside a Walmart takeout container. Took about 3 weeks to get them to pop. Cracked seed carefully using vise grip pliers. They work best due to the rounded shape of the pliers not crushing the seed insides. It did germinate a little faster than the coated seeds maybe by 10 days. I don’t really see a major advantage to doing this over keeping them in the shell.

We have been stuck in a pattern of stretching polar vortex, no real displacement and no real SSW. Just stretched PVs since November. Something I've noticed about this winter is that the freezes I have had (something like 15) have all mostly been colder overall compared to previous seasons, getting down into the mid to upper 20s more frequently than just staying in the low 30s. I have also had little to no frost days where the temperature didn't drop below freezing. The pocket of deep cold over Canada is going to continue to provide the threat of cold at least for NW FL for the next several weeks. I hope this is the last freeze event for all of us, but im sure I'll get another at least borderline cold snap before it's actually over with.

Well at least that’s better than doing the dish’s, they did more than pressboards and farts in the 70s, maybe you didn’t hit your head perhaps it was something else you did in the 70s that’s related too psycadellics!🍄

The palm gods have spoken and if it’s action they want, action they get!

I guess so, lucky I don’t I have an active volcano on hand or I would be thrown into that 🤣

A few things to note heading into a winter that makes it colder: drought (especially bad like this year), la Nina fading out (especially suddenly like this year), and a pattern that sets in somewhat early, and stays locked in for some time in late December or early January, with an outlier cold event in October (mid 30s in October 2022) or November like this year. There are a bunch of warning signs to watch for but even then there are no guarantees. We had the Trifecta and then some this winter, so it hit more heavily for most than last year, but for me one bad night each year was all it took to wipe out half the garden and set the rest back. Natives are struggling so you know it's bad for them, but they also "know" how to recover better than our beloved garden plants typically do. These setbacks happen anywhere, but when you live on the edge of the yearly freeze line for some reason it hits harder. Almost there!

I started using an old dishwasher on the patio but that was before I apparently hit my head really hard and decided to start an entire nursery. Now I use a saggy folding table from the 1970s that's made out of pressboadd and farts.

Had a 36C day yesterday. I got up this morning to cloud rain forest conditions 20C and 97% RH with clouds probably descending to ground level complete with soaking fine drissle which the trees were capturing and turning into heavier rain underneath. You can literally hear the rain falling loudly under the trees but in the open it’s basically silent except for birds singing. Water is running into the tank quite fast. However if you check the radar, it’s not showing up. Probably because I’m in a valley at 13m asl and the radar tower is based at 70m asl. A truly beautiful morning that all the plants will be loving. IMG_4692.mov

Figured everyone could use some good news. Pritchardia thurstonii was able to weather the storm under coconut canopy and shielded from wind slightly by the lanai. It is opening the damaged leaf in the photo and the another spear is coming out. That said, we do have another front coming and that might finish it off. At least it is still in the game, though.

Because he doesn’t want to be associated with the business anymore . 5 years down the road he still has people like you seeking him out. He told me 4 months after the 2/21 freeze he wasnt going to waste any more time trying to salvage things. He may very well lurk on here, but most likely he got burned bad and wants to move on in life.

I am aware that Joseph Rossi Lost most of his palms in the 2021 Freeze But does anyone know what happened to him he literally dropped off the face of the earth haven't heard anything about him in years. ! I'm assuming he just completely gave up on the palm hobby.

Good news! the new growth is coming up and its green so I'm just keeping it dry until its fully out and back to normal! 🤠

Man yall this is insane def gonna set a lot of people’s gardens and stuff Back awhile. that baby foxtail i planted along with the others that were larger are def dead in Kissimmee FL

Ok I shall settle the score and start a on the potting bench thread to appease the palm gods. So it is as follows, on the potting bench you shall see what’s been growing and what reds to be potted up, freshly germinated to anything else that needs to be potted, it shall be gor reference as seedling identification. If anyone wants to identify a seedling, and also as documentation of what and how the plants are growing for the palm talk audience and for my own documentation!

I want to be included in a palm society 😭✌️

Plant a manchineel tree there (Hippomane mancinella) and a arbour of deadly nightshade, see how they go bashing them about! 🪴

@kylecawazafla what @Stevetoad said! Don’t give up!

Nice Brazilian cut. I dug a Bizzy once about the same size and moved it to a different spot in my yard. It sulked for a long while and just when I was going to dig it up and toss it I noticed it had some new deformed growth. I left it alone and it started to look good. then it exploded and out grew my other two. I ended up having to cut it down a year or so ago because the leaves were landing on. my neighbors roof. So In my experience they can be dug ( and I did a lousy job digging) but they take a long time to recover. I posted about it a bunch of years ago.

