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I have had received some interest in this elegant Malagasy species that I have been growing, and I'll take a little time to present some pictures and comments. Seeds from RPS were sown in July 2008. Good germination, four plants were planted out in April 2014. Here is a pic of the quartet taken a few days ago: I took another pic (in rare full sun) from a different angle with a lawn chair for scale: The pinnate portions of dead leaves tend to break off, leaving numerous very thick leaf bases that exceed in toughness any other genus I can think of at the moment. Here is the largest one. Smaller palms next to the left are Dypsis (still Dypsis) rivularis. For a while, plants of the two species were of identical height. Two larger palms in the distance are Clinostigma exorrhizums. Inflors are two or more feet long, very straight and vertical, emerging from those tough leaf bases. Three of mine have produced them - I'm not sure which sex they are. Here are two that fell off after dying. This species is among my favorites. They do trunk after sufficient time, as I have seen in published photos. But I am in no hurry for that.

This is a big boy. Thick, heavy trunk 25 feet from the soil line to the top of the tallest branches. Dead knock off for a cocos, if it wasn’t so thick at the trunk!

This particular one is madagascariensis, although I have the same issue with fenestralis. Funny, a couple hours after I posted this, I got a call from Jeff Markus of Floribunda palms regarding an order I'd placed. So, I asked him about it & he told me that he had the same issue for the first few years with his as well, but to be patient and they'll grow out of it. I'll take Dr. Jeff's word for it. In the meantime, we'll keep helping them along. We are getting some near mature seeds developing, so that's good. I'll take an updated picture of the tree tonight.

So when we do that, the flowers open within about 48 hours and then begin getting some pollination for seeds. Crazy, this is the only species that this is a problem with. Weird. First picture is today’s surgery. The second & third has some surgery that we did about six weeks ago.

They are a lovely palm, I thought they would be more available in your part of the world, if you see one grab it they are cool tolerant and would do well in your climate. They also make great container palms, slow growing as well. Richard

The bismarck palm is a very fast grower and a good trouble free choice for beginners. This one has 6 new spears at the ready, and will replace the entire existing crown over the next 2 months. aztropic Mesa, Arizona

Hey all, here’s something I can’t quite figure out. My neighbor and I have a couple of this species and they throw out flower spathes regularly. But they simply never open on their own. So… We’ve taken to performing surgery to free up the flowers.. The thickness of the spathe is just crazy thick. We have found that if we simply allow them to sit, eventually the contents of the spathe will just get moldy-and yet never open. We are generally perplexed at why this is happening, but it is what it is. It actually requires a combination of a sawzall, a vibrating saw, and some clippers deftly used to remove the woody section without damaging the flowers excessively. The walls are thicker than my thumb is wide.

They’re pretty rare over here too.

If anyone was wondering, the one I threw in the woods in Mississippi last fall still has not sprouted.

A couple of chamaedoreas. Cham adscendens Cham Ernest augustii Cham klotzshciana

The classic Joey palm, so desired for that tropical look. Many a grower has wanted one or two in there collection. But due to price and the talk of how difficult they are to grow, alas many a grower has forgone the opportunity of having one. They are yes temperamental to some extent, but not as tricky as you would think. Good drainage, lots of water and they like a feed. You can sit them in a tray of water in the greenhouse, if in the garden they will drink as much water as you give them. Cool tolerant but the more temperate the slower they will be, not a frost tolerant palm but will take temperatures down to 2 degrees celcius. The ones in the ground are about 4 years old in a subtropical climate. If you’re after a tropical looking palm that’s highly ornamental get a trio of joeys!

Everything go gain and nothing to loose, and I much prefer the Offspring song, give it to me baby ahaha! Dypsis?

Be careful, as seedlings if you break their roots they die. As i said I have no experience with transplanting established palms. Would I attempt to transplant my ones, the answer is not very likely, iam sure it’s possible but not for my garden specimens.

Okay. Thanks! Kinda small but I’m soaking them so maybe we’ll see.

Anyone have any thoughts?

I can soon change that, seeds available when ready for you! Nice palms growing there, I do know with seedlings and small plants they are very root sensitive, I have never transplanted a large one, and the small 140mm container planted ones never lived once transplanted. Unless you can get a good root ball with a machine I would leave it alone. Be a shame to lose such a beautiful advanced palm. If it was my palm I would leave it alone!

I can soon change that, seeds available when ready for you!

