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Has anyone seen anything like this before? I can’t help but wonder which Rhopalostylis variety it might be. My first thought was Chatham Islands, but I’m starting to doubt that. It could possibly be a Great Barrier Island form instead. Or even a naturally occurring hybrid with archontophoenix cunninghamiana? It’s surrounded by them.. Anyway what caught my attention is the very open crown and the extremely dark crownshaft color. I was also looking through some older Rhopalostylis photos and I think Geoff Stein used to have a few similar plants in cultivation. Curious to hear what others think on the variety — what are your bets?

Here's mine. Needle looks great. Little frost cloth and heat cable at the base. Next my Bulgaria x Nanital. Took a bit of damage but overall looks good. It had frost cloth,heat cable and mini lights on a thermocube. Onto my Louisiana, looks fantastic honestly. Same treatment as the needle. Last is my McCurtain , looks as one would expect. Same protection as the needle and Louisiana. Our winter was relatively mild. ( I had a zone 7winter in zone 6) But I feel that even though the needle and McCurtain should be fine. If I protect they will look nice not just survive Anyways

Seems this guy is pretty far north for mangoes. I hope his farm recovers.

@Ben G. that looks bad. I’ve never had a Sabal recover from a spear pull. You know what to do, and give it all summer and if it continues to go down hill or doesn’t push it’s time to call It. Here in Houston we had the one night at 23F with no freezing precipitation and daytime highs above freezing. This past week is when I started to see a lot of damage. Needle palms. 2/4 of damaged, one spear pulled the other cosmetic. Last year 3/4 were damaged. I’ll never understand why these keep getting called the most cold hardy palm. Sabal causiarum 2/2 damaged with over 50% burn Mule palm - 1/2 damaged. Some older fronds growing off and spear broke off but is pushing new growth BxJ - 1/2 damaged - cosmetic damage to spear Butia 2/3 damaged - cosmetic damage to spear Chamaerops humilis - bad spear pull, I ripped it out of the ground in disgust. CIDP - cosmetic damage to spear Livistona nitida- 2/2 have very bad damage and fungus on about 2 fronds plus emerging spear. No spear pull and new growth is healthy. The density of the growing point makes it impossible to see down in there. So 12 palms so far that show damage out of around 40. Better than last year where it was 30/36. Houston must be the hardest zone 9B in the world for growing cold hardy palms. Both of my mexicana look flawless. Sourced from the palms at the John Fairey Garden.

Yep,barring some crazy cold front. We're not out of the woods for freezes, but the icebox single digits stuff is in the rear view. Honestly I probably could have opened them after the first week of February but I was not willing to gamble

Looks like Rhopalostylis baueri. Could be R baueri var cheesmanii which I’ve seen can have a purple tinge to the crownshaft but I’m not sure if that’s formally diagnostic.

What variegated aloifolia do you have? I would love to see a picture, if possible

Everything looks great. Will they remain uncovered now?

@JeanB a "rachis blight" is not too unusual after cold fronts, and is generally cosmetic. If it looks like it is quickly getting worse you could try a systemic antifungal like any "aluminum tris" (Fosetyl-Al, Aliette, etc), Banrot, Clearys 3336, or others. I'd avoid watering by overhead spray, as this can cause or make fungal problems worse. Just water directly into the pot instead. I'd plant it anyway, they grow 2x faster in ground...or more. Don't mess with the roots. It's best to just slice the pot off (if rootbound) and plant directly as is. Wait at least aa month to fertilize, and don't mix any fertilizer into the planting hole.

"milkweed" seems undesirable, but the flowers ARE pretty.

Calotropis ..likely procera ..A giant Milkweed from Africa. Also sometimes called " Crown Flower "

This is DrZnaturally; we shall see how the palm does ,as soon as we prepare to open it up around Spring equinox 2026; will it have survived all of the harsh polar vortexes thrusted upon the northEast this winter 2025 into 2026?? stay turned to the grand unwrapping of the mummy wrapped palm tree which is a Connecticut champion https://oak.conncoll.edu/notabletrees/ViewTreeData.jsp?selected=226219 we will post a video

it’s scary when a palm that looks that healthy has a spear pull because to me it means you never know if your healthy looking ones are secretly struggling too

hopefully it will come back, today I decided to cut the trunks of the 3 of my potentially dead palms and found out they were all actually dead. Potted washingtonia, third in ground washingtonia, and spear pulled windmill all dead. Also had a sooty mold problem on a lot of my palms and decided to trim off all of the sago fronds. Really hoping my sagos come back, will be planting my windmill replacements. There were ants all under the soil of the third washingtonia that were working with the sooty mold bugs. Sagos were covered in mold too. Really hoping the sooty mold problem goes away and the rest of my palms including sagos have a smooth recovery.