After this year i don't care anymore I gave up on trying to grow mangos etc it does it dies. Honestly seeing how easy it freezes here and how early and late in the season it can freeze i reaky don't see what's keeping it from ever getting into the single digits or us having a big snowstorm. Where im from in Pennsylvania it was rare to get snow flurries before Thanksgiving. Like having a low below freezing isn't even that common before Thanksgiving but down here webhave a freeze in mid November. Up there this time of year it was hard ok get snowstorm to realy get snow to lay in the daytime cause of sun angle but down here it's gona get below freezing easy af. Just makes no sense to me. Basicaky it's possibly to freeze here 6 months out of the year I alwaysvassumed I had about 2 months to realy worry about and it turns out it can freeze pretty much anytime between October and March. Wild. Like ive been saying california or miami are the best places to grow cool stuff. It's wild to me in California palms seem to be way more cold hardy like stuff that takes 28 there is dead here at 28.

They prefer maiden sacrifices, but this is a close second 😂

Hey everyone......been a while and sorry I have not read what has been posted since I last posted but wanted to post a quick update on my palms. My 3 Coconuts are the ones I'm most concerned with. Everything else - while full of brown fronds - look like they are going to pull through, thankfully. And we'll see about the Veitchia joannis. I can't see what's happening with the spear because it's so dang tall...lol... I'm still pleasantly surprised at how well my Ptychosperma and Archontophoenix held up. With the warmer weather I thought I'd hit everything with a second dose of copper all over the crown and soaking the spear as much as possible, so did that this afternoon. Will also do a liquid feed this weekend. I think it would help. Good luck everyone and I will followup down the road when I know more...

They dislike transplanting or any root disturbance, the one you have there if you have to move it good luck and you will need a large solid root ball. My advice leave it alone odds on it will die if you move it.

Don't touch it! It will come back. Maybe give it some extra water when you can. If you try and move it, it's almost a guaranteed death sentence. aztropic Mesa, Arizona

It's a beautiful day in Houston

Strangest looking plant I have seen in while. Can’t wait for it to flower!

Thanks Kim. They make wonderful garden specimens. They do tolerate a dry season. The ones in the pictures are mostly 25 years old and have been through a lot of dry seasons over those years. There a palm you can set and forget in the garden and return to them years later to enjoy. Iam still planting them to this day the second generation from their seeds.

Removed a couple of old leaf sheaths this arvo.

Dog, it was 83 today. And we're supposed to have lows of like 26 Monday and Tuesday. I hate this 💩 so much.

I was born in the 70s, but I absolutely plead the fifth about anything that's happened since then. I ain't saying nothing without a subpoena or an audience 😂

02 / 07 and 02 /13, 2026: ..Stringy thingzz 02 /07: 02 /13:

9 / 02: ..A September opener to remember...

I wish I had heard earlier since I had to move it this morning. Oh well. It would have died anyways in its current spot as they have already murdered dozens of my palms in so many different ways. I don't know what's so hard about people just leaving your plants alone. 🤬

Crazy ain't? Makes no sense. Just like the sun angle next week will be the same as where I moved from in April/August when it's impossible to freeze up there but it can freeze here surrounded by warm water.

That’s right on the money, forecast models are moving into agreement with the veracity of cold. Temps are trending colder now. Naples city limits is forecast for two nights in the upper 30’s. I bet temps in Eastern Golden Gate will be colder than Orlando(I’ll be up there this weekend on business). Before we purchased this home, I read a lot of the warnings and info you guys posted on these forums regarding SW Florida and Naples in particular. I should have taken it more to heart, I assumed development and a warm epoch would be my savior. I didn’t realize how the cold sneaks in so pervasively in a large pocket not far from the Gulf. And this effect is triggered every time there is any cold front. That freeze line lingers perilously close nearly every year. Yes there’s plenty of heat down here, but I’m taken aback by how cold it does get.

I agree with the others, if you touch it now it'll probably die. Toss it some fertilizer and leave it be! That being said, the local FDOT people have started planting Bismarckia just like Sabals on highways. At a nearby interchange they did about 20-30 Bismarck and a similar number of Sabals. All were trimmed about like your photo, bur of course with 5 to 10 feet of clear trunk. Surprisingly enough I counted about 75% success rate with Bismarcks and 85% or so with Sabals. Maybe the trick is just to chop off all the fronds and treat them like a Sabal for transplant?

Heat lamps would be a fire hazard. Again, just want to restate, the smaller palm did just fine with the same protection.