I agree, it look very Jubaea. Based on a palmtalk thread, I asked him for a Jubaea x PJ. He thought it would do very poorly in Houston and recommended (BxJ) x PJ instead. Maybe the BxJ was a Butia yatay x Jubaea. They tend to look more Jubaea to me than other BxJ crosses. I've had a few BxPJ over the years, lost several in the freeze and through other mishaps. Those two look very different. I shared pictures with Mr. Schafer at one point and he agreed. That said, they also look different than any Butia I've grown.

Boy, Mike, you’re not kidding, those things are beauties! I got a couple as seedlings, probably 10 to 12 years ago, and they are definitely slower in my part of the world. But they’re green, about waist high. My fervent hope is that they speed up somewhat now that they’re reasonably established. This is just another one of those species where seeds become available on over a course of a few months, and then just absolutely dry up never to be seen again. Ravenea in particular, due to the male/female thing. Krociana, giant, robustior, julietae, all MIA after a brief availability. I guess the lesson is, grab them while you can! Great looking palms, thanks again for sharing!

Thank you! I’ve seen sprouted ones from Hawaii on Amazon also if you want to skip the sprouting process. I’d put them in a pot and bring them inside at night the first year for it to mature enough to be planted in ground.

Saw lots of established queen palms today from Kemah to Bacliff and Texas City. I won't take them for granted this time. They definitely are the benchmark for a strong zone 9. The USDA zone map actually has this part of the bayfront on the cusp and/or just inside zone 10a. It still deeply pains me to see this area look like the Carolinas lol. This one is a few blocks from the boardwalk behind the fish and chips place (not bad btw)

Thank you, Dale I may have gotten the cross mixed up - I don’t recall the mother, and didn’t think to make note of that. I’m hoping that it doesn’t get cooked my heat island with all of the DG. Your’s looks fantastic. Steve

I have three together here in this spot and I have one all by its lonesome somewhere else, it needs to move, and I’ve been trying to figure out where to place the bloke…

I’ve been observing this palm for probably 50 years now. It was planted at Two Harbors Catalina island around 1920-28. Its looking better now than a few years ago due to the drought ending. It gets only rain, no irrigation.

Great looking palm. Definitely one to plant for future generations. The one at Perth zoo that they cut down to put a set of children’s swings in for a new restaurant area was about that size and planted in the 1920s. It was one of only two mature Jubaea in Western Australia. The other one is at the zoo about 50m away luckily in a garden bed - for now anyway. I remember as a kid looking at it and thinking how big it was. Luckily I germinated a seed from it before they destroyed it.

Dioon edule x argenteum

Encephalartos eugene-maraisii female cone emerging. The cone has a guest, protecting it from any undesirable bugs.

These palm trees will survive the Ice Age—especially *Jubaea*. In a scientific discovery, palm tree genetic material was found in the Arctic; this means that at the dawn of creation, the entire Earth was a warm paradise. Hugo Aravena Chile

Yeah, sadly it’s a chore to get seed to Oz. I use to send Mercury seed and it was a … process

I wax walking up the front entrance to my home and noticed the boot was ready to drop off my Chrysalidocarpus decipiens. Here it is after removing the old boot.

Looks like a lot of dry climate species. You should have some luck if they were stored well. I ended up with a Brahea 'Super Silver' coming up in some potting mix that looked like it had gotten too wet and rotted all of the contents, so there is always hope.

Betel nutz and bamboo…

Update to the C. Revoluta Polaroid type.

This Cycas is now hardening the flush I posted a few weeks back. The leaflets don't start until about 5 feet up the rachis.