It was a flamethrower when it came into this world and it’s going out as a flamethrower as well.

I accept donations for the seeds. The economy sucks.

I was walking the dog at Suwanee Creek Park this morning. She stopped multiple times and at one spot I found this.

Is there anything (relatively) nearby where a bird could have deposited it? Cool!

Our bigger Chamaedorea elegans has been living on my 4th-floor balcony since March 2025. She just survived her first full winter outside in Arbon/Stachen! ❄️🛡️ While she shows some winter wear, the statics are undeniable: She is pushing a fresh, green spear right now! (See my close-up photo). 🌿🔥 Maintaining this indoor-palm outside for a whole year is a true testament to the unique microclimate of our fortress. The 4th-floor thermal statics are pulverizing the botanical limits! 🌬️💎

Well, over a month after our freeze event in Texas, one of my Sabal mexicanas spear pulled on me. Very frustrated with this one. I had sabal palmetto and birmingham of similar size when I lived in Oklahoma that survived multiple below 0F events with just frost cloth and tarps. They burned 100% more than once, but came back without pulling a spear. This time, we hit 20F with a little freezing rain. Now I am worried about losing one of my most expensive palm purchases. (Paid more for something slower growing and extremely well adapted to my climate) I have never had a Sabal of any kind spear pull, so that makes me nervous. On the other hand, the damaged spears were definitely pushing up for the last month before they came out. So maybe there is something healthy in there growing up. How worried should I be about this? To add to my concern, we are set to get several days straight of rain. Should I bother trying to keep rain out? Or is it likely to matter since the air and soil temps are pretty warm here already?

I was thinking Bombax ceiba?

Well I suppose it’s a good sign. Spear and new leaf appear to have moved about an inch

Post a pic for the classsssss!

Not that I have seen.

I dont find archies(kings) difficult to grow at all and I am in a cool 10a right on the 9B border. I also dont plant any palm in cool soil, the developing roots will have to see more aggressive fungus behavior at lower temps. Microbes that assist in nutrient uptake are 20x less active at 55F than at 70F so many palms will not feed well and face favorable conditions for root fungus infection(wet with stagnant drainage, low oxygen, cool temp soils). There is a lot of experience growing various archontophoenix species here and we have the Aussie members who are quite familiar with them. My Archontophoenix alexandre and myolensis are from 25 to over 30' in 14 years and have been over 20' for 8 years. They have seen 30F cold snaps 2x and mostly defoliuated. They have also seen 3 hurricanes. They are pretty tough though I know they can die as small palms at 30F. I bunch mine together to improved coldhardiness a fruiting triple of alexandre and a myolensis, also currently fruiting

Do the Uruguay queens have thicker trunks?

I would like to share my seeds with someone who really needs them. Price is not important.

Yes, that would be the Blue ( ranges from grayish green to blue -y / slivery hued actually ) " highland " form of Sabal uresana.. Here are some shots of specimens in a well known garden in Tucson.. Been a few years since i last looked them over so the size of them in the shots isn't current. Some consider them slow but, if treated right once established, they pick up speed at a decent pace. NO issues w/ our heat or cooler winter nights. Green form is supposedly a bit more tender but, as you can see below, they're doing fine in Tucson ..which can be a bit cooler than we are during the winter ..and see a dusting to 2 or so inches of snow every so often. I myself are a sucker for the recurved fronds of this species. Has that " almost a feather leaf -type palm / tropical but tough looking " look. Fits in perfectly with a leafy / flowery tropical looking landscape, or the tougher " desert look " kind of landscape. Blue form on the left, Green / coastal form on the right.. Both do fine here. ..Brahea armata is another excellent for the area blue -toned palm option that doesn't get quite as massive as Bismarckia. Kind of slow to start off and better to start with smaller specimens vs. gambling with really big sized options, IMO ( roots can be a bit touchy when disturbed) but, treated right, they progress at a steady pace once established after planting. REALLY nice, blindingly blue specimen grown in the same garden as the Sabal uresana specimens.. Some other Brahea sps out there that work well here too include: Brahea aculeata, brandegeei, calcarea, dulcis, ..and some others from both eastern and southern Mexico. Rare and harder to find than B. armata, but just as neat and worth any time you might spend tracking down, if interesting enough to pursue.

Couple updates and a couple fresh tweeties amongst the cycas

Winters can be brutal to our plants . Phoenix Roebelini are pretty hardy and should come back once the weather warms up . Watch for new growth , I wouldn’t add any fertilizer at this point and keep them moist . Harry

Leaf burn comparable what I saw here on seed-grown palmetto at 5°F, back in Dec 2022