I still have trackycarpus princeps popping up two years later so they take a while to germinate, even had them germinate on the potting in between potting time. The best part is more free plants. Richard

wtf is wrong with them miserable ah people

Install heat lamps. Use plenty to protect it from the cold. And frost protection netting. Try mounting them on four wooden posts in the ground, about an elbow's length from the palm. The heat from these lamps will be a great help. Install the lights along the entire length of the palm, from the trunk to the leaves. Spray all the leaves and part of the trunk with neem oil mixed with potassium soap. Apply a little to the bud. The low temperatures have affected your palm, making it more prone to fungal attacks and infections, which have also damaged its leaves. It was left weak after being transplanted to its new location.

Temperatures in the Orlando area this go-round were ~24F in most spots. Hope for a full recover for all of them.

You gotta appease the palm gods!

Guidance has trended colder in the past 36 hours or so. This is shaping up to be a freeze for the Panhandle. NWS currently forecasting a low of 33F for Monday night. Looks like it may warm up pretty quickly after that before getting cool again to start the month of March. Being cold in Florida multiple times during the winter season is not a new thing. Y'all have gotten lucky more than anything in the past decade down south. I would be grateful to live in the areas of central Florida thats been trashed on so much in this thread. I am still thankful to be located in NW FL, where many palms can be grown. Sometimes it pays to just be thankful for what you have instead of being upset about what you cant have. My Queens are fried, my bizzy might not make it, my lady palm spear pulled, my washies are burnt, but... here is my super mule, looking like winter never happened: For that, I am thankful.

Well thankfully most of my current collection fared quite nicely. After the last freeze a couple years ago I decided to move more towards what I knew would survive. Some were still questionable, and the ones I could get in the greenhouse went in there and the others were left to elements with little to no protection. Recorded low was 23F for my location in Jacksonville. Beccariophoenix alfredii inground and potted bronzed Cycas chamaoensis, balansae, petrae and sp. Wiliwiak bronzed Syagrus cearensis (was actually hit when we had 30f a few weeks ago) these were in greenhouse Syagrus schizophylla slightly bronzed. These were covered but no heat. Caryota maxima Himalaya bronzed Butia archerii, both potted and in ground, no damage Syagrus weddellianum no damage, planted under the canopy of a mule Syagrus campylospatha in ground, no damage Mule seedlings no damage Parajubaea torallyii no damage What eas given to me as Arenga Engleri no damage, under canopy of a Queen, mule and some bamboo Syagrus hoehnei no damage

You all did it!! $25,000 was raised for Ravenea louvelii. As Conservation Chair for IPS I want to thank every one of you for helping save this remnant palm population. If our palm people had not stepped up, the situation in Madagascar might have become bleak. We will keep you posted on what Mijoro and his team are doing.

Just one of my favorites. Smaller than MacArthur Palm and very clean. Another rarity that should be more widely used here. Makes a fantastic accent with trunk thinning or can be left alone to sucker and would make a beautiful privacy hedge if one prefers. Much cleaner than the Areca palm that is so widely used here for screening. Smaller too.

I don't know how old any of you are, I don't want to actually betray my age LOL but lets say I am getting up there with God at this point. But when I was a child in the 1960's we lived in West Texas (Abilene). My grandparents lived in the big city (Dallas) and my sister and I frequently went to spend time with them in the summers. There was a fad back then, maybe some of you remember it, c1965-66-67 or so, where they actually sold baby alligators in the pet departments of dime stores like Kreskies and Woolworth. This was in both Dallas and Abilene and I am sure other cities as well. They sold them for between $5-10 each. I wanted one so badly. Anytime we went to the dime store with my grandparents I would literally BEG for a pet alligator because I knew I had a much better chance wearing them down than my own parents. But it never happened. My parents had some friends in Abilene who actually bought two. They had a special little water feature made in their living room to display the gators. When I say LITTLE i mean LITTLE. Looking back, I wonder what they were thinking? Didn't they realize these little babies were going to grow to an unmanageable size to keep in a small house? People who bought them in Dallas ended up dumping them in lakes and in the Trinity River. My grandfather had a membership to fish on a small private lake and the owner allowed people to bring the alligators there and let them loose. He had a little john boat and we would go fish out there a lot and occasionally you would see one. Scared the crap out of me. It gets pretty cold in both Abilene and Dallas in the winters and I doubt any of those gators survived long term. But the possibilities that somewhere somehow they did is kind of tantalizing.

People in South Florida are saying they are seeing black panthers down there. I live on the edge of a state nature preserve here in North Central Florida and thee have been reported sightings of what the game warden says is a Jaguarundi in the preserve. Its been sighted by several people at different times. Which is really weird because they are native to Mexico. They are occasionally seen in the far west in Texas but never here in Florida! Some folks around here also claim to be seeing wolves. We have always had coyotes but wolves would be a totally new thing around here. As to alligators, our next door neighbor has a 6 footer that lives in his pond. I think wildlife is moving around the country as habitats are lost and the climate changes. So alligators in Virginia wouldn't surprise me at all.