To everyone waiting for updates or interested in growing embothreum coccineum (Chilean fire tree) in the humid southeastern U.S., I've got updates and pictures. First, I have to talk about the long journey I've been on learning about this special tree. Everything I've read tells me it will fail anywhere in the U.S. outside of western Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia. But, I have high pain tolerance, and I think this is a rare tree that not enough people have attempted to grow here. So maybe I can trail blaze and contribute what I've learned about it. First, over the last 7 or 8 years I've attempted to grow this tree at various stages, from seedling to 3 feet tall and flowering. I've probably killed 8 - 10 trees, but I've currently got 3 growing (two from seed and one 4 foot tall and flowering). I've experimented with soil amendments, different soil moisture levels, and various levels of sun exposure. After all that, and several years of partial success and lots of failure, here's what I've learned. Soil permeability and temperature are the most important aspects of keeping this tree alive. It must have excellent soil porosity. If you're starting with clay soil, remove a few buckets worth of it, and mix in a few bags of coarse sand, gravel, and pine bark nuggets. Do not using potting soil or even compost. It can deal with poor soil just fine. Also be sure the soil stays cool and moist (not overly wet). After you've planted it in the perfect spot, give it bag after bag of mini pine bark nuggets around the area you've planted it in to keep the soil underneath it breathable, well draining, and cool. The 3 foot tall fire tree I planted had all that done, and I replaced its top 6" - 8" of soil as straight pine bark nuggets. That keeps the soil acidic and extremely well draining, as well as cool. Site location: The 3' tree that's stayed alive is now in its second blooming and growing season and was given the best spot it could ask for. It's about 4 - 5 feet away from a brick wall on a slightly downward slope, facing east. It catches full sun until noon, but during the hottest part of the day it stays shaded because of the brick wall. The heat and high humidity of north Georgia still stresses the tree though. In its first growing season it dropped half its leaves, which apparently is a survival mechanism for trees that think they'll lose too much water through transpiration. However, we watered that tree nearly daily the first year, and it rewarded us by staying alive after it bloomed its heart out. A few months ago I got worried because I read something that said if Chilean fire trees ever have a stressful year, they'll forever stop blooming. However, that did not end up being the case. Even though in its first year it was completely covered in flowers, the tree still gave us blooms this spring as well, just far fewer. We had probably 7 or 8 clusters of fiery red blooms, plus a lot of branch and leaf growth. Since these trees only bloom on new growth from the previous year, it may be promising that its grown so many new branches and leaves. However, I wouldn't be surprised if it dropped more than half its leaves again, and put itself into survival mode just to get through the dog days of summer here. That would mean only a few bloom clusters next year as well, but still worth it. I've read it wants night time temperatures below 65 degrees F in order to rest at night. Without that, it stresses. However, if you keep the roots cool and moist, and don't fry the plant with the hottest afternoon temps, it seems to do pretty decently here. Again, it is a protea, so don't fertilize it with any phosphorus. For my part, I just skip fertilizer altogether. They seem to do just fine without any of that. For all the other proteaceaes I grow in my yard (several types of grevilleas and Gevuina avellana), it really helps to put down some other ground covering plant. For example, my Tasmanian mountain peppers and Gevuina avellana were planted in among Asian jasmine vines, which keep the ground underneath cool and moist. It's the only way I've been able to keep those alive, and I'm sure it would help with Chilean fire trees as well if I were to plant new ones. The Chilean fire trees I planted from seed are another story. I have one that's probably 5 years old at this point, and was grown from seeds I purchase from the U.K. The one that's still alive from that batch shot up like a weed its first and second year, but now that its been planted in the ground, it grows very slowly. It's probably 10" tall at this point, however it did not have the benefit of being planted on the east side of my home. It was planted on the west side, which means it gets the brutal afternoon heat. But its saving grace is that it was planted right at the top of a retaining wall, on a slope that receives constant moisture from my AC condensate drip line. It also has the top of its soil covered in several inches of pine bark nuggets. The small hill above it has had many bags of sand mixed into it, and the retaining wall has nothing but gravel behind it. So it has very permeable soil and stays constantly moist, but not wet. This is enough to keep it alive with some small amount of growth each year, but I suspect if I could've planted it on an eastward-facing slope where it only received direct morning sun, it would be doing much better right now. The third fire tree I have is a seedling from the 4 foot tall specimen that has the perfect spot. I took seeds from it last year and got a couple to sprout. This is the last one to have survived. It's in a small plastic pot with its soil a mixture of coarse sand and peat moss. I put oak catkins all over the top of its soil line to make a carpet that would keep its soil cool and prevent it from drying too quickly between waterings. It's only about 1" tall at this point, but you can see its top is already splitting into two crowns. This one will likely be a multi-branched cluster if it survives. But interestingly, now I have fire tree genetics from both the U.K. and an Oregon nursery. I hope this inspires someone out there to give the Chilean fire tree a try (or two... or ten). It's a fickle tree, but to behold it in bloom is indescribable. In my opinion, this is the most beautiful tree in the world when blooming, and still a pretty tree for the other 10 months of the year. One last point, deer seem like the taste of the leaves, so protect it with a chicken wire cage if you have deer in your area. Good luck

Awesome Jeff! Glad to hear it. These are a great hybrid palm!

Joe - the Coco Queen I bought last year has not missed a beat! Greenest palm I have!